The DSM-V defines PTSD as “as exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation...The disturbance, regardless of its trigger, causes clinically significant distress or impairment in the individual 's social interactions, capacity to work or other important areas of functioning. It is not the physiological result of another medical condition, medication, drugs or alcohol.” Unlike popular belief, PTSD is not just an anxiety disorder and in actuality represents a much deeper issue for people who suffer from it with symptoms of PTSD including: anxiety, difficulty sleeping, increased aggression towards others, flashbacks and difficulty concentrating. (American Psychiatric Association) These symptoms usually go away with
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Among seniors, the rate of sub-PTSD symptoms is estimated to be roughly 7 to 15%. Furthermore, these symptoms can become harder for seniors to cope with because of changes in their life such as retirement, and the death of loved ones. (Hermann) Since the main issue with PTSD (and many other psychological disorders) in today 's society is the amount of misinformation available to laypersons, it follows that in order to better care for older people with PTSD, their caretakers must be informed on the symptoms and care of people with post traumatic stress disorder. In order to deal with the issues that a growing elderly population with symptoms of PTSD can pose, it is necessary to provide adequate treatment and care for senior citizens with posttraumatic stress …show more content…
Not everyone who has PTSD will experience flashbacks, but the belief that everyone who has PTSD also has flashbacks can lead to caretakers treating their elderly patients unfairly. While it is true that people who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder do experience flashbacks at times, but these are infrequent and rarely lead to murder. The actual content of a flashback, that is to say, what the person experiencing a flashback goes through will vary from person to person. These flashbacks run a spectrum from seeing sights and hearing sounds that were acute in the traumatic event that caused the PTSD to having unwanted memories pop up suddenly. In the aftermath of a flashback, the person experiencing the flashback will almost always feel disoriented due being cognitive of the fact that the experience they just had was not real and feeling cognitive dissonance between how real it felt and how unreal they know that it was.
As such, caretakers for the elderly would have to be trained in how to deal with elderly patients who experience flashbacks in a way that does not heighten their emotional distress. Furthermore, they would have to have a knowledge of what triggers flashbacks in their patients in order to either help the patients alleviate their symptoms or learn to cope with them. For instance, if a particular patient is a veteran whose triggers include any loud noises such as fireworks,
Among seniors, the rate of sub-PTSD symptoms is estimated to be roughly 7 to 15%. Furthermore, these symptoms can become harder for seniors to cope with because of changes in their life such as retirement, and the death of loved ones. (Hermann) Since the main issue with PTSD (and many other psychological disorders) in today 's society is the amount of misinformation available to laypersons, it follows that in order to better care for older people with PTSD, their caretakers must be informed on the symptoms and care of people with post traumatic stress disorder. In order to deal with the issues that a growing elderly population with symptoms of PTSD can pose, it is necessary to provide adequate treatment and care for senior citizens with posttraumatic stress …show more content…
Not everyone who has PTSD will experience flashbacks, but the belief that everyone who has PTSD also has flashbacks can lead to caretakers treating their elderly patients unfairly. While it is true that people who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder do experience flashbacks at times, but these are infrequent and rarely lead to murder. The actual content of a flashback, that is to say, what the person experiencing a flashback goes through will vary from person to person. These flashbacks run a spectrum from seeing sights and hearing sounds that were acute in the traumatic event that caused the PTSD to having unwanted memories pop up suddenly. In the aftermath of a flashback, the person experiencing the flashback will almost always feel disoriented due being cognitive of the fact that the experience they just had was not real and feeling cognitive dissonance between how real it felt and how unreal they know that it was.
As such, caretakers for the elderly would have to be trained in how to deal with elderly patients who experience flashbacks in a way that does not heighten their emotional distress. Furthermore, they would have to have a knowledge of what triggers flashbacks in their patients in order to either help the patients alleviate their symptoms or learn to cope with them. For instance, if a particular patient is a veteran whose triggers include any loud noises such as fireworks,