Ptsd Research Paper

Jacqueline Lantau
Pysch 2301
Webster
Sec. 405

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or what doctors call PTSD, is a serious mental illness becoming increasingly serious in our community. PTSD is a mental disorder that develops after a person encounters extreme physical harm or close to damaging harm. Another cause of PTSD is men being deployed into war and experiencing extreme trauma that many Americans go a whole lifetime with out seeing. Post- traumatic stress disorder can be treated but even though there are millions suffering it cannot yet be cured. The treatment lies within the individual when he or she learns to overcome it on his or her own, since the illness lies within our mind. It can be done but it takes great realization and determination
to strive to heal them selves. PTSD wasn’t a formal disorder intill 1980 because little research had been done up until then. Prior to that, Post-Traumatic stress disorder dates back to as long as 480 BC during the battle of Thermopylae Pass. Greek historian has documentation of King Leonidas excusing his men from battle because of extreme mental exhaustion. Mental exhaustion seemed to be having taken more of a mental toll than physical on their body (Meagher). Another documented scenario was from Herodotus in the battle of Marathon in 490 BC when an Athenian became blind after witnessing a fellow Athenian slaughtered along side of him. A later examination showed there had been no damage or wounds to the soldier’s eyes nor body (Meagher). History of this mind crippling disorder has been affecting men of war since war begun and men engaging in conflict. Although, serious cases hadn’t been documented until around 400BC cases are eerily similar to that of PTSD, and the cases seem to multiply as the years go on. There is no accurate way of telling if cases are increasing per war due to the amount of research in PTSD being a great deal higher than the research done during the first documented cases. Earlier American war’s, such as Vietnam, technology was much less developed compared to today’s. Therefore producing much more gory and traumatic images. The lack of modern day medicines also caused more suffering and fatality for the injured. The PTSD cases in Veterans are more severe due to the amount of mentally disturbing images experienced that are nearly unforgettable. Statistics shows that ten percent of our American population will experience PTSD but one out of six solders returning home will experiences PTSD. That chances are devastating. Post-traumatic stress disorder can be avoided by not participating in war like scenarios but since the beginning of America there hasn’t been, and wont be the absence of war. The history of this disorder can be traced back to the earliest wars and it affected people greatly as it does today. Although the reasons for this disorder haven’t been pinpointed, the danger is real and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Although war is a main contributor to PTSD, it is not the only cause for this illness. Sexual assaults, Fires, earthquakes, loss of loved ones, and natural disasters also cause this illness. A man named Samuel Pepys was a survivor of the great Fire of London in 1966. He kept a detailed diary of his horrific and constant images of the fire. He’d often get in overwhelming moods that would disturb him daily. It wasn’t till 1978 that symptoms were called nostalgia (Maegher). The name or Nostalgia then changed into Soldier’s Heart, when the illness carried into the Civil war. In World War I the name was changed to combat fatigue or shell shock and later renamed Gross Stress Reaction during World War II who experienced haunting mental images. PTSD is growing rapidly with 2,600 cases of insanity and 5,200 documented in the civil war alone (Maegher). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was taken lightly up until suicide rates went dramatically up from the Vietnam veterans experiencing reoccurring horrific images or wartime. The victims were suffering on a day-to-day basis and they decided there was nothing they could do to remove these images. The damages that PTSD can cause is devastating and can ruin a life time but if taken care of at first sign PTSD can most defiantly be treated. As of now, scientists and psychologists can only prove PTSD is formed from catastrophic experiences and events that may have affected that person physically or have experienced near death experiences. Traumatic experiences causing this illness have the potential of coming back to control and haunt the persons mind and strip them of their sanity. These memories are stored in a special part of our Brian but the main parts of our brain effected by PTSD is that of the amygdale, the hippocampus, the thalamus, the cortex, the brain stem, and the hypothalamus which are all in a connecting circuit (Lundbeck). What influences these images the most is the amygdala, creating brain waves that trigger a daydreaming state of mind and has the power to flash mental images in a persons mind that can cause aggression and extreme anxiety (Lundbeck). The hippocampus develops new thoughts and new memories about their life role and daily activities so they influence the disorder affecting this part of the brain because of the inability to process a daily routine. When you’re unable to process a daily routine correctly it can lead to chaos of your brain and other problematic instances (Dryden-Edwards). The brain is the central unit for whole body communication, sending and receiving waves that can help you or hurt you. These same waves can confuse the body into a different state of mind. There are multiple part of the brain including brain tissue and several neurotransmitters that are also involved in this condition. Our brain releases endorphins into the body that controls all body parts including heart rate, and overall mood. When a person has post-traumatic stress disorder the images being created by the amygdala causes the brain to act as if it were going through the same traumatic experience again and releases neurotransmitters such as adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine causing uncontrolled rage or sadness (Lundbeck). Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the most disabling mental conditions today because with out treatment PTSD can lead to insanity or in wore case, suicide.
You don’t have to have a traumatic experience to suffer from PTSD, you can get it from paranoia, like the war on terror, having images of what could happen to your community during war. Psychologist conducted a study on men with PTSD returning from war such as Operation Iraqi Freedom or The War on Terror in Afghanistan. They found that people suffering are at higher risk for tobacco products, alcohol use or marijuana use as methods to cope (Dryden-Edwards). Dr. Edward Tick, who is a clinical psychotherapist for wartime veterans, explained PTSD to be a lag in the mind that makes it seem like it is frozen in the war state of mind. The subject studied, experiences mind skips where they would recall terrible images or events that had happened to them during battle, which would trigger aggressive behavior and physically drain them (Maegher). Dr. Tick also showed these patients with this disorder showed signs of alienation, loneliness, and survivor’s
