PTSD

ALANA PARKER, KYLISHIA NEWTON, NICHELLE MATIAS //__POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER ​__//

 Post- traumatic stress disorder is a disorder that can develop following a traumatic event that threatens your safety or makes you feel helpless. Any overwhelming life experiences can trigger PTSD, especially if the events are perceived as uncontrollable or unpredictable. PTSD is marked by clear biological changes as well as psychological PTSD is marked by clear biological changes as well as psychological symptoms. People with PTSD often may develop additional disorders such as depression, substance abuse, problems of physical and mental health. The disorder is also associated with impairment of the person’s in social or family life.
 * WHAT IS PTSD? **
 * 

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HISTORY OF PTSD__ ** In the early 1800’s, medical providers diagnosed soldiers with “exhaustion” which is characterized as mental shut downs due to trauma. In World War I and II, the term “shell shock” and combat fatigue were used to describe veterans and anxiety after being in combat.  Like today, soldiers during the 1800’s were not supposed to be afraid or show any fear in the heat of battle. The only treatment for this "exhaustion" was to bring the afflicted soldiers to the rear for a while then send them back into battle. Through extreme and often repeated stress, the soldiers became fatigued as a part of their body’s natural shock reaction.

PTSD can be categorized into 4 types, and depends on the length of time it takes for PTSD to appear and the amount of time it is present. 
 * Types of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder **
 * Acute Stress Disorder - Symptoms occur within 4 weeks of the traumatic experience and lasts in between 2 days and 4 weeks.
 * Acute Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Symptoms last for more than 4 weeks.
 * Delayed Onset Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Symptoms appear years after the traumatic experience.
 * Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Symptoms last for over 3 months with the symptoms disappearing for a few days and then reappearing.




 * SOME TRAUMATIC EVENTS THAT CAN LEAD TO POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER INCLUDE:**

- War - Kidnapping - Rape - Violent Abuse - Natural Disaster - Sexual or Physical Abuse - Car or Plane Crash - Medical Procedure

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 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">SYMPTOMS OF PTSD **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Flashbacks (images of the traumatic incident that keeps coming back to haunt you)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Nightmares (either of the event or of other frightening things)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Feelings of intense stress when reminded of the trauma
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Intense physical reactions to reminders of the event (pounding heart, fast breathing, nausea, muscle tension, sweating)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hesistant responses
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Loss of memory
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Poor concentration
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hypervigilance (similar paranoia)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Anger over small issues with violent outbursts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Extreme nervousness and anxiety
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Muscle aches and pains for no apparent reason
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Unexplained fear
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Low self-esteem/lack of confidence
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Experience a sudden numb feeling
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Avoiding anything that reminds of the traumatic experience



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 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">TREATMENT **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">- Effective treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder are available, and research is improving, There are more improved therapies that can help most people with PTSD, and other anxiety disorders which help lead productive, normal lives.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Medicines (Help feel less afraid and tense, might take a few weeks for them to work)
 * Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are generally considered "anti-depressant medications" and other popular medications are Prozac, Celexa, Paxil, Luvox, and Zoloft.
 * help improve your mood,help with sleep
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Psychotherapy- **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> diferent forms of therapy can be used to treat PTSD victims of all ages.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Cognitive therapy. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> This type of talk therapy helps you identify and change self-destructive thought (cognitive) patterns.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Exposure therapy. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> This behavioral therapy technique helps you confront the thing that you find upsetting or disturbing, so that you can learn to cope effectively with it.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> This type of therapy combines exposure therapy with a series of guided eye movements that help you process traumatic memories.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Cognitive behavior therapy. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> This approach combines cognitive and behavior therapy to help you identify unhealthy beliefs and behaviors and replace them with positive ones.
 * In our expert opinion, Ishmeal has the common symptoms of PTSD; we feel the best treatment for PTSD would be Trauma focused Cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy would be the best solution for Ishmeal because the therapy specifically deals with your thoughts and feelings. Throughout the novel, //A long way gone//, Ishmeal never dealt with his thoughts he only tried to busy himself to avoid thinking about the war. The treatment would expose him to situations that deal with trauma. Attending the behavioral therapy, may reduce the constant migraines Ishmeal undergoes. After several therapy sessions we feel Ishmeal will be able to live a normal life without enduring any physical harm such as migraines and a lost of sleep.** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">

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Article on helping sodliers overcome PTSD with a video game []
 * "The game of their lives / Biofeedback through video helps returning troops fight post-traumatic stress disorder"**



<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] [] [|http://www.epigee.org/mental health/ptsd.html] [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 223.2%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 186%;">**Ishmael Relation** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">

Chpt 13, Pg. 120

"I had a dream that I was picking up Josiah from the tree stump and a gunman stood on top of me. He placed his gun on my forehead. I immediately woke up from my dream and began shooting inside the tent.."


