Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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Introduction
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that affects intellectual health and is triggered by a terrifying occurrence either by witnessing the event or experiencing it. Its general symptoms include nightmares, severe anxiety, flashbacks and irrepressible thoughts regarding the incident. This paper takes the case study of Thomson’s Family and evaluates the PTSD condition of the members of the family, including the behavior that is related to the mental disorder and expected results of therapeutic approaches.
Most individuals who experience traumatic events can have temporal difficulty in adjusting and muddle through. However, as time passes and with excellent self-care, they usually improve health-wise. Symptoms of PTSD may start immediately or can take several years after the event (Arnsten et al. 2015). The symptoms cause critical problems in work and social state and relationships. The symptoms are also in four categories, which are avoidance, adverse changes in mood and thinking, intrusive memories and changes in emotional and physical reactions. These changes may differ over time or from an individual.
Maria Maldonado, 82 years of age, is the mother-in-law to Henry and two months ago she lost her husband whom they had lived together for 50 years. Maria might possible have PTSD due to dismiss of her beloved husband and the issue of her daughter discovering that her husband is cheating on her. Some symptoms that show the mental disorder are periodic, unsolicited distressing memories of the death of her husband and reliving the traumatic occurrence as if it were reoccurring, that is, flashbacks (Passos, et al. 2015). She also shows severe emotional distress to the marriage hiccup of her daughter.
The younger brother to Henry, William Thompson, also shows some symptoms of PTSD. Being Iraq War Veteran, some events may have happened during that period, which distresses him (Roberts et al. 2015). Probably, he may have lost close friends during the war and thus developing a mental disorder. On top of that, he is unable to pay a house mortgage and ending up to be homeless, having in mind that he is also jobless. A primary symptom that is aligned to him is negative changes in mood and thinking (Bisson & Barawi, 2017). More so, he looks generally stressed up due to the issue he is going through. Henry's wife might also be having PTSD symptoms due to the discovery of his cheating husband. The primary symptom is severe emotional distress to the event.
Nevertheless, PTSD can be treated in various ways. One method of treatment is therapy. The objective of therapy mainly is to transform the disturbing thought patterns of the patient (Thompson et al. 2018). It involves talking about the trauma or the root where the fears come from. Another method is stress inoculation training. It involves focusing on transforming how the patient handles stress from the event (Rosenbaum et al. 2015). If the symptoms persist, the patient may be recommended to take medication that will help the patient stop thinking or reacting towards what happened. After the treatment, the patient will have restored their self-esteem and also will have learned skills on how to deal with the issue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, mental health conditions are common to families, but they are barely noticed. A family needs to have a regular check-up so that a mental disorder such as PTSD can be detected at an early age. A good number of members are affected by PTSD, as observed in the Thompson family, yet they do not realize. This has caused members such as Henry's brother to become an alcoholic and lose his house. Nonetheless, this problem can be treated, and they recover their normal mental health.
References
Arnsten, A. F., Raskind, M. A., Taylor, F. B., & Connor, D. F. (2015). The effects of stress exposure on prefrontal cortex: Translating basic research into successful treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder. Neurobiology of Stress, 1, 89-99. doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2014.10.002
Bisson, J., & Barawi, K. (2017). Military motion-assisted memory desensitization and reconsolidation for treatment resistant post traumatic stress disorder in military veterans. http://isrctn.com/. doi:10.1186/isrctn80028105
Passos, I. C., Vasconcelos-Moreno, M. P., Costa, L. G., Kunz, M., Brietzke, E., Quevedo, J., Salum, G., Magalhães, P. V., Kapczinski, F., & Kauer-Sant'Anna, M. (2015). Inflammatory markers in post-traumatic stress disorder: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(11), 1002-1012.
Roberts, N. P., Roberts, P. A., Jones, N., & Bisson, J. I. (2015). Psychological interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder and comorbid substance use disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 38, 25-38.
Rosenbaum, S., Vancampfort, D., Steel, Z., Newby, J., Ward, P. B., & Stubbs, B. (2015). Physical activity in the treatment of Post-traumatic stress disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research, 230(2), 130-136.
Thompson, C. T., Vidgen, A., & Roberts, N. P. (2018). Psychological interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder in refugees and asylum seekers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 63, 66-79.