guilt. PTSD doesn’t stop at war victims, now group studies are finding similar if not identical symptoms in people who have suffered from sexual abuse cases and even from women in pregnancy. The effects all similar, the person will have constant flashbacks to a memory strand pushing the person back into a state of depression. Night terrors, poor health problems, emotional instability, and extreme anxiety are likely outcomes (Maegher). Victims begin to organize their life around theses flashbacks, which can only result in a downward movement of their work, health, and relationships. Aside the flashbacks, night terrors and sleeping problems are another crippling side effect. No sleep can cause hypertensive emotions, making the person hard to talk to or even be around, ruining relationships. This condition can also create many phobias for the person affected such as avoiding places and people who remind them of their traumatic experiences. They develop numbness for emotions and how these phobias are actually affecting their life. They become uninterested in things they used to enjoy and look forward to participating in, as well and as disinterest in love ones, crippling families and marriages. PTSD is not only in adults, group studies show that children are also suffering but have slightly different effects such as restless movement, becoming more accident prone, and displaying risky behavior at an earlier age. An undeveloped child masks its pain of the encounter by not talking about it. Although PTSD is less common in children because of age restriction of military guidelines and a parents sheltering instinct, children’s cases seem to be more sever due to their undeveloped brain and their inability to think for themselves. The younger the ill child, the harder it is to cope then for an adult. In children, without treatment PTSD will continue to take its toll on the child’s mind for the rest of their life and likely to lead to criminal actions or suicide due to mental insanity. With this state of mental confusion someone suffering from PTSD can be liable for a variety of emotions such as aggression, and become more susceptible to dangerous behavior. The good news is PTSD can be treated. There are many options when it comes to treatment such as groups and institutions around the world that help those suffering cop with the graphic images. Suppport groups are one of the main coping habits for people who suffer. They are extremely beneficial and strongly recommended. If a person feels they have the symptoms the can take a test provided by the Nation Institute of Mental Health that asses the mental condition of a patient and tell if they show signs of PTSD ((n.d.)). Psychological and medicinal interventions proven that the victims with all the information about this disorder are more likely to recover on their own than dependent victims cause they have the needed information to recover because they know how to treat themselves when a traumatic flash back occurs (Dryden). Perspective is everything when curing your self. The victim will learn relaxation methods that put the person in a state of control making them lull themselves into their own sense of security helping them do things they wouldn’t normally do. For instance, going to a place they used to have a phobia for and can eventually sleep better at night. There are some people who go through very high anxiety and traumatic experiences but are resistant to the disorder. Some resilient factors are people who seek counseling, have support groups, have efficient ways of coping and feeling confident of ones actions in a dangerous situation. The people who are susceptible to PTSD is people who are prone to mental illness, no social support group, or deal with high stress situations after their accident such as high stress jobs. There are medical treatments available but none can completely cure this disorder. They simply tone down the symptoms. The prescription drugs are the other optional routes where the medications are only used to stabilize moods including Wellburtrin, Effexor, and Cymbalta (Dryden-Edwards). Although these medications may ease the mental pain, they are only temporary cures, and once worn off the symptoms are likely to return. These drugs can be effective but addicting. Many victims become dependant on the fix of these drugs. In some cases, doctors confuse the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder to that of the STD syphilis because of the way it embeds itself into your brain. Syphilis and PTSD remain dormant in your brain but are still a repressed memory. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder doesn’t just affect the victim’s brain; it also affects their pocket books.
Post traumatic stress disorder can also be misdiagnosed as Acute stress disorder because of the similarities in the illness but can be re-diagnosed as PTSD once sighs of mental harm are shown. Up until 2005 over 200,000 veterans for foreign wars have received benefits costing the U.S. government over four billion dollars (Dryden-Edwards). Since 2005 there has been an 80% increase in the demand from compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder and an almost 150% increase for compensation for disabilities acquired in wars. This creates higher taxes for the average American has to pay contribution to people coping with this
disease. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a serious disorder than has been around since the beginning of recorded history and although common, there hasn’t been enough research for a cure and people continue to be uninformed and suffer. If this disorder was taken a little more seriously and not brushed aside in the mentally insane category, that only the patient can cure themselves, maybe doctors and psychologists can put an end to this horrifying memory driven dysfunction. We can work together to spread information on PTSD and that there is a treatment. So help your brain before it hurts you. The people who put or lives on the line for our country should be able to leave their experiences behind on the battlefield and not carry them into their daily lives.

Works Cited
Dryden-Edwards, R. (n.d.). Retreived from http://www.medicinenet.com/posttraumatic_stress_disorder/article.htm

Lundbeck, i. (n.d.) Retrieved from http:www.brainexplorer.org/ptsd/PTSD_Aetiology.shtml

(n.d.)Retreived from Gttp://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic- stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

Smith, M. (n.d.). Retreived from http://www.helpguide.org/metal/post_traumatic_stress_disorder_symptoms_treatment.htm Meagher, I.(2007).moving a nation to care post traumatic stress disorder america’s returning troop’s.New york:Ig publishing