Create a 6 page essay paper that discusses Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).Download file to see previous pages... This disorder presents after an event that creates a sense of continuing threat,

Create a 6 page essay paper that discusses Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

This disorder presents after an event that creates a sense of continuing threat, which in turn creates a sense of continuing terror and stress within the patient. Through an examination of a case study that provides an example of the condition, the effect on both the mind and the body can be appreciated. Treatment is available for the condition and can help the individual to work through the problems associated to this form of anxiety. The anxiety disorder known as post traumatic stress disorder can be a devastating problem, but with effective therapies the individual can work through their issues towards a better future. PTSD Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is defined by Nutt (2003) as “an anxiety disorder precipitated by exposure to an event which involves actual or threatened death or serious injury or threat to the personal integrity of self or others that causes intense fear, helplessness, or horror” (p. 5). The prevalence of the condition is at 3.5% of the general population with 12% of the population within hospitals having various intensities of the condition ( The symptoms of the condition can be experienced acutely, between 1-3 months, chronically for 3 or more months or they can be delayed and experienced more than 6 months after the instigating event. The condition will present through reliving certain events, by active avoidance of certain parts of the event, numbing and increased arousal. The diagnosis of the condition occurs as the patient experiences the symptoms when exposed to different aspects of the event (Nutt, 2003). In exploring PTSD it is clear that the condition can be brought on by events that many will weather through normal forms of processing, while others who experience similar events will be entrenched in those events and unable to appropriately process those events and move past them. The individual will have trouble being ‘in’ the world as they try to concentrate and have trouble sleeping. The events are present even if not thought about while the individual struggles to become unstuck from the events that placed them in a state of PTSD. There are three regions of the brain that are of interest where PTSD is concerned. These regions are the amygdala, the medial prefrontal cortex, and the hippocampus. The amygdala is of interest because it appears to be central to the threat stimuli, the work of this region providing the overstimulation to the concept of a threat. According to Vasterling (2005), “individuals with PTSD have shown heightened acquisition of conditioned fear in Pavlovian fear-conditioning paradigms” (p. 60). The prefrontal cortex is involved as it seems to be the site where instinctual fear responses are formed. Those who acquire PTSD are not able to condition themselves down from a fear response, repeated exposures to threats not decreasing with any significance and remaining at the same level. The patient is hyper responsive to fear stimuli and remains in a vigilant state. The hippocampus can become damaged, having difficulty in retaining memories when the heightened state of fear is prolonged (Vasterling, 2005). Because of the frontal lobe impairment where planning and organization takes place is affected and the temporal lobes are affected as memory and emotion are shut down, the individual with PTSD no longer has joy accessible nor can they plan or execute their future with any effectiveness (Lawlis, 2010).