Tech Talk by Dave Siever
PTSD & Trauma
Abstract: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the aftermath of trauma. Trauma spans a diverse spectrum of unfortunate life experiences such as sexual abuse, assault, car accidents, and natural disasters. PTSD occurs when the inflicted are unable to cope. Following trauma, permanent changes occur within the brain that increases “racy-headedeness,” guardedeness, anxiety, depression, insomnia, plus memory and cognitive impairments. The behavioral aftermath of PTSD typically involves increased aggression and drug and alcohol abuse. Audio-visual entrainment (AVE) has been shown to reduce anxiety and insomnia and improve coping for police officers. AVE has also been shown to reduce depression and anxiety among vets with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.
Introduction
The American Psychiatric Association defines psychological trauma as a threat to life, to yourself or someone close to you accompanied by intense fear, horror or helplessness. The ensuing brain damage from severe and chronic stress further brings about a host of trauma-related psychiatric disorders or trauma spectrum disorders, which include impairments in learning, reasoning, rationalizing, impaired alertness and increased destructive behavior including smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse, family violence and reckless risk taking (Bremner, 2002). Psychological trauma affects about half of all Americans sometime in their lives.
Every year, in the USA, more than 1 million children are confirmed as victims of child abuse (Teicher, 2002) and close to 50 million American adults have suffered from childhood abuse. Somewhere between 25 and 50 % of all Americans are exposed to a psychological trauma related to a wide variety of incidents including child abuse, assault, rape, car accidents, natural disasters, etc., at some time in their lives (Acierno, et al, 1999). Of these, about 15% will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), roughly comprising 5 to 8% of the American population, making it one of the most common illnesses in the USA. PTSD is twice as common in women as men (Kessler, et al, 1995). PTSD is 10 times more common than cancer, yet society dedicates only one tenth the funding in PTSD research as it does for cancer research (Bremner, 2002).
About one million young men experienced the stress of the Vietnam War between 1963 and 1971 and several hundred thousand were deployed in the Gulf War from 1990 to 1991 (Bremner, 2002). Currently, U.S. Service Members serving overseas in theaters of operation in Afghanistan and Iraq are continually subjected to direct and indirect traumatic effects of combat, which includes shelling, artillery, missile attacks, watching people die and dealing with burnt, charred bodies. Service members assigned to combat support and service support units that are not on the front lines are just as exposed to the effects of PTSD, since rear echelon units no longer have the traditional distinction of being non-combative. The individual service member’s physical condition, training and experience for combat will certainly prepare him or her for these various traumatic experiences often encountered during military missions. However, no matter how much an individual is trained to deal with the tragedy of war, trauma is inevitable.
Other major contributing factors related to PTSD are combat casualties, such as those related to a permanent disability such as amputation. These soldiers not only experience the immediate trauma from the event and struggle to dissociate from its significance, but also must deal with a physical irreversible change in their life, where psychological therapy is required for adaptation. The effects of PTSD are not one-sided. It also affects the spousal relationship, and puts as much or more stress on the spouse with the burden and apprehension of deployment and feelings of abandonment. Upon returning home, the dysfunction of PTSD has an immediate effect on the relationship of the veteran, spouse and family. If not diagnosed and treated promptly, PTSD quickly manifests itself into a socio-economic burden on society. To exemplify the far-reaching aspects of PTSD, it has been reported that more veterans have died in motorcycle accidents at home in the USA from thrill seeking (350 deaths) than in Afghanistan (259 deaths) (The Edmonton Journal).
With the exceeding numbers of civilian and military Americans that suffer from PTSD, research to develop a non-drug treatment/method of therapy for treating PTSD, and without adverse side effects, would be an asset to both the inflicted as well as society.
Physiology of the Fear Response
The survival response rapidly activates via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis is a “triangle” in which the hypothalamus and pituitary glands in the brain communicate with the adrenals. In response to stress, the hypothalamus releases corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF), which causes the anterior pituitary gland to make adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH). This in turn causes the adrenals to produce glucocorticoids such as cortisol and adrenalin….
To see the entire article go to: www.mindalive.com/1_0/article%207.pdf.
Dave Siever
- dancing in the dendrites!
