* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Politically Correct Name Destroys
Deinstitutionalisation wikipedia , lookup
Alzheimer's disease wikipedia , lookup
Mental disorder wikipedia , lookup
History of psychiatric institutions wikipedia , lookup
Glossary of psychiatry wikipedia , lookup
Parkinson's disease wikipedia , lookup
Child psychopathology wikipedia , lookup
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders wikipedia , lookup
Causes of mental disorders wikipedia , lookup
Dissociative identity disorder wikipedia , lookup
Conversion disorder wikipedia , lookup
Abnormal psychology wikipedia , lookup
Classification of mental disorders wikipedia , lookup
Controversy surrounding psychiatry wikipedia , lookup
History of psychiatry wikipedia , lookup
History of mental disorders wikipedia , lookup
Running Head: PTSD 1 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Politically Correct Name Destroys Humanity of Mental Disease Shelby Henschen/Kyrun Foster Period 1 Dec. 9, 2015 Body Word Count: 1,061 Originality: 100% Word Choice: 2/3 Vocabulary Score: 4 Paper Rater Grade: B Abstract Throughout the course of history, war has afflicted many soldiers with mental illnesses that doctors never clearly understood. Today, one specific mental illness related to war is called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This illness was not always labeled this way. The term evolved and as the years passed, we found a way to dehumanize the terrors of this disease. During WWI it was labeled shell shock, a much more violent and direct term. The new lax terminology has prevented patients from getting the treatment they need. Psychologists and doctors have minimized the severity of the symptoms by neglecting to properly treat patients with this mental disease. Patients do not get immediate treatment and the same sense of urgency that someone with a physical disease would receive. This mental illness is just as much of a killer as cancer is, but when “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” is compared to something like “cancer”, there is no comparison in which disease seems to be the more violent. PTSD 2 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Politically Correct Name Destroys Humanity of Mental Disease 1 Nostalgia is a word most commonly associated with fond memories. However, the 2 etymological breakdown indicates that it also deals with a type of pain that accompanies these 3 memories. PTSD is a heightened version of nostalgia. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 4 has only been a part of this world for a short amount of time in everyday lives, but the disease 5 itself has lived on for generations with various incantations of the same syndrome. Whether it is 6 called nostalgia, Shell Shock, or PTSD, the world has found a way to minimize the horrors of 7 this mental disease. 8 9 Shell Shock. It has an audible ring that strikes fear into the most iron hearted men. The First World War brought on this term as soldiers from the front line filled up medical bays with 10 no physical injuries. Dr. Charles Meyers is credited with giving the condition a name. Shell 11 Shock is suitable for the condition because it quite simply is exactly what each word describes --- 12 a physical shock coming from the explosion of a shell while in combat. After 6 months of war, 13 15% of the British army was considered to be afflicted with Shell Shock. Most people describe 14 the symptoms as being shaken all over their body. Dr. Meyers was put in charge of sorting out 15 this Shell Shock epidemic, and he felt that some soldiers were falsely diagnosed because they 16 were never been near a bomb, but that they were psychologically unstable and unprepared for the 17 horrors of war (Shell Shock Part 1 of 4, 2012). 18 World War II brought on another questions for the diagnosis of Shell Shock. The 19 questions being asked corresponded to whether it should be classified as a short-term or long- 20 term disease. “Because [all] studies were based on the military data... psychologist assumed that 21 cases of PTSD would be short-term” (Anders, 2012). They assumed the military men would PTSD 3 22 forget about their war experiences and would begin to live their normal lives again. 23 Psychologists in 1980 and again in 1992 realized that the “clinical guidelines” of DSM-III 24 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and ICD-10 (International Classification 25 of Disease) could show this disease as being chronic and recurrent. Shell Shock would now be 26 seen as an “anxiety disorder” -- something it had never been seen as before (Anders, 2012). 27 As soldiers were sent to war, they experienced many different sights and sounds. These 28 factors of war were embedded into their memories --- things that could not be unseen once they 29 were seen. Men came home experiencing symptoms that would recur in their daily lives - 30 sometimes forever. Symptoms of PTSD could come through three different modes. One, re- 31 experiencing symptoms: nightmares that depicted the exact moments they did not want to see 32 and vivid images and hallucinations that could make a normal setting seem far scarier than it 33 should be. Two, avoiding symptoms: not visiting any place that might look like where the wars 34 took place or avoiding the world as a whole. Three, hyperarousal symptoms: a soldier would feel 35 “on edge” and indifferent about natural settings. Combat veterans experiencing these symptoms 36 were often afflicted for the entirety of their natural born lives (PTSD, n.d.). 