Know about PTSD and its Symptoms

June 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD can develop in any person after the terrifying event. This normally happens when a person feels helpless or feel threat to their safety. Most commonly soldiers are affected with this disorder, but this might happen to anyone. This normally affects a person who has personally affected with the traumatic event or who have witnessed the event.

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PTSD differs with every person and most of the symptoms may appear on the day or other after the terrifying events. Some of the common causes are natural disasters, war, accidents, sudden death of a loved ones, and childhood neglect. In some people, the symptoms gradually disappears, but the real PTSD symptoms never disappears.

There are different types of symptoms for PTSD and most common types are avoiding reminders of the trauma, re-experiencing the triggering event, emotional arousal, and increased anxiety. Other common symptoms include guilt, anger, self-blame, depression, feeling alone, feeling of betrayed, irritability, and physical pains.

The symptoms of children are very different from that of adults. If a person suspects about PTSD, then they should immediately seek help or support. Getting early help is very important because early treatment is better, PTSD can be connected with other health conditions, and most importantly PTSD affects the family life.

There are various treatments available for the condition such as family therapy, trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, and EMDR. More than this, self-help and support is very important to control this condition. Other than this, people affected with this condition should avoid alcohol and drugs, and reach others for help.

 

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Treatments for PTSD

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Since posttraumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder and not a physical one the treatments for it can be difficult. Many people who are suffering from the disorder will refuse to admit that they have a problem or will experience problems when they have to tackle their issues and emotions directly related to the traumatic event. Even though it might be hard to handle it is important to seek treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder as it can help those that are suffering from it and help you get back to your daily routine.

Here is a look at some of the treatments that are available for those that suffer from PTSD.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy is believed to be the most successful and best treatment for those that are suffering from PTSD. As there are different types of cognitive behavioral therapy the treatment routine can be customize to fit the person and experience. Therapy can include exposure therapy which gradually causes the person who suffers from PTSD to be exposed slowly to the events and situations that cause the disorder.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. This type of treatment has recently been used to help those with PTSD. It is believed that those that suffer from the disorder are experiencing rapid sensitization to the eyes. By desensitizing the eye it can help the brain process events in a normal way instead of in an extremely heightened emotion.

Prescription Drugs. Another successful treatment of PTSD has been the use of anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medications. These medications allow the person to be able to start to lead a normal life. In many cases prescription drugs helped those that experienced PTSD and depression or severe cases of anxiety.

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PTSD in Children With Parents at War

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There is a lot of focus in the media and the medical profession on how the war and deployment might affect soldiers and the community. However, there is not a lot of focus on the youngest victims of the war and deployment, the children.

It might be hard to believe but children who have parents who go off to war will often exhibit signs of posttraumatic stress disorder. While the soldier’s posttraumatic stress disorder is brought about from traumatic events that happen during war or while away at war, the child’s traumatic event is that of the parent going away and leaving them for six to 18 months.

When children suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder the symptoms can often times be the same as adults. They might avoid talking about their parent who is away on deployment, they might avoid any talk of the war or they might act as if the parent is just away at the store. In younger children the symptoms can range from temper tantrums to starting to wet the bed at night. Children that are in middle school or elementary school will often start to act out in class or make up problems in an effort to get attention from another parent or the teachers.

The symptoms that the child suffers from are directly related to their age and experiences that they have had in life. The older the child the more the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder are similar to those of adults and less like children’s. Despite the fact that there are many different symptoms all children no matter what their age will experience feelings of anxiety, depression and extreme stress. It is important to notice the signs and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in children so that they can get the help that they need to cope with the events.

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A Look at Two of the Four Common Symptoms of PSTD

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The common symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder will vary greatly depending upon the event, the personality of the person who is suffering from the disorder and their age or past experiences. The symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder will usually start to happen within a few days of the traumatic event. However, there have been cases where the person who suffered from PTSD did not suffer from symptoms until months or years later.

The symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder can be broken up into four different categories. Here is a look at the first two of those categories: reliving the event and avoiding situations that might be similar to the event.

One group of symptoms that shows potential signs for posttraumatic stress disorder is the reliving of events. Experts call this the re-experiencing symptoms. When someone suffers from these symptoms that will often have extremely bad memories of the event that happened and will sometimes start to experience the same exact emotions that they had during the event. In many cases the person will feel as if they are going through the whole event again. Medical experts believe that when this happens there was something that could trigger the re-experience of the event. This could come in the form of a similar sound, person or conditions that will look like the traumatic event.

The second group of symptoms are considered avoiding any type of situation that might remind the person who suffers from the disorder of the event. These people will avoid any mention of the situation or similar circumstances at all costs. A common part of this symptom is the beliefs that if the person who suffered the traumatic event keeps very busy they will not have to go through the emotions of the event. In many cases the events and situations that the person avoids are something that they would have normally engaged in before the traumatic situation happened.

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Why Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Happens to Some and Not Others

February 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Many soldiers during the war are exposed to traumatic or serious events throughout their deployment. While all the soldiers are exposed to these conditions not everyone will experience posttraumatic stress disorder. Here is a look at what might cause posttraumatic stress disorder to develop in some people and not in others.

When the body is exposed to an extremely traumatic situation or event it is believed that the event and the emotions that the body goes through will actually alter the brain structure. Many medical professionals believe that some people will experience a change to their brain that is more predominant than others and that could be the result of posttraumatic stress disorder.  This is one of the most common beliefs of why posttraumatic stress disorder can happen to some people.

Another belief of why posttraumatic stress disorder happens in some people and not in other is because everyone views a situation differently. It is also believed that even if the same situation happened to everyone they would internalize it differently than others and that could be the source of this disorder. Some of the factors that could play a role in developing posttraumatic stress disorder is how intense the event was, how long it happened for, was someone close lost, how the person reacted directly after the event and whether there were feelings of being in control of not.

It is important to know that there is no exact understanding of why posttraumatic stress disorder happens in some people and not in others. The theory that the brain changes because of the event, or that it is directly related to how the person views the events and situation surrounding it are just theories that are currently being closely looked at by researchers and medical staff. Researchers believe if they can find a cause of posttraumatic stress disorder they can figure out which soldiers to place where during the war and hopefully minimize the impact that this disorder has on the soldier and their support system.

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What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?

February 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When people think of war and the problems that are caused by it they often think of the economy or the state of the nation. However, very few people think about the effects that the war has on the soldiers that are out there fighting the war. One of the biggest problems facing soldiers is that of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Posttraumatic stress disorder is an anxiety based psychological issue that often happens after experiencing an especially traumatic event. In the case of the war and with soldiers this would be them facing military combat or exposure to that type of situation. The event in most cases put the life of the soldier or those around him in danger. As the situation was one of life or death the soldier acted appropriately and was fearful, scared or anxiety filled. Even though the most common occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder is amongst soldiers there are also cases of the condition arising in those that were in serious accidents, victims of assaults or violence, and even those that experienced extreme natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

In most cases people who face a traumatic event are able to experience daily living as normal people would. However, those that suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder do not. They will often be overwhelmed with feelings of stress, anxiety and depression which are all similar situations that they faced when they were up against the life or death situation.

Over time it is believed that these feelings of stress, anxiety or depression will often lessen because the event that caused it is in the past. However, there are cases where people are unable to lessen these emotions and in some situations the emotions become so strong that they are worse than when the actual situation occurred. In people that experience the emotions worse or the same after the event after a prolonged period of time could be suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.

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