POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

WHAT IS POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER(PTSD)

Post-traumatic stress disorder can be seen as any kind of disorder that an individual suffers which may be as a result of a physical or psychological traumatic experience relating to issues like rape, physical assault, accidents, illnesses, torture among others. These traumatic disorders can be aroused usually when events, people, sounds, words or anything responsible for that disorder is revisited.

SYMPTOMS OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDERS

1.Nightmares- People who suffer from PTSD usually suffer from nightmares which further deepen the pain or discomfort they have suffered from a tragic incident.

2.Depression- Victims of PTSD normally become prey to depression. They usually loose interest in social activities, have suicidal thoughts, feelings of being trapped and victimized, hopelessness and even suffer from poor health.

3.The fear of talking about the experience- People in this kind of situation often refrain from opening up to people about their experiences, because the thought of it arouses a state of panic in them. They also avoid getting into any form of circumstances that might cause them to open up on the subject.

4.Haunting thoughts- thoughts of the incident keep rearing its head in every area of a victims life, resulting in abnormal behaviour.

SOME INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

1.Exposure therapy- This kind of intervention strategy has to do with assisting victims of PTSD to revisit related traumatic incidents, with the view that it will help reduce the emotions that victims have attached to their traumatic memories, which will help in the healing process. The Success rates of this strategy raises eyebrows about its effectiveness, however some organizations see the need for it and, thus recommend it.

2.Cognitive and behavioural therapy- This deals with trying to change the thought patterns or any kind of behaviour which spark off negative traumatic emotions in trauma victims. Victims are thought to be able to notice any thinking pattern which arouses fear that is related to their traumatic experiences and replace those thoughts with more constructive ones. Research has it that, this therapy has an excellent success rate.

3.Interpersonal therapy- This is when treatment are offered to traumatic victims by trying to change their interpersonal behaviour through a means . The reason for the adoption of this method is that, interpersonal issues may play a role in PTSD issues.

4.Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing(EMDR)- This is a structured programme designed to tackle trauma-related disorders that has to do with the past, present and the future. Conducted studies have proven that, EMDR is as effective as cognitive behavioural and exposure therapies.

Post-traumatic stress disorder can be very damaging to an individual and as such should not be left unchecked. The advise therefore is to seek a lasting solution to it through the intervention strategies mentioned above or through other means like medication among others.

To have more information about this topic and how to get help concerning PTSD checkout... Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Teenage stress- signs and symptoms of stress

There are so many ways that people define stress, but I will define stress as the way people react to circumstances in life. These may be anything arising out of relationships, the pressure coming from loosing a loved one, a demanding job etc. The question that arises is, what is Teenage stress?

WHAT IS TEENAGE STRESS?

Teenage stress can be defined as the way teenagers respond to changes that may come from people, situations and feelings they may encounter in life. Teenage stress come form various sources among some of which are worrying about school work, peer pressure among others.Situations which causes stress are called stressors

IS STRESS GOOD OR BAD?

There are arguments that little amounts of stress is nothing to worry about, since our bodies have been created to deal with it. Stress however becomes a worrying issue when it is prolonged. This is because it can trigger health conditions like psoriasis, migranes, insomnia and other health related problems. This means that stress can be dangerous and must not be left unchecked. The question now is, how can one tell if he or she is under stress?

EARLY SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF STRESS

It is good to know the early signs and symptoms of stress so that action can be taking to combat it before it gets out of hand.

Early signs of stress may mainfest itself in so many ways of which some are
1.Poor concentration,
2.Inability to sleep properly,
3.Not being able to relax,
4.Excessive intake of caffeine, alcohol or cigarettes,
5.Inability to concentrate,
6.Dry mouth among others

MORE WORRYING SYMPTOMS OF STRESS

There are also more worrying stress symptoms which is an indication of how bad the stress level in an individual is. Some of these worrying symptoms are

1.Pains in the chest
2.Inability to swallow food like meat, bread and the like properly
3.Feelings of wanting to commit suicide
4.An unusual feeling of self harm
5.An unusual pulse rate even when relaxing or resting
6.persistent constipation or diarrhoea

The big advise here for teenagers is to try and identify the signs and symptoms of stress by themselves so that immediate action could be taken before the situaton gets out of control.

For help on how stress can be tackled effectively visit http://conqueringstressspot.com