Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example g the most severe symptoms being those whose terrifying experience was the result of a deliberate action on someone’s else’s part, such as a mugging, a rape or child abuse. When exposed to threatening or brutal emotional and/or physical treatment, wives and children experience traumatic stress disorders that require exceptional coping skills. Instances of domestic violence are usually unanticipated and uncontrollable which serve to devastate a family member’s sense of wellbeing and security. Negative effects that could damage a person’s psyche for a lifetime may result from a one-time occurrence and worsens from prolonged exposure to traumatic experiences involving family violence. â€Å"With repeated exposure to traumatic events, a proportion of individuals may develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Most people who suffer from PTSD (especially, in severe cases) have considerable interpersonal and academic and occupational problems† (Meichenbaum, 19 94). For a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, its effects upon perhaps society’s most vulnerable population, its children, will be explored. Long-term exposure to depression and anxiety could become a symptom of domestic violence in both the mother and children which could lead to posttraumatic stress disorder. â€Å"A clinical concern for both mother and children of domestic violence is the potential for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. This is a serious anxiety disorder owing to exposure to or witnessing of events that threaten life or injury and evoke intense fear of helplessness† (Chemtob, 2004, p. 210). The condition was first recognized in battle-weary soldiers, but has since been identified in several other life occurrences, such as domestic violence. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops following direct personal experience of a traumatic event, witnessing a traumatic event and/or experiencing an event that