Ballistic trauma

were bullied as children have trouble holding jobs, interacting with people, and their health (Walton). There is more to the effects in adulthood than just relationships and jobs; bullying can lead into severe emotional trauma that may be just as bad as or worse than the physical trauma. Brain image scans were used in a study to show that certain areas of the brain are stimulated when experiencing emotional pain; these areas that were stimulated were the same as those experiencing physical pain…

‘Got your six’; a military term used during missions to indicate support for fellow soldiers. However, this term is relevant for service members and civilians alike, and is a term that resonates with me. As a clinical psychologist it is necessary to support your clients, and it is a phrase to symbolize collaboration, a necessity when conducting research. Before and throughout my time at the University of Virginia, my personal history and my combination of volunteer opportunities, classwork, and…

In 1980, PTSD was officially added to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Friedman). “PTSD, or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of a life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorists incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood” (“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”). Recently PTSD service dogs have…

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is one of the most stressful things any human being could ever go through. You could only imagine the types of obstacles these victims have to face on a daily basis; this makes coping with stress all the more difficult. CSA causes a significant amount of stress on the body; this type of stress can directly effect a person’s ability to cope, their immune function and their overall health. There are long-term effects to CSA as well. These long-term effects damage all…

“Abnormal Psychology”, James N. Butcher, Jill M. Hooley, and Susan Mineka (2007), define post-traumatic stress disorder as a “disorder that occurs following an extreme traumatic event, in which a person reexperiences the event, avoids reminder of the trauma, and exhibits persistent increased arousal” (p. 623). For example, a traumatizing event for a young girl can be getting kidnapped. If one day she is kidnapped and found by the police and her parents after few days, most definitely that…

A large part of the costs of service dogs is often times offset by volunteer puppy raisers. Volunteers teach the basics; to sit, walk on a leash, house training, and other basic commands. Professional trainers that provide formal training charge around $20,000 to train one dog. If the puppy raisers are paid, the cost can potentially double (Service Dogs). The term “intelligence disobedience” is an essential part of training a guide dog. This means that the dog knows not to follow a command if…

Abortion has always been a topic that many find uncomfortable. With all the politics and politicians including Justice Anthony Kennedy from the Supreme Court involved there is constant debate on whether abortion is safe for women and if abortion should be part of women’s rights. (Davida Becker, Jillian Henderson, Julia Steinberg 2011) In this day and age women are told both the good consequences and the bad consequences with abortion before they can have one. There are many pros and cons for…

I have always found interest in the way the brain functions. It is one of the primary influences on my decision to study psychology. As a psychology major I have learned all about why humans act as they do. One interesting concept is the way the body responds to stress. Stressors initiate the fight or flight response in the body. This is your brain’s way of telling your body whether it should stay or flee in a perceived or potentially dangerous situation. Cases in which the body does not have…

In Loughran’s article, Shell Shock, Trauma, and the First World War: The Making of a Diagnosis and Its Histories, Loughran gives great insight about PTSD incidents that happened during the war. Some soldiers came out of the trenches stuttering, trembling or even blind. First documented during…

We live in a world where fear and anxiety are common and in some point in our lives we will all witness a traumatic event, however, the way one reacts to trauma can affect him/her in the long-run. Some people are able to cope and progress from the life-threatening event with a fight-or-flight response, which is a natural coping mechanism that protects an individual from harm, while others remain constantly frightened, which leads to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a psychological…