Living through the trauma
Living Through the Trauma
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and its most efficacious treatments
Eva Garritsen 4030974
Introduction to Psychology
04-12-2013
Words: 2312
Introduction
A traumatic experience is able to leave behind an intense impression on the brain. Our brain is luckily sufficient enough to digest certain traumas. When people experience something terrible, the brain starts to process. At the beginning the experience is still very upsetting, nevertheless, in process of time the memories of the traumatic experience fade away. However, a trauma can be too overwhelming and beyond the normal scope of an individual’s suffering, such as war, natural disasters, rape or other terrible traumatic events. In this case, people are stuck with painful memories and other symptoms related to anxiety. People experiencing such symptoms, may be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD (Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson, Loftus, & Wagenaar, 2009). Living with PTSD can influence daily life very heavily and therefore it is very important to find a manner to cope with PTSD. Several treatments have been developed in order to move on with daily life. This essay will discuss two widely used treatments of PTSD; namely Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The two treatments will be explained and the efficacy of both will be compared. Eventually, some future guidelines for PTSD research will be given. To introduce PTSD a bit more, a short overview of the symptoms of this disorder will be given.
What are the symptoms of PTSD? As stated above, PTSD can develop after a trauma that is too overwhelming for a human being. Everyone experiences PTSD in different manners; however four main types of symptoms can be distinguished, which will be explained in the following. The first type of symptoms is re-experiencing of the trauma. This means that people can have nightmares about the
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and its most efficacious treatments
Eva Garritsen 4030974
Introduction to Psychology
04-12-2013
Words: 2312
Introduction
A traumatic experience is able to leave behind an intense impression on the brain. Our brain is luckily sufficient enough to digest certain traumas. When people experience something terrible, the brain starts to process. At the beginning the experience is still very upsetting, nevertheless, in process of time the memories of the traumatic experience fade away. However, a trauma can be too overwhelming and beyond the normal scope of an individual’s suffering, such as war, natural disasters, rape or other terrible traumatic events. In this case, people are stuck with painful memories and other symptoms related to anxiety. People experiencing such symptoms, may be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD (Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson, Loftus, & Wagenaar, 2009). Living with PTSD can influence daily life very heavily and therefore it is very important to find a manner to cope with PTSD. Several treatments have been developed in order to move on with daily life. This essay will discuss two widely used treatments of PTSD; namely Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The two treatments will be explained and the efficacy of both will be compared. Eventually, some future guidelines for PTSD research will be given. To introduce PTSD a bit more, a short overview of the symptoms of this disorder will be given.
What are the symptoms of PTSD? As stated above, PTSD can develop after a trauma that is too overwhelming for a human being. Everyone experiences PTSD in different manners; however four main types of symptoms can be distinguished, which will be explained in the following. The first type of symptoms is re-experiencing of the trauma. This means that people can have nightmares about the
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