The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment

The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment

Post-traumatic stress disorder develops after an individual faces a traumatic event by experiencing, witnessing, learning, or through repeated exposure that causes negative emotions, fear, and helplessness (Grande, 2019). Individuals can develop PTSD, resulting in cognitive and functional impairment. It is vital to ensure early diagnosis and interventions to prevent the complications that result from PTSD (Mann & Marwaha, 2020)The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment. This essay seeks to explain the neurobiological basis of PTSD, DSM V criteria, the patient’s case, and the therapeutic approaches for treating the condition.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

Neurobiological basis for PTSD

It comprises neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neuroendocrine changes. Patients with PTSD have an altered circuit in the brain, and therefore, they cannot adapt to stress and fear. The neurotomical alterations in the brain are present in the hippocampus, amygdala, and media frontal cortex. The hippocampus, which plays a role in stress response, has a decreased volume and size in the case of PTSD (Rege et al., 2019)The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment. The amygdala and media prefrontal cortex is also altered; therefore, it becomes hard for people from traumatic events to respond to stress.

The neurochemical features are present in various chemicals, including serotonin, noradrenaline, dopamine, and GABA, and play a role in responding to fear and regulating stress. Alterations such as increased noradrenaline cause increased fear and anxiety in PTSD. Changes in the neuroendocrine system mainly surround the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which response to stress in the body (Rege et al., 2019)The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment. The hypothalamus releases corticotropin hormone, which then causes the secretion of adrenocorticotropin hormone, which causes the release of corticosteroids such as cortisol from the adrenal cortex. Cortisol then plays a role in decreasing the non-adrenergic response to stress and also causes negative feedback to the HPA. Low levels of cortisol due to trauma can expose an individual to PTSD.

DSM-5 Diagnostic criteria and relation to the case study.

  • Experiencing a traumatic event- Joe was with his father when they experienced the minor vehicle accident
  • Recurrence of distressing and intrusive memories of the traumatic event- He keeps having flashbacks and thoughts of the event and also has nightmares.
  • Avoidance of memories and reminders of the event- Joe does not like talking about the minor vehicle accident.
  • Alterations in mood and cognition negatively, which start after exposure to a traumatic event- Joe keeps experiencing alterations in cognition and experiences negative emotions and fights with his classmates.
  • Alteration in reactivity and arousal behavior- Joe has angry outbursts and fights his colleagues.

Joe has met the DSM-V criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder sad evidenced by the above manifestation.

Case Presentation

The video provides adequate information that is used to make a diagnosis of PTSD. The events that caused trauma are clear, as the behaviors of Joe after the traumatic event. The information is, therefore, enough for making the diagnosis for Joe’s situation. The other diagnosis of conduct disorder and major depressive disorder are on point. Patients with PTSD have an increased risk of developing depression (Mann & Marwaha, 2020). Joe presents irritability ad poor sleep patterns, which are also present in MDD. PTSD can coexist with other conditions, such as conduct disorder, and it can present with aggression (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2019)The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment. Joe presents with the symptoms of conduct disorder.

Psychotherapy treatment

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is another psychotherapy treatment that can be effective for Joe. It is an individual therapy that is usually one to two minutes weekly for over six sessions. It mainly involves a model known as Adaptive Information Processing, which focuses on distress symptoms that are not adequately processed from past disturbances (American Psychological Association, 2017). The presence of unprocessed memories has beliefs, thoughts, and emotions that were present during the traumatic event. The therapy focuses on causing alterations in the responses to emotions and thoughts; therefore, it intends to eliminate the symptoms by changing the memories. It involves a bilateral stimulation where a client can focus on trauma memory resulting decrease in emotions in the memory.

EMDR play a role in helping the patient relieve traumatic memories and desensitize the bad memories, allowing them to integrate and assimilate the events. The therapist needs to explain to the child the meaning of trauma. It consists of 8 phases: the history of trauma and the treatment plan, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and reevaluation (Civilotti et al., 2021)The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment. The therapist’s major role is to provide emotional support and EMDR skills and help the patient achieve the required emotional regulation. As a result, EMDR is among the most excellent approaches for treating trauma in addition to trauma-focused CBT. Therefore, clinicians and therapists must adopt evidence-based treatments and gold standards during treatment because they are known to cause better patient outcomes.

Sources

The sources used in the article are publicly accepted and scholarly because they are peer-reviewed. They are also written by experts and greatly contribute to knowledge and understanding in various fields because they contain analysis theories and insights into current knowledge. The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment

References

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (2019). Conduct Disorder. Aacap.org. https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Conduct-Disorder-033.aspx

American Psychological Association. (2017, May). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/eye-movement-reprocessing

Civilotti, C., Margola, D., Zaccagnino, M., Cussino, M., Callerame, C., Vicini, A., & Fernandez, I. (2021). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in Child and Adolescent Psychology: a Narrative Review. Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry, 8(3), 95–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40501-021-00244-0

ORDER TODAY

Grande, T. (2019, August 21). Presentation example: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkSv_zPH-M4

Mann, S. K., & Marwaha, R. (2020). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559129/

Rege, Dr. S., Graham, Dr. J., & FRANZCP, Mrcp. (2019, March 21). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – Neuropsychiatry and Treatment. Psych Scene Hub. https://psychscenehub.com/psychinsights/post-traumatic-stress-disorder The Therapeutic Approaches For Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assignment