Critical Thinking Exercise: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Persistent str

Question

Critical Thinking Exercise: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Persistent stress often leads to impaired performance and stress-related health problems, and it sometimes lingers even after the stressor ends. As described in the chapter, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most dramatic examples of the aftereffects of stress. As a class assignment, you are asked to prepare a brief presentation on PTSD that focuses on different theoretical views of the disorder and the controversy surrounding its increased prevalence. Answer the following questions to organize your presentation.

Question 1

How would a researcher working from the biopsychosocial perspective explain PTSD? What are some of the specific biological, psychological, and social factors in the disorder?

Question 2

How would a researcher working within the diathesis-stress model explain PTSD? What are some of the specific predisposing and precipitating factors in the disorder?

Question 3

How would a researcher working in psychoneuroimmunology explain PTSD? What are some possible mind–body pathways to the disorder?

If you could give a brief explaination for each question that would be great! Thanks so much!

Explanation / Answer

ANSWER 1:

Biopsychosocial perspective of PTSD:

PTSD develops when a person fails to recover physically and emotionally after quite a stressful incident which traps the thoughts of a person in the repeated flashbacks of the event along with anxiety. He often goes into seclusion because of the fear of a possible outburst because in his state of mind the stress lingers even after the incident is over. For this person, the stressor is still present in mind.

Biological factors:

Psychological factors:

Social factors:

ANSWER 2:

PTSD according to the diathesis-stress model :

According to the Diathesis-stress model, the person who has faced a trauma prior in his lifetime is vulnerable to face the PTSD in the presence of a situational stressor which will trigger the neuropsychological alterations in body.

Predisposing and precipitating factors :

If the person is already having social anxiety and depression, his response to stress is different than a normal person who has a strong mental health. These factors predispose the person to a possible PTSD anytime in his lifetime.

ANSWER 3:

Psychoneuroimmunology of PTSD:

The persons expeiencing the PTSD have an altered central and autonomic nervous systems. They often show an alteration in the brainwave activity. Since the PTSD is associated with reccuring traumatic memories and flashbacks, it is clearly associated with the processing of the memories which is evident by the decrease in hippocampus volume of such people. The pateints with PTSD show unreasonable fear which is due to the abnormal activation of
the amygdala. The amygdala of a person controls the body's response to fears.

Possible mind–body pathways involved with PTSD:

The mind of a person with PTSD gets hyper aroused due to the reversible alterations in the his body's neuropsychology. This brings the body in a constant fight-or-flight response in the fear of any further possible incident.

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