Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Term Paper ExampleThe psychological damage resultant of intractable, horrifying life events possesses a underlying focus of psychiatric interest within the discipline of psychology. Majority of the early psychiatrists conceived psychological trauma as the definitive source of psychopathology (Ehlers & Steil, 1995).Until recently, the consequences of certain traumas such those stemming from wars, rape, concentration camp experiences, child abuse, and civilian disasters were largely described as distinct entities nevertheless, keen examination makes it apparent that the human reception to overwhelming and uncontrollable life events is incredibly consistent, but the nature of the trauma, the victims age, predisposing personality, and community response all bear significant impact on the posttraumatic syndrome (Brewin & Holmes, 2003).The American psychiatrical Association clearly recognized this in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Dis order, 3rd edition (DSM-III) when it launched a separate division for the human response to overwhelming life events delineated as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Majority of the sufferers of PTSDA continues living in emotional environments of the traumatic environment with tolerating vigilance for and aesthesia towards the environmental threat. The five principal features of the human response to trauma encompass (1) an enduring startle response and irritability (2) proclivity to volatile bursts of aggression (3) infantile fixation with the trauma (4) limitation on the overall degree of personality functioning and, (5) unusual dream life (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).In mild cases, the trauma is in the end remedied by integration of traumatic events into the totality of the subjects life experiences nevertheless, in most cases, some or all the symptoms may endure during periods of later(prenominal) stress. The reactions can be grouped into three core