PTSD

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**​PTSD- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder** Anna, Chelsea, Danny
 * **The History of PTSD**
 * PTSD has been around since traumatic events have been occuring
 * Doctors did not see the stress and complications from these traumatic events as an illness


 * People have struggled with PTSD long before the APA officially recognized PTSD as an emotional disorder
 * PTSD has been called a number of different names throughout times
 * People who developed PTSD during Civil War times referred to PTSD as **Soldier's Heart**
 * During World War I, PTSD was called **Combat Fatigue**
 * Later on, PTSD was called **Battle Fatigue** during World War II
 * PTSD was largely ignored until the Vietnam War
 * The Vietnam War brought public awareness to PTSD
 * PTSD was officially identified less than 30 years ago
 * The American Psychiatric Association classified PTSD in 1980
 * Today, nearly 8 million people suffer from PTSD


 * **How is PTSD caused?**
 * Combat in War
 * Witnessing combat as a civilian
 * Witnessing death or serious injuries
 * Car crashes
 * Witnessing of physical or sexual assault
 * Victim of physical or sexual assault
 * **What are the symptoms of PTSD?**
 * Symptoms of PTSD can be different for different people depending on their emotional state, age, genetics, and how bad the certain event was that they went through
 * Common symptoms include:
 * avoidance of thinking of the event
 * jumpy or on edge
 * difficulty of sleeping
 * Some caused by nightmares of event
 * loss of memory
 * guilt
 * flashbacks to the traumatic event
 * Flashbacks can last as breifly as only a few minutes or may last for days
 * auditory or visual hallucinations relating to the traumatic event
 * increasingly poor relationships with family and friends
 * depression
 * eating disorder
 * suicidal behavior
 * Symptoms may not always be present for a person with PTSD
 * Symptoms may happen often with some people and rarely with others


 * **What triggers a PTSD symptom?**
 * Reminders of the traumatic event such as a news article on a story on the event
 * loud sudden noises
 * People with PTSD may be symptomless for years until something like these things happens
 * **Treatment Options**
 * Anti-depression medications
 * Anti-anxiety medications
 * Therapy and support groups
 * Cognitive behavior therapy
 * Depression/anxiety therapy

** An interview with a war veteran with PTSD **
 * Stacey **** Chillemi **** : How did PTSD affect your life? **
 * Fred **** Rendon **** : ** PTSD affected my life from the time I was 19, in ways that were not visible to everyone. I could not concentrate I could not sit still I could not sleep at night. I was very uncomfortable all the time. I felt like people wanted to get me all the time. I could not feel good about myself. I had no self-esteem and in order to be sociable I had to drink alcohol. I did not drink like other people. I drank to get drunk and I could act like normal people for a while, but then I would get very obnoxious and people did not want to be around me. I could not hold jobs because of the alcoholism, lateness to arrive at a job. I would forget where I was going or I started to feel as though I was loosing my mind. I would have to pull over and cry and get my thoughts together and then try to get to work. No one would believe what was wrong with me and I did not know either so my life was like a roller coaster. I would have bursts of rage and anger that I did not know what to do. I had so much anger that I was afraid I would kill someone. I used to drive around in Mc Allen TX looking for people to shoot, I would have my pistol loaded and I would call to people and then point my gun at them, I wanted to kill some one and then I felt I could relax?????. I had many one-car accidents when I initially returned. I was arrested for DWI many times, which did not help my quest to get jobs with the government or anywhere else.

**Ishmael Beah's PTSD​** > - " I was afraid to fall asleep, but staying awake also brought back painful memories." > - " I felt as if somebody was after me...my shadow would scare me and cause me to run for mile." > - " My mind replayed these scenes." > - " I distanced myself from games in the village...until my migraines temporarily subsided." > - " One night I dreamt that I was shot in the head." > - " I was sweating...couldn't sleep for the rest of the night." > - " We dropped to the ground." > - Ishmael starts to smoke marijuana and sniff brown brown (cocaine mixed with gunpowder)
 * Chapter 2 Page 19
 * Chapter 8 Page 49
 * Chapter 12 Page 102
 * Chapter 12 Page 103
 * Chapter 12 Page 108
 * Chapter 14 Page 121

A link to an interview with Ishmael Beah []