Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Symptoms and Treatment

Subject: Psychiatry
Pages: 7
Words: 1999
Reading time:
7 min
Study level: Master

Nervous breakdown condition arises from traumatic events like natural calamities, somber accidents, which have a likelihood of causing death. It is a syndrome that affects people of all categories, including ethnic groups, different nationalities, and at any given age distribution. Patients with the condition are likely to go through highly troubling thoughts and moods associated with their familiarity, which took a long time after the incident. The event come back as a result of nightmares and make them feel unhappy or angry situations. Therefore, trauma condition is mostly triggered by a catastrophic, life-changing incident, which results in revisiting the experience, not connecting with others around oneself, and being under stress, thus, necessitating specialist types of treatment.

PTSD also known as trauma and stress associated disorder is associated with a series of manifestations that include intrusion, intrusive thoughts such as recurrent and involuntary memories, and remembrance of the distressing events. Plain emotional stress and reactions to anything that seems to bring recalling of the event. Secondly, avoidance, in the plan of circumventing the terror event’s reminders, tends to separate from friends, places, and activities linked to remembering. The traumatized victims develop the habit of not explaining the exact happening of the scenarios. Patients also tend to have changes in perception and moods, patients in this category tend to experience distorted feelings and though. The affected persons keep on blaming themselves and lack a settled mind. In addition, they have changes in provocation and reactivity that are characterized by having short-tempered and angry upsurge. These sufferers tend to react destructively and have problems focusing together with sleeping. Trauma conditions have a likelihood of interference with individuals’ life patterns, and it involves matters dealing with mental activity.

Etiology According to Biological Perspective

Post-traumatic stress disorder consists of psychological observations and analysis. It helps the psychiatrist get to know the neurobiological contrivances beneath the condition. The research is conducted using the cross-sectional approach; different characters who had the PSTD put underexposure and a similar test conducted with unexposed individuals, propranolol and placebo were used. The psychophysiological valuation worked to provide enough information compared to a patient’s obtained report. For instance, the heartbeat, skin reaction, and facial performance during traumatic imagery suggested lower for those who took propranolol. The adrenergic competitor present in humans decreases the merging of stressful moments to those who took the placebo.

The research further showed that the mental responses before and after intellectual, behavioral psychoanalysis for PTSD proved that treatment responders were likely to show a substantial drop in an eye blink, heartbeat, and skin reaction. The treatment non-responders no change or response. Conditioning and sensitization apply to illustrate post-traumatic stress disorder. There are nervousness cases where lack of disturbance-related issues affects the overall sensitization of the central nervous system. The variations in anxiety conditioning, extermination learning, and retention are likely to get involved in the advancement of care of PTSD. The condition accompanies discrepancies in the ability to quench and destroy the understanding of an acquired fear or response.

Etiology According to Environmental Perspective

The situational risk of PTSD is dependent on the nature of traumatic exposure. For instance, sexual battering is likely to cause an intense effect than accidental occurrences. The genetic environment happens when the genotype responsible for the disorder is affected by the nonappearance or presence of the ecological pathogen. Conducted researches and epidemiologic fieldwork experiments performed have shown the disease facts. Different individuals have been placed under environmental exposure to show ancillary psychiatric indisposition, one of the pointers of potential gene ecological collaboration. Additionally, the proof for heterogeneity in the stimulation of the environmental determinants has demonstrated that in conditions where inherent factors do not entirely explain the illness.

Naturally, similar characters can fail to pose the symptoms of PTSD because they have not undergone the exposure of a given traumatic scenario compared to other psychiatric syndromes that must occur as a result of environmental exposure. The manifestation of a perceptible event allows the measurement of traumatic features that include; exposure period, the nature of the causative event, and intentionality of the factors. These factors give estimates of the preceding level of operation together with the timing of causative exposures.

Treatment Approaches for PTSD and Reviewed Examples

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Approach (CBT)

Firstly, the primary treatment for an individual with the condition is particular short-term psychiatric therapy. People are different, and treatment may not work for all cadres; others need to try different techniques to get enough help and peace of mind. Firstly, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapy form of treatment that has continuously worked over a specific period. It has to treat both long and short-term illnesses. CBT focuses majorly on traumatic events and occurrences (Knopf, 2021). It put more effort into identification, deeper understanding, changing the ability and thinking capacity together with analyzing character patterns. It is a form of active treatment that engages the health seeker in and outside the planned appointments. The psychiatrist has to possess enough skills for application to cater to all sensitive areas that might be the causative agent of the illness. The skill obtained and acquired in the therapy sessions conducted repeatedly help in the upgrading of the sickness.

Examples of CBT

CBT has several examples linked to traumatic conditions and includes exposure therapy, whereby it is a form of interpolation that assists the individuals to face and have the ability to control their fears. It proves achievement by exposing them to causative actions like trauma memory they are likely to go through in a safe environment. The exposure uses mental imagery, describing places and scenes that remind them of their trauma cause. The virtual reality that involves creating a similar mental picture resembles the event can also treat the condition. The formula and technique help the individual to become less sensitive and reactive over time. These people need close monitoring and control to protect them from getting injured.

Cognitive restructuring assists the affected individuals in making sense of bad memories. Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) acts towards the acknowledgment and reassessment of trauma-associated thinking. It focuses majorly on how people view their acts after the exposure of the events. After the attack or threatening event, Erroneous thinking keeps the patients stuck in their memories and hinders them from recovering. CPT is specific on learning the skills to evaluate the thoughts supported by facts and understand whether they are essential to the trauma.

