PTSD

First Person Quotes The Invisible War on The Brain

Marine Cpl. Chris McNair He chose the Hannibal Lecter mask to represent himself. "He's probably dangerous, and that's who I felt I was. I had this muzzle on all these wounds, and I couldn't tell anyone about them. I couldn't express my feelings"

Treatments for PTSD The Invisible War on The Brain

Many soldiers are brought to therapy where they make masks to represent the way they feel. Emotions are hard for them to show, so they do it through art.

Symptoms of PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Traumatic Stressor: after reacting to explosions and other parts of war, if they here a loud noise, they will snap back into their war mind

First hand effects Post-traumatic stress disorder

"The experience of PTSD has sometimes been described as like being in a horror film that keeps replaying and can not be shut off.

Facts about PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

"The lifetime prevalence of PTSD among veterans of World War II and the Korean War is estimated at 20%."

Causes of PTSD The Invisible War on The Brain

"Brain Trauma from blast force is the signature Injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, afflicting hundreds of thousands of US combat personnel"

Reasons behind PTSD Ernst Kretschmer

"He claimed that physical properties of the face, skull and body structure were linked to character and psychiatric illness."

Facts about War The Invisible War on The Brain

"Improvised explosive devices (IED's) account for about 60% of all combat injuries in the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many such wounds are immediately visible."

Sociological Reasons of PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

"In countries like America, we glorify war in our media by making movies about them, so it is more likely for soldiers to get PTSD because they are returning home and see war as a joke.'

Health care team roles Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

"It is essential for all treatment team members to know their roles and execute them properly through treatment and recovery phases of this disorder. They need to stay calm and supportive through the whole treatment."

Increases risks of PTSD U.S. Dept. of Veterans

"Longer deployment times, more severe combat exposure, more severe physical injury, lower rank, lower level of schooling, not being married, family problems, females"

"Prevention" of PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

"PTSD is impossible to prevent completely because natural disasters and human acts of violence will continue to occur. It is also impossible to tell how bad someone will get PTSD before they are deployed."

Causes of PTSD U.S. Dept. of Veterans

"PTSD symptoms are more likely to show up in returning OEF/OIF service members after a delay of several months"

Medical Reasons of PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

"Present neurological research indicates that traumatic events cause lasting changes in the human nervous system, including abnormal levels of secretion of stress hormones."

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

"Relaxation training, includes breathing exercises and similar techniques intended to help the patient prevent hyperventilation and relieve the muscle tension associated with the fight or flight reaction of anxiety.

Ways to help the soldiers The dogs of War

"Soldiers go through many emotions during war, and the dogs help stabilize their emotions and remind them of their lives before war."

Things that need to be done U.S. History in Context

-Realize the connection of substance abuse and PTSD -To raise public awareness -Discuss problems with professionals, along with families and other soldiers -To develop public policies which will be helpful for trauma survivors

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

A lot of people think that victims of PTSD should be hospitalized, but that will make it severely worse. They need to be treated as out patients, unless they threaten to commit suicide.

Causes of PTSD Our Troops have Something to Say

Air Force Maj. Jeremy Verbout "The hardest part about going to war is being away from my family. The only thing keeping me in war is protecting my family. I get mixed emotions about what is better for them, me being with them, or me protecting them."

First Person Quotes The Invisible War on The Brain

Army Staff Sgt. Perry Hopman "I know my name, but I don't know the man who used to back up that name...I never thought I would have to set a reminder to take a shower, to take pills, to do anything. My daughter is four years old, so this is the only dad she knows"

Symptoms of PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Avoidant Symptoms: They take their self out of society to avoid seeing anything to trigger the memories. This causes them to lose people in their lives from being distant."

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy Exposure therapy, which seeks to desensitize the patient to reminders of trauma. Anxiety management training, which teaches patients strategies for reducing anxiety

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Drugs: Medication is the most common use of treatment for people with severe PTSD. This is never the only option, they will also receive a sort of group treatment. No single treatment is a "magic bullet", they need a combination of them all.

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Family Therapy: This form of treatment is recommended for PTSD patients whose family life has been affected by the PTSD symptoms

Symptoms of PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Hyper arousal: When a person's nervous system is on "red alert', this causes hyper vigilance, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, general irritability, and an extreme startle response.

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

If the person is suffering from depression, they will cure the PTSD before the depression because they the treatment responses are different from those associated with major depression.

Facts about PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder

In 2007 about 7.7 mill adults about 3.7% of boy teenagers and 6.3% of adolescent girls had PTSD

Symptoms of PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Intrusive Symptoms: These include Flashbacks, traumatic day dreams, or nightmares. They feel like they are still in danger in war constantly. They will sometimes only see images of a friend dying or other scary sights

First Person Quotes The Invisible War on The Brain

Kevin Parker "The shock wave from a distant explosion felt like it lifted my innards and put them back down"

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Psychodynamic psychotherapy This approach helps the patient recover a sense of self and learn new coping strategies and ways to deal with intense emotions related to trauma.

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Psychodynamic psychotherapy- 1) Establish a sense of safety for the patient 2) Exploring the trauma itself in depth 3) helping the patient re-establish connections with family, friends, the wider society, and other sources meaning.

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Relaxation Therapy/ Hydrotherapy "massage therapy, and armotherapy are useful to some patients in easing PTSD symptoms." They use specific oils that will help them relieve stress.

First person Quotes The Invisible War on The Brain

Sheri Hall, wife of soldier with PTSD "I told him, ... I'm not cleaning your brains off the bedroom wall. You kill yourself, you better leave a lengthy explanation as to why, because I can't explain to your kids, to your girls who love you, why you make such a mess of out lives"

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The most common treatment is medication. If the patient has started to abuse alcohol or drugs, they must be treated for the substance abuse first.

Treatment Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

They are formed for survivors of specific traumas, such as combat, rape/incest, and natural or transportation disasters. They help patients to recognize that other survivors of the shared experience have has the same emotions and reacted to the trauma in similar ways.