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Social epidemics

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Traumatic Stress After Military Deployment

According to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, 7% of the United States (US) soldiers are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after military deployment (“PTSD: National Center for PTSD”). Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health problem. A person may develop PTSD after he/she experiences a life-threatening event (“PTSD: National Center for PTSD”). Although PTSD is a social epidemic which affects more and more veterans’ lives after military deployment, it does not mean that there has not been an illness treatment. Fred Gantt, a veteran who spent twenty-four years in the US military, said after his experience with prolonged exposure (PE) therapy: “Now I see the world as safe place. Society has its ills and there’s no utopia. But I’m in a safe place” (“PTSD Therapies”). Therefore, there are solutions or treatments that can solve/help post-traumatic stress such as prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, or medications (“PTSD Therapies”).

 

Loneliness

Prolonged Exposure

Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy is one of the solutions the doctor might first consider for the patient. Prolonged exposure is a meeting between the patient and therapist in order to commune, but the communication topic is repeated over and over again until the patient is more comfortable with the problem that they always feel life-threatened to face with (Shapiro-Rosenbaum et al.). Barbara Rothbaum, a doctor and a researcher from Emory University, Warrior Care Network revealed:
The way they do it, they might think about it and then they avoid it. They shut it down. And we’re going to have them go through it in their mind’s eye, describe the traumatic event out loud... So we talk about some of the stuff that comes up. Talk about the guilt that maybe they didn’t do enough. Talk about the fears or other difficulties that are holding them back. (Shapiro-Rosenbaum et al.)
Accordingly, prolonged exposure is a straight up method which forces the patients to be more confident about themselves and accepting the realities of life (Shapiro-Rosenbaum et al.). On the other hand, prolonged exposure might not be a solution for some veterans since there were some cases that the treatment went too far, which ultimately attacked the patient’s feeling even more. Eventually, they had to move on to another treatment method. Although stress disorder is physiological, and prolonged exposure is not a prescription treatment which does not include chemical result by any medication, a lot of patients have been cured and released their pain after months of experiencing prolonged exposure therapy (Shapiro-Rosenbaum et al.).
Therapy Session
Daily Pills

Prescriptions

Another consideration for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment is prescription. Prescriptions, also known as under the counter medications, can temporarily release the trauma attack (“Medication for PTSD”). According to the National Library of Medicine, there are four recommended prescriptions in pharmaceutical market that can reduce the symptoms of PTSD, they are Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, and Effexor (Alexander) that are respectively brand-name prescriptions of Sertraline, Paroxetine, Fluoxetine, and Venlafaxine (“Medication for PTSD”). Those prescriptions will adjust the patient’s emotion, appetite, sleep, and other bodily function in order to combat the symptoms of PTSD. If the patient decided to get on the prescription, it should be deliberated a long-term treatment. Moreover, many doctors want the patient to take the medication along with therapy treatment (“Medication for PTSD”). Jeffrey Sonic who is a Medicine Doctor (MD) and a Master of Public Health (MPH) has stated: “We found that the best estimate of the effect, comparing psychotherapy and medications, was that there was no difference between the two. However, the 95% confidence interval was very wide, indicating that true effect may favor psychotherapy or it may favor medications” (Hughes). Even so, like any other medications over the counter, under the counter drugs are examined about the side-effect and related alerts. Fortunately, with the most updated research on medications, all doctors are acknowledged the side-effects of the medications, given that the patients are able to provide their outstanding healthcare records, so that the doctors can monitor the drug’s effectiveness (Hughes). The four medications can balance out the patient’s brain function which helps forty-two out of one hundred patients release depression and no longer have PTSD. In fact, there are more than four types of prescriptions that can specifically treat PTSD symptom (“Medication for PTSD”). The patients need to visit their primary doctors to discuss which one of those drug class is the best effective prescription for their health condition in a long-term solution (Alexander). The challenging obstacle of trying to cure PTSD with medication and technological advancement, is a long and difficult journey, full of surprises, breakthroughs, heartbreaks, and dangerous side effects, however given time and proper research PTSD and its symptoms can slowly be treated with proper supervision from a trained medical professional.

Subsequently, the above solutions for post-traumatic stress disorders are two of the best options that the doctors might come up with, in fact, there are many more solutions for the PTSD patients.  No matter how fast the medical technology and the human intelligence have grown, post-traumatic stress disorder seems to be a horrified social epidemic to most of the veterans after facing with many dangerous situations during the military time. Ultimately, no one can be sure that their living areas are safe enough for them to heal the mental pains. Stress disorder not only happens to the veterans, but it can also happen to the normal society due to their stressful life struggle that the people have to face. Thanks to the advance of the medical industry, although stress disorder is a chronic and severe anxiety, it is no longer a big obstacle to the healthcare agents, as long as the patients are supported by their families and their doctors, time is the only matter to the patient to find their way out of the dark side of life.
Works Cited
Alexander, Walter. “Pharmacotherapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Combat Veterans.” Pharmacy and Therapeutics, vol. 37, no. 1, Jan. 2012, pp. 32–38. PubMed Central, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3278188/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2023.
Hughes, Thomas. “Which Is More Effective for Treating PTSD: Medication, or Psychotherapy?” Newsroom, 27 Feb. 2020, https://news.unchealthcare.org/2020/02/which-is-more-effective-for-treating-ptsd-medication-or-psychotherapy-2/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2023.
“Medication for PTSD.” U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand_tx/meds_for_ptsd.asp. Accessed 13 Feb. 2023.
“PTSD: National Center for PTSD.” U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/common/common_veterans.asp. Accessed 13 Feb. 2023.
“PTSD Therapies.” AboutFace, https://www.ptsd.va.gov/apps/aboutface/therapies.html. Accessed 13 Feb. 2023.
Shapiro-Rosenbaum, Amy, et al. “Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE).” Brainline, Mar. 2021, https://www.brainline.org/treatment-hub/prolonged-exposure-therapy-pe. Accessed 28 Feb. 2023.
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