Prolonged exposure therapy is a form that depends more heavily on behavioral therapy strategies to assist the patients in progressively approaching trauma-linked reminiscences and emotions. It focuses majorly on exposures to support clients evading the conditions. Avoidance of these recaps is a solution to short-term, and in a long time, it hinders recovery from post-traumatic disorder. Prolonged exposure use features that relate to trauma details of the experience, which antagonize trauma-related conditions. Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) decreases nervousness by teaching and influencing coping skills to deal with stress that accompanies PTSD. It is used as an unconnected treatment and also gets used with other forms of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The main objective of stress inoculation treatment is to educate different persons on how to react to various symptoms they are experiencing.

Application of Medicinal Drugs Approach

The use of medicines includes pharmacological products specifically designed to suppress the effect of trauma. Many of these medicinal products are proven to curb and prevent illnesses such as nervousness and different forms of depression. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been the first line of the treatment plan for dealing with mood changes or anxiety conditions (Ciapponi, 2021). It operates by rectifying problems through the transportation and circulation of serotonin in the brain. The underlying cause of the issue has resulted from the upsurge of the amygdala. There are only two types of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Sertraline and paroxetine drugs prove to function for the ailment treatment. The medications also exhibit side properties that range from headaches to ideas of committing suicide together with erotic dysfunctioning and the side, and the drug can be a form of a lifesaver. The products are helpful, especially in health seekers who have co-happening disorders, including anxiety and despair.

Examples of Medications

These medications perform better if the patient continuously uses the drugs at least for a year. Sertraline, also Zoloft, is a drug used in treating and suppressing social nervousness, panicking disorder, and obsessive-compulsive condition. They perform effectively on patients affected by physical or sexual harassment. The recommended dosage is 50 to 200 mg daily for prescribed patients. Paroxetine (Paxil) needs a slight impact on norepinephrine and dopamine that also affects the disease symptoms. Research shows that it treats melancholy, pain intensiveness, obsessive-compulsive conditions, and everyday anxiety. The patient has been prescribed 20 to 60 mg daily without skipping the set time. The fluoxetine, also Prozac, has been used for the same purpose as Zoloft. Venlafaxine (Effexor) operates the same as the SSRIs, but the difference is that it hinders the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin.

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) these medicinal products operate by causing the blockage in eliminating norepinephrine, dopamine substances, and serotonin from the human brain. They are highly effective when treating and curbing PTSD and other conditions. The recommended drug includes phenelzine (Nardil). The victims likely to use the drug have shown improvements in reducing indicators like bad memories, avoidance actions, and insomnia conditions. The treatment is also associated with potentially fatal consequences for high blood pressure can have a habit and nature of reacting vigorously with illegal drugs and alcohol. Beta-blockers are another set of medical supplements used in the treatment of conditions. They also act by hindering norepinephrine in the brain and preventing adrenaline from getting into organs like the muscles and heart. They assist majorly in decreasing hyperarousal and aggressive actions. They are also set to reduce the brutality of repetitive conditions like everyday nervousness.

Propranolol is an example of Nardil and is a commonly used medication for recurrent cases. The plan sets to minimize explosive anger, embellished staggering, and nightmares. Benzodiazepines use help in the treatment, and they promote the action of the GABA receptor, a neurotransmitter present in the brain. It acts in decelerating down and tranquilizing the central nervous system. The drugs tend towards being addictive, causing mental blurring that makes it challenging to assimilate the traumatic involvements (Hooker et al., 2021). The use of different drugs serves to choose that fit their condition. The most commonly used benzodiazepines are clonazepam for severe diseases, Ativan and Diazepam specifically. They are consumed only under the professionals’ prescription. Prazosin (Minipress) has maximum uses by victims surviving with PTSD, and it helps them find liberation from nightmares and insomnia conditions positively. It effectively brings back the usual sleep patterns and, to some extent, a settled mind-set.

Cognitive behavior therapy serves as the best treatment approach that suits traumatized patients. The analysis helps the professional understand the origin of the issues and act accordingly without using medicines. The use of drugs leads to an impact on other body organs and can cause further complications. The friendly act of getting information from the patient assists in fixing problems surely and consistently that do not affect them negatively.

In conclusion, there is no specific technique for treating PTSD symptoms but choosing and selecting a good therapist forms the basis of good treatment. Medication has to be integrated with other subcomponents to facilitate a well-designed therapy. Post-traumatic ailment is a highly incapacitating and suffering condition where history is always present in people troubled by lifeless frozen commemorations. It also gives the chance and opportunity for mental and spiritual development due to the capacity of humans to adapt and survive despite the experiences and difficult moments. Referrals to the seriously affected client to experts need allowance to get the necessary help for their condition. These strategies help them discover their problem, allowing them to get the required medical attention. The usage of chemical need regulation and control to avoid excessive interference of normal body functioning.

References

Ciapponi, A. (2021). What are the benefits and harms of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for people with stroke? Cochrane Clinical Answers. Web.

Hooker, S., Lonergan-Cullum, M., Levy, R., Nissly, T., & Sherman, M. (2021). Longitudinal assessment of mental health and well-being in patients being treated with medications for opioid use disorder in primary care. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 13, 100348.

Knopf, A. (2021). Indivior‐sponsored event focuses on opioids during COVID‐19. Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 33(9), 5-6.