...Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Vietnam War Veterans COMM/156 4/14/2013 Professor Marsha Parker PTSD is an anxiety disorder classified as a mental illness caused by exposure to terrifying or life threatening events. During the time of war, people get exposed to devastating experiences such as sexual abuse, witnessing murder of family members or familiar people, and other horrors of war. As a result, the victims suffer from mental disorders since the horrible experiences are forever ingrained in their mind. Bearing in mind that bad memories are rarely erased, the experiences can be compared to a horror movie that is often played in the mind and constantly frightens the victim to death. On one hand the victim celebrates survival but on the other hand the experiences haunt one through night mares or flashbacks. The victim remains constantly on edge and is easily startled. Some common feelings include intense guilt and some time numbness- all signs of posttraumatic stress disorder (TMP, 2012). A research finding by Bruce Dohrenwend and colleagues from New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia’s Letter Carrier School of Public Health, shows that traumatic experiences during war predicted the onset of PTSD in Vietnam veterans (Mikulak, 2013). We will examine the PTSD in Vietnam War veterans. Human existence has been always exposed to traumatic incidences of various kinds. For instance, attacks by lions or even the twentieth century terrorist attacks to...
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...on the struggle among veterans that suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related to combat and other stressful situations that are endured during military enlistment. There are many articles available as well as research that has been conducted on the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Veterans that are combat and non combat related. There are many articles that closely show similar variations of statistics of Veterans in the United States of America that suffer from Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which varies by service area. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can also be related to other occurrences such as combat situations, military sexual trauma, and traumatic brain injury...
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...effectively? 6. Have I proofread thoroughly? Adam Tennis Professor Martinez English 101 140531 PTSD: A Battle that lasts beyond the Combat Zone I will be using this paper to highlight some of the cause and effect of a familiar disorder, Post-traumatic stress disorder. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is currently an ongoing issue that many veterans are dealing with after Iraq and Afghanistan and it is something that you live with for the rest of your life. As more and more veterans are being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after returning from combat zones it has become a hot topic. This is a disease that lasts long past the combat zone. There has been an extreme amount of research poured into the treatment of this disorder but still little has been yielded for the treatment or even a baseline that causes the disorder. “In recent years there has been a rapidly growing amount of research on the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Our recent metaanalysis suggested that exposure to therapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) are among the most effective treatments for PTSD” (Pg. 13) Although many people do suffer from Post-traumatic stress disorder I will be focusing on the veterans who are embattled with dealing with this. On September 11, 2001 America suffered a terrorist attack that changed the world as we know it. As thousands of innocent Americans lost their lives that day, it evoked very strong emotions in this...
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...Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders 1 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders: Defining, Diagnosing, Correlation with Insomnia and Nightmares as well as The Treatment and Recovery Processes in War Veteran’s Tammy L. Egan Fulton-Montgomery Community College Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders 2 Abstract Post-traumatic stress disorder or most commonly known as PTSD, is a common problem for veterans returning from war all over the world. It can often be misdiagnosed as a traumatic brain injury or overlooked altogether because of the similarities in their symptoms. This paper will define what post-traumatic stress is as according to the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders, its correlation with insomnia and nightmares, traumatic brain injuries and rare heart conditions, and it summarizes various treatment options including virtual reality, the Recover process, cognitive processing therapy, clinical programs, the use of the drug propranolol, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Lastly, it will review problems with those treatments, involving flaws in the research studies, ethical issues and gender issues. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders 3 Defining, Diagnosing, Correlation with Insomnia and Nightmares as well as The Treatment and Recovery Processes in War Veteran’s Wars have been fought for centuries, and the soldiers fighting these wars often come home scarred, either physically, mentally, or both. Soldiers who exhibit...
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...Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can lead to psychological problems in many men and women, and especially veterans, due to traumatic events. “Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened.” (Insel,2001,1) History This disorder is a relatively new diagnostic. In fact, before the diagnosis, veterans called these symptoms “Shell Shock.” It wasn’t until 1980 that the DSM III made Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) an official psychiatric diagnosis for veterans. Diagnostic Statistic Manual is a book used by the medical profession to diagnose a disorder. In 1994, DSM IV includes people that have been in traumatic events such as combat, sexual and physical assault, being held hostage or imprisonment. After the discovery, psychiatrist’s found out that this disorder affects millions of men and women through out the world. (Davis,2003,1) Traumatic Events: Symptoms People with PTSD will have flashbacks that re-experience the event. These flashbacks may be in different types of sensory forms. Usually when a person is experiencing this disorder, they will have a chronic hyper arousal in the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). This can include jumpiness, rapid breathing, accelerated heart beat, and cold sweating. This can lead to loss of appetite, a bad night sleep and even sexual dysfunctions. (Rothschild,1997,6) Doctors often treat these symptoms without...
