PTSD Research Paper

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Pages: 4

In this paper I will research and discuss PTSD (post-traumatic stress syndrome) as well as explain the symptoms of the disorder and ways to help treat the disorder.
PTSD disorder has many different physical and mental issues. An individual with PTSD can develop serious panic disorders, depression, substance abuse, and suicidal tendencies. The symptoms of PTSD can be grouped into three classifications. The first one is re-experiencing symptoms which involve symptoms like flashbacks, bad dreams and frightening thoughts. These can cause complications in someone’s day by day practices. Therefore, this happens when objects, words, places or situations remind the individual of things that might have happened in the past which then causes the person
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One kind of treatment might work on one individual but not on the next. At times a person may need to try different kinds of treatments to find out what works best for them. The treatments that are available to PTSD patients are many. Psychotherapy is one kind of treatment, which is a form of talk therapy. It is when the individual with PTSD sits with a mental health professional for one on one counseling from 6 to 12 weeks or until the patient is finding relief. The therapist may use special techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, cognitive restructuring, stress inoculation and light therapy. This type of therapy can help in many areas of PTSD. It helps with teaching the clients how the trauma has affected them, learning relaxation techniques, tools to help have a more restful sleep, diet tips, ways to deal with fear, guilt, shame and emotions that come for the event that happened. Furthermore it also helps with recognizing how the person reacts to PTSD and can change negative patterns. There are also medications that help in treating PTSD. There are many different kinds of medications but the two that are approved by the FDA are Zoloft and Paxil which are Antidepressants. These two medications help to treat depression, anxiety, sleep issues as well as concentration. Anti-anxiety medications can also help in treating PTSD they help with anxiety as well. One problem though with prescribing anti-anxiety medications is that individuals tend to abuse the medication and not take them as prescribed. Another drug that can help with symptoms of PTSD is Prazosin. Prazosin can help when having problems with nightmares and insomnia. There are times when medication and talk therapy can work together to treat individuals with PTSD. The effectiveness of all these treatment is promising and normally an individual can see results within only a few