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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Research Paper

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Post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, is a condition that is classified as a type of mental illness. While this is very true, post-traumatic stress disorder does not only have an effect on the mind, but it can also be associated with different health behaviors, especially those behaviors that have a negative impact on one’s physical health. Researchers Angelica Zen, Mary Whooley, Shoujun Zhao, and Beth Cohen conducted a study regarding how they proposed post-traumatic stress disorder was connected with poor health behaviors and wrote about their results in an article titled, “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is Associated With Poor Health Behaviors: Findings From the Heart and Soul Study”, which appeared in Health Psychology journal. …show more content…
In Health Psychology written by S. Taylor, “stress is a negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes that are directed either toward altering the stressful event or accommodating to its effects” (113). In other words, when a person is under stress, it affects their entire body. In times of extreme stress, especially traumatic events such as an assault or an accident, our body prepares itself to deal with the event and avoid harm as best we can. Under certain circumstances, severe stress and trauma can have different effects on people, sometimes leading to a much larger issue. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness when a person is under intense stress, “the body is busy increasing the heart rate, pumping blood to muscles for movement and preparing the body to fight off infection and bleeding in case of a wound, all bodily resources and energy get focused on physically getting out of harm’s way”, which can then result in damage to brain’s way of responding to such events (“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”). After the traumatic event has physically ended, the witness may relive certain aspects of the event, and even replay the event over and over again in their mind, which can lead to the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress …show more content…
Responses to other questions to determine participants’ age, ethnicity, level of education and income level were also recorded. As it turns out, the researchers were able to find a correlation between post-traumatic stress disorder and income level as well, stating, “many patients with PTSD have a lower socioeconomic status, as was reflected in our study by the fact that participants with PTSD were significantly more likely to have income levels under $20,000” (Zen, Whooley, Zhao & Cohen,

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