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...The term post- traumatic stress disorder come around the 1970’s, so the term shell shock was created to express the psychological or physical injuries for the soldier and veterans. Most people believed post-traumatic stress disorder was only temporary; however, post-traumatic stress disorder does not just disappear overnight, and in most cases, shell shock can be permeant, especially in Septimus’ case. Septimus; pain and suffering leaded him to commit suicide, so he could escape his horror. The critic Bruce Dohrenwend exposed the psychological risks of the people, who was in the war. Some of the soldiers got post-traumatic stress disorder right after war, but studies show post-traumatic stress disorder can develop elven or twelve years after...
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...Interventions for Combat Veterans Suffering from PTSD Name Academic Institution Author Note Class Professor Date Group Therapy Interventions for Combat Veterans Suffering from PTSD The process of group therapy can be extremely beneficial for individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the interventions used in the group therapy setting must be appropriate to each individual within the group, adding a level of complexity to the job of the therapist choosing the interventions. By using a number of different therapeutic theories and interventions, the therapist can hope for the best possible results for the group as a whole and for the individual clients. Some of the most flexible therapeutic frameworks that work well in group therapy settings are cognitive-behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, and psychoeducation. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a popular therapeutic framework that has been used with great success with patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. One intervention suitable to the group therapy setting is thought-stopping. Thought-stopping involves analyzing the thought patterns our brains have created and interrupting the process at the point where thoughts begin to turn irrational. For example, in the group therapy setting a member of the group may report that while walking on the sidewalk one day, a man began to approach from the opposite direction and the group member, a combat veteran, had a flashback to...
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...Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the invisible wound, affects 11% of veterans of the war in Afghanistan and 20% of Iraqi war veterans (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic / Neuroscience and PTSD Treatments, 2009). The diagnosis of PTSD or the suspicion that one has PTSD alone does not label a combat veteran as violent. There may be other factors at play which could make the person a threat or that may play a role in a crime already committed such as emotional disorders or substance abuse. Violence such as abuse or assault with a deadly weapon taken in the context of war may be adaptive and appropriate because anger instincts are often difficult to reconcile into everyday life. If treated, post-9/11 combat veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder typically are not dangerous and do not pose a...
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...Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sean C. Hall Colorado Technical University In recent years, the United States Armed Forces has become increasingly alarmed at the growing problem of severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), resulting in the increased rate of suicides in their troops. While most agree that PTSD deserves attention, consensus dissolves around how to effectively respond to the problem. In 2008, the Us Army commissioned the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) on behalf of their soldiers; in an effort to better understand and maximize treatment for soldiers diagnosed with sever Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Vietnam veterans are particularly vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder. Thousands of the 600,000 Americans who served in that war still suffer feelings of alienation, sleeping problems, relieving of painful experiences, and difficulty concentrating. Most veterans do not suffer from the disorder; of those who do, many did not experience symptoms until months or even years after their return home. Those who suffer from the disorder seem more likely to have other stressful events in their lives, which in turn make the disorder seem worse. The wounds of war do not go away with time, or just by leaving them alone. They need to be addressed, and this is something that you cannot do alone. If you were wounded physically during combat, you would allow a medic to attend to the wound. This is no different. Your psychological wounds must be attended...
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...the past as "combat fatigue," "shell shock," or "war neurosis." Combat veterans often return from deployment having experienced a wide range of exposures, symptoms and medical conditions. The Department of Veterans Affairs established war related illness and injury study centers to serve combat veterans with unexplained illnesses. History Although many coexisting disorders have been reported with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), little reference has been made to the presence of psychotic symptoms. Post-traumatic stress disorder is commonly described among victims of severe trauma outside of normal human experience, in this case the combat veterans returning from deployment. Traumatic events can lead to reevaluation of life and its meaning; a reconsideration of what is truly important which often changes one’s set of priorities. Trauma often causes abrupt cessation of continuity in coherence in sense of one’s self (Barlow, 2002). In the early 1800’s military doctors began diagnosing soldiers with "exhaustion" following the stress of battle. This "exhaustion" was characterized by mental shutdown due to individual or group trauma. Like today, soldiers during the 1800’s were not supposed to be afraid or show any fear in the heat of battle. The only treatment for this "exhaustion" was to bring the afflicted soldiers to the rear for a while then send them back into battle. Through extreme and often repeated stress, the soldiers became fatigued as a part of their...
