Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Example

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Example Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Post Traumatic Stress Disorder General Purpose: To Inform Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about PTSD Thesis Statement: We hear about it in the news, papers, and small town chatter; be we don’t really understand what it is. It affects the victims mind, body, and people around them; I want to inform you all about this disorder, and what it does. INTRO 1. I am going to say a word and just think about what pops into your head, what do you associate it with? PTSD. A. How about anger, irritability and emotional detachment? . Anger, unexplained irritability, and emotional detachment are the most common traits of PTSD. 2. These are common because of the high level of stress that is put on the suffering person. B. I wanted to talk to you all today about PTSD because it is a part of my life, and talking about it helps myself and others better understand and cope with it. 3. Having been in the marines for five years now, and two deployments later, I have noticed a lot of changes in me both physically and mentally. 4. Many changes are very good ones that I welcome with open arms, like being in good shape and perspective on life. However, others I wish whole heartedly I could undo. C. PTSD is a disorder that is shrouded in misconceptions. According to Webster the definition is a type of anxiety disorder thats triggered by a traumatic event. Post-traumatic stress disorder can be brought on if you experience or witness an event that causes intense fear, helplessness or horror. It is my wish that you all leave here today with a better understanding of it. BODY #1 2. I have told you all what effects PTSD has, but here is a new question. What causes the disorder? D. Many people think that is only something you get from being in the military and war, the truth is any severely stressful or traumatic situation can trigger this illness. 5. Ever notice how some people are never quite the same after a really bad car wreck, a horrible relationship, or even getting mugged? 6. When I was overseas we took rockets, mortars and small arms fire almost daily, and that took a toll on me and my fellow marines. E. What triggers the anger, flashbacks or unexplained adrenaline rushes? 7. Just about anything can set these off, getting startled, hearing an unexpected boom or gunshot etc etc. 8. An example of this I went out riding with a couple friends on the fourth of July this year, and my friend Dennis was right in front of me. We was going through a town and someone set off a large bottle rocket, the kind that screams before it explodes. He turned his brand new Harley to get away from the sound so fast that I don’t know how he didn’t lay it down. I asked him why he did that, I was wearing a full face helmet and didn’t hear it, and the look in his eyes told me that he wasn’t on highway 121. His mind was back in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan when an RPG flew only 5 feet away from his head while he was in a gun trucks turret. F. That being said how can you help someone in a situation like this? Well you have two choices. 9. You can leave them alone, just let them be and they will come back on their own. The second choice is to grab hold of them, and tell them who they are, where they are, and what they are doing, just give them reassurance and comfort. 0. I chose the second option, I took of my helmet and sunglasses and took the glasses off his face and looked him in the eyes and said, â€Å"Dennis do you know where you are? What are you doing? Dennis its ok man you’re in Illinois it’s the fourth of July we are out on our July ride that we do every year. You’re ok man just breath deep. â⠂¬  After doing all that he came back and was just really shaken up. BODY #2 3. For me, the most daunting trait of PTSD is the emotional detachment that I mentioned before. G. You might be asking, emotional detachment? What do you mean by that? 1. When a traumatic event is experienced it is easier for the mind to just block it out and deal with it later because it doesn’t know how to cope. Therein lies the problem you become numb and unfeeling. 12. When your mind blocks it out, it is essentially just shutting down your emotions like a light switch. However, it doesn’t know when to turn it back on. It could be days, weeks, months or even years before your mind will allow you to be capable of emotions again. H. The emotional aspect of PTSD can cause a number of issues in the life of the suffering person. 13. When a person becomes unable to feel emotions anymore things and people that once were extremely important become minute. 14. It can cause a rift to form in the family, in relationships and among the friends. I. The only way that this issue can be resolved is surprisingly by what we all used to do as little kids, pretend. 15. In a recent session at my Veterans Affairs clinic I was told that basically one has to pretend to care about everyone and everything around them. 16. You do that and then it eventually becomes second nature to care and feel again for what matters to the individual BODY #3 . Another hardship of the disorder is the constant state of being â€Å"on guard†. J. For some service members, their deployment is in such a bad section of the world that you are forced to constantly lookout for any hidden dangers. 17. What I mean by this is like when you’re on a convoy, it doesn’t matter what your job is in the truck. Whether it’s the driver, navig ator, gunner or just a passenger you are searching the area outside looking for danger or threats like IEDs’ or holes that the truck could roll over into or enemy combatants. 18. Even when you are on base and ‘inside the wire’ you maintain that constant state of awareness. K. After being on alert for so long physical and mental exhaustion sets in and your body starts to dole out small amounts of adrenaline to keep you going. 19. The good thing about this is when your body naturally uses the adrenaline you can stay awake, alert, and focused better than the average person. 20. However, this has a down side. Some people unknowingly become addicted to it and can’t function very well without it. So your mind continues to pump this drug into your system in small amounts. L. This is why a person with PTSD would get startled and over react so easily. 21. When the average Joe Schmo gets startled only a small amount of adrenaline gets put into the blood stream. 22. Since the service member has become dependent on it and it is already in the blood stream, a much larger amount of the drug is released and sends the person into that mood of, ‘let’s go, I’m ready’. M. Everybody here knows that when you get really amped up your heart starts to race, and you breathe a lot faster and there is always someone telling you to take a deep breath and just calm down. Does anyone know why you’re supposed to do that? 23. When your heart races and you breathe faster like that it’s because you have more oxygen than carbon dioxide in your system. 24. By slowing down your breathing you will put more carbon dioxide into your blood stream. This will force your body to relax; long exhales will force the body’s natural relaxation process and pump more oxygen to the brain so it can perform better. CONCLUSION 5. So far I have presented to all of you a disorder that is very misconstrued; but well known to the masses. It has affected an extremely large percentage of us Americans, but is still almost considered taboo to talk about it. It is also still an unchartered territory as far as psychological research goes. N. Treatment for this is very limited still to only counseling sessions, prescription drugs, and the all time favorite of every stubborn person with a problem, just dealing with it. 25. I have explained to you all what PTSD is, its causes, its traits, and the effects it has on the afflicted individual. 26. It is my true hope that you all have learned more about this disorder, and walk away today with an enlightened point of view.