Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD)

e defining characteristic of an event which is traumatic is its ability to provoke helplessness, fear, or horror as a response to the threat of death or injury. As shown in the case study, to be positively diagnosed with PSTD, people have to be exposed to a stressor that are from traumatic or extreme events to which the respective person responded to with helplessness, fear or horror and to have three different symptom types comprising of re-experiencing of the event, avoidance of any reminders of the particular event and hyper-arousal for at least a months period. Re-experiencing of the event involves the recollections that are unwanted of the incident that take the form of distressing nightmares, images or flashbacks. Symptoms of avoidance …show more content…
In the first month duration of the traumatic experience, the persons who are traumatized may achieve the diagnostic criteria that is associated with acute stress disorder. Even though acute stress disorder does not always precede PSTD, it is highly associated with an elevated risk of PSTD. The case study addresses a case of Elaine who went through a PSTD as a result of her life experiences. The beginning was the experiences in a desegregated high school where she survived in solitude given that she was an African-American born of an outspoken father in the Civil Right movement times in Alabama. The case described how Elaine delved into her work, ignoring her social life, prolonging the traumatic experiences – fatigue, disorientation, and noise sensitivity- in her conscience. The helplessness, fear or horrible response she had was an emergency room experience that made her shake with fear as she recounted the horrifying …show more content…
A significant component of the treatment of traumatized individuals is through provision of education, support, a feeling of safety, and this can be achieved through provision of primary care. Education is crucial in making the patients comprehend the nature of the condition that they are in as well as the recovery process. Once they understand their condition is brought about by symptoms of psychobiologic reactions to stress that is overwhelming instead of flaws in character or a weakness sign, then they will recover better. Medication will also be beneficial to traumatized persons whereby the subscription can be done by a primary care physician. Results achieved through randomized critical trials document that medications like selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, monoamine oxidase inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants are documented as alleviators of the symptoms of PSTD and are also associated with improving the overall functioning of disorder victims (Kessler