 * Ishmael had an incident that related to the Acute Stress Disorder symptom. Several days before having this nightmare while dozing off, Ishmael had killed several people and also lost several friends. Witnessing the friend of his death effected Ishmael greatly; which cause this nightmare to occur. The nightmare had seemed to real and Ishmael being so frightened from what he experienced, Ishmael woke up believing the dream was actually real.**

Chpt. 16, Pg. 140

"My hands began to shake uncontrollably and my migraines had returned with vengeance. It was if a blacksmith had an anvil in my head. I would hear and feel the hammering of metal in my head, and these unbearable sharp sounds made my veins and muscles sour. I cringed and rolled around on the floor by my bed or sometimes on the verandah."


 * At random moments, Ishmael begins to break out in sweats, shaking his hands uncontrollably, with severe migraines. Afterwards Ishmael hid in his room; not sure of what triggered Ishmael this time to react this way. This symptom could be stated as an unexplained fear and extreme nervousness and anxiety.**

Chpt. 16, Pg. 141

"But when she looked at me, I was still. She searched my face to see if I was in pain. She was confused, but continued to gently remove the pieces of glass from my bleeding hand. I didn't feel a thing."


 * Ishmael has been experiencing a numbness to pain for quite some time now. When Ishmael scrapped his knew and was having glass pulled out his hand Ishmael claimed he never felt any of the pain. Ishmael has suffered so much emotional pain that he actually blocks out the physical pain.**

Chpt. 16, Pg. 148

"But at the night some of us would wake up from nightmares, sweating, and punching our own heads to drive out the images that continued to torment us even when we were no long asleep. Other boys would wake up and start choking whoever was in the bed next to theirs; they would then go running into the night after they had been restrained."


 * Ishmael and the other boys suffered several PTSD symptoms during this incident; after waking up the boys would result to violence towards the others boys and punching their heads continuously. Ishmael and the boys would constantly wake up from nightmares sweating rapidly.**

Chpt. 16, Pg. 149

"It took several months before I began to relearn how to sleep without aid of medicine. But even when I was finally able to fall asleep, I would start awake less than an hour later. I would dream that a faceless gunman had tied me up and begun to slit my throat with the zigzag edge of this bayonet. I would feel the pain that the knife inflicted as the man sawed my neck. I'd wake up sweating and throwing punches in the air."


 * Ishmael continued to have frequent nightmares while going through the withdraw. Waking up from these nightmares causes Ishmael to have sudden violent outburst; throwing items across the room. These nightmares would happen because of the flashbacks of the incidents that happened several months prior; chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.**

Chpt 16 pg. 145 "Whenever i turned on the tap water, all I could see was blood gushing out, I would stare at it until it looked like water before drinking or taking a shower"


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Here, Ishamel is experiencing syptoms of PTSD by imagining images form the war with normal images in every day life. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">

Chpt 16 pg 148 "We fought eachother during lessons, sometimes stabbed each other's hands with pencils." Again, the boys are imagining things from the war wen they take normal objects(school supplies), and see them as weapons, to hurt one another.

Chpt 16 pg 145 "But we were still traumatized, and now that we had time to think, the fastened mantle of our war memories slowly began to open" Ishmael admitts that his tragic memories will start to apear more and more

Chpt 8 Pg 51 "To this day, I have an excellent photographic memory that enables me to remeber details of the day-to-daymoments of my life, indelibly." This statement refers back to the flashback symtoms of PTSD. The traumatizing memories he have had been planted into his mind for the rest of his life.

Chpt 8 Pg 52 " I became restless and afraid to sleep for fear that my surpressed thoughts would appear in my dreams" While in the forest, Ishamel's symptoms of loneliness affected him. he tried over and over to block out his thoughts, but the more he did the more he became upset.

Chpt 16 Pg 145 "Boys sometimes ran out of the hall screaming, 'The rebels are coming.'" This shows the boys brains are not functioning right. Thier brains always predict for the worst to happen because of the war.

Chpt. 17, Pg. 160 “That night was, as I sat on the verandah listening to the boys discuss the volleyball game. I had missed, I tried to think of my childhood days, but it was impossible, as I began getting flashbacks of the first time I slit a man’s throat.”
 * Ishmeal has gotten so affected by his own thoughts he cannot even remember stories of his childhood without getting a headache. At this point in the book we’ve noticed the physical trouble Ishmeal has undergone, but now his thoughts are beginning to affect his memory; seemingly, the lost of memory is the beginning to more problems in the future. Now the war is beginning to affect him negatively. **

Chpt. 17, Pg. 160

“That night was, as I sat on the verandah listening to the boys discuss the volleyball game. I had missed, I tried to think of my childhood days, but it was impossible, as I began getting flashbacks of the first time I slit a man’s throat.”


 * Ishmeal has gotten so affected by his own thoughts he cannot even remember stories of his childhood without getting a headache. At this point in the book we’ve noticed the physical trouble Ishmeal has undergone, but now his thoughts are beginning to affect his memory; seemingly, the lost of memory is the beginning to more problems in the future. Now the war is beginning to affect him negatively.**

Chpt. 19, Pg. 190

“Standing by a tree with red frozen sap on its bark would bring flashbacks of the many times we executed prisoners by tying them to trees and shooting them.”