PTSD Treatments

¶ … Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on one's well being can be problematic if not successfully understood and incorporated within a person's psyche. The purpose of this essay is to critically review the literature on the diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of PTSD from a "biopsychosocial" perspective. This approach is holistic in nature and is helpful in understanding that nature of disorders and their place within the medical profession. Disorders are important because they suggest a relative problem and not an objective problem.

Order is subjective and the need to view PTSD from a more objective viewpoint is helpful in learning what its study can truly do for those who are suffering from the ill effects of trauma. While trauma is inherent in the human condition, successful ways of dealing with this issue of life development have not been adequately expressed in a cohesive manner.

This essay attempts to bridge these gaps of misunderstanding through the examination of empirical example, thorough research and well define terms, in a summation of literature relevant to the topic at hand. Literature Review Haugen et al. (2013) presented a useful article on the idea of treating those with PTSD experienced through attacks of 9/11. This research article documented the treatments of first responders through three different core techniques. These techniques were highlighted as useful tools in treating PTSD in such a manner.

The article was premised on the fact that there were many people traumatized on the days of the terrorist attacks and nearly 60,000 worked in the aftermath and rescue effort. The trauma imposed on this group of people was used as a basis to measure the effects of desired treatments. The authors suggested that three interventions: 1. Meaning Making 2. Following the Affect 3. Interpreting Defenses all support an integrative means of blending successful patterns of treatment into one simple system.

The authors suggested that "the interventions are components of a cohesive, integrative treatment approach combining prototypic elements of psychodynamic and cognitive -- behavioral therapies tailored to this population. The goal of treatment is to help the patient to "reestablish a sense of purpose and meaning in life and hope for the future, in spite of the fear and loss inspired by the trauma" (Krupnick, 2002, p. 77).

Such meaning making is associated with but not equivalent to symptom reduction and is facilitated by focusing on the most affect-laden parts of the traumatic memories and helping the patient to relax implicit avoidance strategies on which they have relied." This article is useful because it provides a useful model in treating trauma victims in a comprehensive manner. The research in the article does not provide success rates or empirical example about the long ranges success of these intervention treatments discussed in the articles.

This is admitted in the article, and is listed as a limitation to the research. The article was useful in other ways because it demonstrated an holistic approach to a problem that was well reasoned and clear to understand. Peri & Gofman (2013) presented an intervention model for patients suffering from PTSD symptoms in their research article.

Their research was premised on the idea that there is a very high rate of PTSD patients who are not effectively treated and that a new approach is called for to help in this dearth of healing.

The authors wrote "we propose that current psychotherapies for PTSD concentrate on extinction of conditioned fear responses and on correcting impaired cognitive networks that cause uncontrolled anxiety and fear in innocuous situations, although other emotions commonly associated with trauma -- such as guilt, shame and anger (Brewin, 2011) -- are not directly addressed by current evidence based interventions." The authors offered a treatment called Narrative Reconstruction (NR) to help address the problems with intrusive symptoms of PTSD.

They wrote "NR is a brief and focused intervention (up to 12 sessions) combining elements of cognitive -- behavioral treatment (CBT) such as exposure and cognitive restructuring, albeit in a unique way, alongside psychodynamic elements. The goal of NR is to create a cohesive and chronological narrative of the trauma while simultaneously addressing the personal significance of the trauma and integrating it in the patient's autobiographical memories." This treatment is highlighted and discussed throughout the article and provides a useful model of treating certain types of PTSD patients.

The results recorded in this article based on an empirical example were positive in terms of their approach being able to work. The article is useful for those seeking new therapies or systems in treating patients who have not overcome long bouts with the negative and troublesome symptoms of PTSD. Jakovljevic et al. (2012) presented an etiological approach in their research article related to PTSD. Their aim of their research was to find a trans-disciplinary approach to understanding the root causes of PTSD.

The article is well written and provides a useful literature in their descriptive approach to research. The authors found a very helpful means of expressing the issues of PTSD through the examination of several key pieces of literature. The authors eventually concluded from their investigation that "PTSD is a complex highly disabling and suffering disorder where the past is always present in people haunted by the dread frozen in memory of the traumatic events.

However, PTSD also represents an opportunity for psychological and spiritual growth due to the human ability to adapt and thrive despite experiencing adversity and tough times." By introducing a spiritual element into their research the authors presented a more humane understanding of PTSD and showed a courageous respect for the limitations of science and inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning must be paired with deductive thought to present any large scale issues on specific conditions like PTSD and other similar disorders.

The aritlce was very simple to understand and was quite up front about its findings. This approach in their writing style helped in the ultimate translation of the information and data. The unifying qualities that PTSD presents were also approached in this article in this manner consistent with a straight forward approach. While the previous selections of literature all related to the symptoms of PTSD, diagnosis was not addressed. Edwards (2013) presented in his research article a new understanding of integrating factors to form diagnosis.

The article was premised on the idea that there is still much confusion on the subject despite the massive amounts of literature available on the subject of PTSD. The authors wrote "Despite the wealth of published research evaluating a wide range of psychological interventions for clients with PTSD and other disorders consequent on experiencing traumatic events, conflicting messages.