Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: causes and symptoms
This brief document is intended to explain what the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and what are its most frequent causes and symptoms.
Also, publicize how psychology professionals help refugees in countries that do not provide guarantees for effective psychological treatment.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Reality in Today's World
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (often called PTSD for short) is a disorder that is classified within the anxiety disorders. It is originated by a exposure to some situation of extreme anxiety, such as rape, kidnappings, wars, accidents, etc.
Post traumatic stress is not subject to any experience defined a priori, there is a great variety of events that can change life depending on each case.
Types of PTSD
According to Azcárate Mengual (2007) there are 3 types of PTSD:
Acute PTSD: Symptoms last less than 3 months.
Chronic PTSD: Symptoms last 3 months or more.
Delayed-onset PTSD: Symptoms appear 6 months or more after the traumatic event.
In some cases, traumatic experiences accompanied by
high degrees of anxiety (which include fear, anguish, nervousness, etc.). All this generates in the person a emotional exhaustion extreme that is also usually accompanied by irrational ideas and thoughts.Diagnosis of PTSD
For a correct post-traumatic stress assessment First, you must have a complete knowledge of the factors involved in the genesis and development of the problem. Points to consider and keep in mind are:
Background.
Triggers.
Maintenance factors.
Possible solutions, etc.
A clinic history complete patient, the professional monitoring and family support appropriate will serve a lot in the rehabilitation of the patient.
Treatment
Each person is a different bio-psycho-social entity, and therefore the treatment in these types of disorders will be very varied, since it is necessary to analyze the emotional and psychological impact of the subject who has experienced such an event and see how it develops after it to propose what type of treatment is effective and can help in the emotional and psychological regulation of the person.
Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies have been and are the most used in almost all anxiety disorders, since post-traumatic stress is a subtype of them. This technique is one of the most effective and brings the best results.
However, there are specific techniques that are also effective, such as the already known Desensitization and Reprocessing by Eye Movement (or EMDR, for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). EMDR is based on the assumption that anxiety is due to the fact that the search for the traumatic event remains or has remained without having been processed, which has the result of keeping cognitions, behaviors and feelings about the event experienced long ago blocked.
In cognitive psychotherapies, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy or TREC it is one of the most used techniques. The TREC advocates a profound philosophical change in the patient, [briefly explain what each new technique that is presented consists of] and It has also been characterized by being based on in-depth research on anxiety disorders and the effectiveness of its techniques in these problems.
Pharmacological therapies, as always, are very helpful. These must be prescribed by a psychiatrist who indicates the medicine, the dose and the time that the person will remain in said treatment.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in hostile territory
Although many of us do not live in a hostile environment, at any moment we can experience some situation that may trigger an emotional psychological alteration, and that will require a professional mental health. However, today in some countries of the world a large part of the population suffers from post-traumatic stress caused by wars that have been crawling through the area for years.
Among them Ukraine and Syria, the latter country that has been hit hard by the war and by everything that has been unleashed over time. Since peace is still far from being achieved, there are many professionals, both medical and mental health, who today continue to work to help a prison population. From panic and with a high rate of PTSD, about 60% of the Syrian population suffers from post-traumatic stress and the numbers could rise to 85% if the conflict continues.
There is a group of mental health professionals in charge of help the most vulnerable part of the populationlike children. The known techniques used by these professionals are projective ones. At the same time, it is important to highlight how in the drawings of Syrian children the reality and cruelty in which they live submerged is expressed. Their fears, anxieties and fears are also reflected, and are in themselves an illustration of the ways in which PTSD can crystallize through forms of creative expression. These works are complemented by some alternative techniques to psychological ones such as dance, singing, etc. These are part of a therapeutic program that could help hundreds of children improve their emotional well-being.
Bibliographic references:
Azcárate Mengual, M. TO. (2007). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Brain Damage. Madrid: Díaz de Santos.
Horse, V. (2010). Behavior modification manual. Guayaquil: University of Guayaquil.
International Classification of Diseases, tenth version.