37 As WWII developed, psychologists evolved shell shock into what they called “battle 38 fatigue”. These same symptoms continued to plague veterans after they were relieved of duty. As 39 WWII ended, the United States moved into the war in Korea. These symptoms were relabeled as 40 “operational exhaustion”. Comedian George Carlin voices his opinion on that matter by saying 41 that changing the term “sucked the humanity” out of the term and that operational exhaustion 42 sounds like “something that could happen to your car” (George Carlin Shell Shock, 2012). When 43 Korea was finished and we began sending troops to help resolve a conflict in Vietnam, this exact PTSD 44 same mental condition was (once again) renamed. This new term is the current name for the 45 condition--- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Anders, 2012). 46 4 PTSD was most commonly diagnosed in the military until 1980 when it was added to the 47 DMS-III and broadened the spectrum from a military condition to experiencing a traumatic 48 event. These traumatic events can include: rape, torture, child abuse, car accident, train wrecks, 49 etc. These extremely horrific topics are not easy in any way for anyone to cope with. Tragedy 50 and loss are two of the hardest struggles a person will have to overcome throughout their life. 51 These emotions cannot be captures in an eight syllable term (with a hyphen). We need a term 52 that expresses these emotions that one would encounter when they go through these experiences. 53 To soldiers during the First World War, “Shell Shock” was a perfect description because it, in a 54 short few words, projected the terrors of trench warfare by delivering vivid description in a 55 statement of brutal honesty (Matthew, n.d.). 56 People underestimate the severity of this mental disease and psychologists themselves do 57 not seem to understand the true horrors. This is proven true in the way they label the disease. 58 PTSD doesn’t have an audible ring to it. It is literally four letters that, when spelled out, become 59 eight syllables with a hyphen. Take cancer for example. Two syllables, an audible ring that will 60 literally shake someone to the bone and bring tears to their eyes. People are not told to “just live 61 with it.” They get help immediately. The diagnosis of PTSD does not have the same sense of 62 urgency a diagnosis of cancer would have. People have to travel through everyday life and are 63 just expected to make it out alive, act like it’s not actually killing them. 64 No one truly understands that because people don’t experience it first-hand. If a woman 65 is diagnosed with a terminal cancer, or a curable cancer, there is always a chance that she can be 66 cured and will never have to deal with it again. There is no “next step” for a PTSD diagnosis. PTSD 5 67 The same is true for a diagnosis of an eating disorders or depression --- there is no help because 68 it’s not a “real disease.” Soldiers and everyday people are diagnosed with this disease and told 69 they will have to live with it everyday because one cannot just erase memories. Post-Traumatic 70 Stress Disorder never truly expresses the mental destruction of a person's psyche. PTSD is just as 71 much of a killer as cancer and the medical world never treated it as such. PTSD Works Cited Anders, C. J. (2012, April 4). From "Irritable Heart" to "Shellshock": How Post-Traumatic Stress Became a Disease. Retrieved November 16, 2015, from io9: From "Irritable Heart" to "Shellshock": How Post-Traumatic Stress Became a Disease George Carlin Shell Shock (2012). [Motion Picture]. Retrieved 12 2, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSp8IyaKCs0 Matthew, J. F. (n.d.). PTSD History and Overview. Retrieved 12 4, 2015, from PTSD: National Center for PTSD: http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/PTSD-overview/ptsdoverview.asp Nancy, C. A. (2010). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A History and a Critique. Retrieved November 18, 2015, from BrainLine.org: http://www.brainline.org/content/2011/01/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-a-history-and-acritique_pageall.html Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2015, from National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stressdisorder-ptsd/index.shtml PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. (2009). Retrieved November 18, 2015, from NIH Medline Plus: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/winter09/articles/winter09pg1014.html Shell Shock Part 1 of 4 (2012). [Motion Picture]. Retrieved 11 30, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc7ehb8agWY 6