The Concept of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Case Study Example

PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is becoming the main issue in today's international community because most of the war-victims suffer of thisdisorder. Performing an intervention for PTSD involves social risk management approach to social policy. Recently, I performed a successful intervention with a family whose father, a returning military man, was suffering from PTSD, using the social risk management approach. This new approach basically consists to shift the focus from risk coping to risk reduction. This is a very hard thing to accomplish because of the many fields that it includes in today's society. Because of the current war, many men and women that are soldiers of today are becoming relatively "weaker", or victims, in need of therapeutical protection. It is not just the man becoming a victim, but it's the society that makes it convenient for him. There has been a recent increase of suicide in the military, and those returning home from the military are displaying more and more psychological problems. This was true of my patient, whom I will call Mr. Smith for confidentiatlity reasons. Mr. Smith is a 35 year old male with a 27 year old wife and one child, a 4 year old daughter. He was away in Iraq for two years and recently returned home. When he came back, his wife and daughter immediately noticed a change. He did not sleep because of his nightmares, and he was much more angry and violent. Hence, they sought out help because he refused to get help. It was becoming obvious that he had lost his comprehension of himself. PTSD was "discovered" after the various traumas from the War. It develops mostly after experiences like, combat fatigue, war trauma, rape child abuse. The diagnosis are anxiety, depression, flashbacks of the trauma, hypervigilance, avoidance of things that may trigger to remember the trauma. All of these factors were present in Mr. Smith. PTSD had shifted the attention of the disturbed mental health and psyche of the veteran to the nature of the traumatic war. PTSD has made him a victim of the roles imposed to them by the US military. After a violent argument with his wife, Mrs. Smith finally called for health. Social workers met with the family in order to assess what could be done. Mr. Smith was very resentful because of this. The pathologization of the psychosocial intervention made by agencies makes the individual's esteem low. The individual sees an outsider coming to help them, and concludes that they do not need it. They have their own coping strategies, their own culture and of course pride. The programmes come in to the community as an outsider and a "better way out" to problems than the locals have. This already makes the relationships between the two not so favorable, especially when the aides have to intrude themselves in to the individual's life. Mr. Smith clearly showed this attitude to the intervening social workers. For some time he refused to speak with any of us. However, eventually his wife and daughter convinced him to progress with the meeting, and he did. As things progressed, we allowed him to open up to us and tell us about some of the atrocities of the war. By listening empathetically and allowing him to tell his stories when he felt comfortable, we were able to break through. Using a caring and sensitive social approach to his issues and reassuring him that his recent difficulties were not his fault seemed to break through to him. We all thanked him for sacrificing his life (and his health) for his country, but reminded him that he could be sacrificing his family life by continuing to act the way he did. Again, we insisted that we understood his actions were not intentional. When it was explained to Mr. Smith that he was a victim, he began to understand more and more that his behavior was out of control, and that this was through no fault of his own. By giving him a diagnosis and reassuring him that he could be helped, we were able to develop a bond of trust with him. Socially, Mr. Smith became more interested in receiving help when he realized that his wife was so distraught about his anger and they way he had been treating their daughter that she had considered leaving him. Thus, we were able to use a social approach to demonstrate to him that his current actions are affected by his past experiences, and that he has become a victim of his past experiences. It was also explained to him that we understood this was not an intent or desire he had when he entered the war, it is merely a result of seeing so many dramatic instances during the war. We also informed him that this is a very common occurrence with many soldiers, allowing him to know that he was not alone in his illness. Thus, we encouraged him to join a group where he can meet with other recovering soldiers who have experienced PTSD. He agreed to do this, and we were therefore able to use a group approach with him on several occasions to help assist him with his behavior. He began to meet with that group at least twice a month and has demonstrated a good deal of improvement. Mr. Smith therefore agreed to enter a counseling program where his wife and daughter have been attending and meeting with counselors as well. He is learning how to deal with his PTSD as well as how to deal with his anger management problesm and nightmares. Thereapuetic meetings seem to be doing much good, and his wife has reported an increased improvement in his behavior and difficulties. He no longer takes his anger out on his family and is learning how to take his anger out in other directions. He is also learning to focus on what he has, and remembering that he wants to now give his life no longer to his country, but to his family. He has been a very inspirational individual to be around, and his overall responsiveness have demonstrated that his intervention was an overall success. His family life continues to improve on a daily basis. His daughter, who was once scared of him, no longer fears him and is very warm toward him. Mrs. Smith is very happy to see their strong relationship bond becoming stronger. She reports that they seem to be like a "real" family again. Therefore, the use of intervention and counseling helped to save Mr. Smith from destroying his family life as a result of his PTSD. The psychiatric sciences have sought to convert human misery and pain into technical problems that can be understood in standardized ways and are amenable to technical interventions by experts. But human pain is a slippery thin, if it is a thing at all: how it is registered and measured depends on philosophical and socio-moral considerations that evolve over time and cannot simply be reduced to a technical matter. Read More