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...Ty Meeks Psych 32 April 15, 2012 Research on Combat Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder The first reported case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder dates back nearly 3000 years. In 1000BC an Egyptian combat veteran named Hori wrote, “You determine to go forward. Shuddering seizes you, the hair on your head stands on end, your soul lies in your hand” (Dyer). Since the beginning of wars men have been terrified of dyeing, and subjected to horrific scenes of devastation. This constant mental and physical stress can lead to numerous lasting complications in combat veterans. In 1678 Swiss military physicians finally identified the unusual behaviors among their combat veterans and gave it the medical name “Nostalgia” (Bentley). Since that time many militaries around the world have been studying the effects of war on their troops. It was not till the Civil war that the US first took an active approach to handling those afflicted with the disorder. In his article Bentley wrote, “During the Civil War the psychological symptoms from war became so common, field commanders as well as medical doctors pleaded with the War Department to provide some type of screening to eliminate recruit susceptible to psychiatric breakdown.” The first military hospitals were finally opened in 1863 to deal with the large numbers of mental breaks caused by the war. The US finally gave this condition a name after WWI. They believed that the impact of the shells being...
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...Running head: POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Military Veterans Jason Rosenbaum Grand Canyon University HLT-515 Dr. Rick Edwards 22 June 2014 Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Military Veterans Negative mental health outcomes following warzone exposure, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can serve as a barrier for veterans reintegrating back into civilian life. PTSD is marked by clear physical and psychological symptoms caused by physical injury or an intense emotional distress. PTSD in military veterans can occur following a life-threatening event such as military combat, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. PTSD symptoms include depression, substance abuse, problems of memory and cognition, and other physical and mental health problems. This disorder can also be traced to difficulties in social settings or family life, finding a job, marital problems, and in performing parental acts. PTSD is a condition that impacts American military personnel who have returned from deployment and were exposed to encounters with the enemy. Approximately 7% of Americans develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives (Kessler, Berglund, Demler, Jin, Merikangas, & Walters, 2005). Due to increased exposure to traumatic situations (i.e., combat), the prevalence of PTSD is much greater among war veterans compared to the general population...
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...Dealing with PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been an everlasting mental battle due to the traumatic events that have occurred in a person's lifetime. Educating ourselves about this mental condition can be very beneficial to our loved ones or even ourselves. Military members have been dealing with this condition before it was labeled, and some are still dealing with the mental stress and painful memories of battle. Even though individuals dealing with PTSD have a difficult time dealing with mainstream society, understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the various types of symptoms associated with PTSD and Types of treatment options available for individuals. To better understand PTSD, it is good to know who and how PTSD impacts people. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can affect anyone at any age that has been through a traumatic event (National Institute of Mental Health, 2015). "This includes war veterans and survivors of physical and sexual assault, abuse, accidents, disasters, and many other serious events" (National Institute of Mental Health, 2015). One of the populations groups that are widely affected by PTSD is the Nation's veterans. The Veteran population is widely affected because of the wars that the veterans have been battling across the world. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may cause problems in work or social relationships and situations. PTSD symptoms usually start within three months of a traumatic event, and the symptoms...
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...Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder After experiencing a traumatic event, the mind horde away the memories and then send them back at unexpected times and places, even after years have passed. It does so in such a way that makes the recall just as traumatizing as the first time it happened. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the name for the acquired mental condition that follows a psychologically distressing event. The root cause of this disorder is a traumatic event which embeds itself firmly in the mind that the person may be bounded by the pain and agony of the event, experiencing it again and again as the mind stays connected with the past rather than the present, which makes it difficult to think of the future. PTSD has different effects that manifest itself in different ways in individuals such as veterans, post-partum women, and 9/11 victims. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that develops after a traumatic event. PTSD has also been called shell shock or battle fatigue. The exact cause of PTSD is unknown; however, it is triggered by exposure to some sort of traumatic event(s). Situations in which a person feels intense fear, helplessness, or horror are considered traumatic. PTSD has been reported in people who experienced, war, rape, sexual abuse, car accident, pregnancy, and much more. Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event will develop PTSD. People with PTSD experience symptoms...
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...Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder March 1, 2015 Abstract PTSD is an anxiety disorder that usually occurs after being exposed to a terrifying event. PTSD is called post-traumatic stress disorder. This anxiety disorder can occur at any point in your life even your childhood. Most people who are enlisted in the military usually suffer from this disorder after being deployed to another country. The symptoms vary from person to person. The symptoms could include flashbacks, emotional feeling and avoidance of the traumatic event. PTSD cause is unknown as of now but it is a psychological, genetic, physical, and social factors that are involved. There are risk factors that may help a person to get PTSD. There are different treatments for PSTD. The treatments that are used for PTSD are using different strategies, medications and or psychotherapy. Medication could cause different side effects such as headaches or sexual problems. Group therapy is the most effective because people can relate to what you are going through. Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that occurs after being exposed to a terrifying event or when severe harm or after being threatened. Post-traumatic stress disorder is also known PTSD. Events that may trigger this disorder may come from violent personal assaults, natural or unnatural disasters, accidents, or military combat. Most that's in the military that serve time in another country, usually, suffer from this disorder. Psychology today states...
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