A case study of a 32- year- old Afghanistan war veteran.
For many survivors of trauma, disturbance reveals through distressing night dreams, frequently called nightmares. The human mind is of great help to us all because it uses dreams in an attempt to aid us to be adaptive during trauma process and distress. In some cases, the trauma survivors may experience other distressing symptoms such as flashbacks and anxiety. It is scientifically proven that people experiencing anxiety frequently fear to scrutinized and watched by others or even getting embarrassed. Typically, flashbacks are symptoms experienced after traumatic stress disorder, and it is characterized by vivid and intrusive images that occur in the awakening state. In this paper, we present a case study of a 32-year-old woman diagnosed with distressing symptoms, including flashbacks, anxiety and nightmares.
In this case it clear that Jane will chiefly be diagnosed with nightmares disorders. She consistently attempts to avoid picturing what happened to her fellow service members as she witnessed their hit by an improvised explosive device, for some trauma survivors experience nightmares less frequently. However, in our case study, we see Jane experiencing nightmares nightly. With teen- naggers, dreams might not have recognized or appropriate content. Yet, they have the possibilities to cause a severe deal of terror or distress. Generally, nightmares are associated with some specific disorders. For instance, in our case, we get to see that Jane would wake up full of anger, despair and guilt.
Interestingly, an individual experiencing nightmares tend to display several symptoms. To begin with, Trauma victim is prone to vivid dreams that seem to be real, and they end up being upsetting hence becoming more disturbed. Also, nightmare dreams are always awakened, and their storylines are based on experienced threat. The victims of trauma often feel scared, angry and anxious. Accurately Jane depicts similar symptoms. Jane’s dream storyline is based on a vital incident that happened to her fellow friends, and once she flashes back, she becomes more disturbed.
The flashbacks and nightmares linked with PTSD are frequently accompanied by amplified anxiety and regular panic attacks. Therefore, I would advise Jane to seek cognitive – behavioural therapy (CBT)- a type of counselling medication. This type of treatment helps individuals to understand and change their thoughts regarding their trauma. There are several types of CBT, such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) (Singewald et al., 2015). CPT will help Jane to cope with her feelings of fear, anger, and guilty allied with the prior trauma. Also, this therapy will aid Jane to process the situation, discover that the occurrence was not her fault and learn not to blame herself. Continually, I recommend that Jane should be open about her nightmares or any other sleep issues with her doctor. Being open about your matter is a forward step in getting stable peace of mind. Jane ought to start a frank talk about her problems to get help.
Surprisingly, Jane uses alcohol to negate her problematical issues. We all know that hard-drinking comforts in a short period, but alcohol usage to handle the distressing problems is not a good idea at all. Nutrition experts suggest that real foods choice can greatly help trauma victims like Jane to unwind anxieties. This expertise urges that victims should consume foods with dense nutrients. So reducing the carbohydrates and in its place, fill yourself with foods rich in oils and vegetables like salmon.
Likewise, individuals undergoing distressing symptoms should participate in several sports and exercises such as gym, running, pilates, cycling, and so on. Typically, it may be hard changing from drinking alcohol as a way of managing distressing symptom to the physical body exercise. But in the end, body exercising as a way to handle painful symptoms will show a bigger pay-off (Gomes et al., 2016).
Even though the connection between stress and alcohol usage has been recognized, it is specifically relevant in recent decades as combat Veterans, several with PTSD, struggle to go back to civilian lifestyles. By so doing, some go to alcohol as a way of managing their life. Regrettably, alcohol usage itself exerts a physiological and psychological toll on the individual’s body and might compound the impacts of stress (Sayette, 2017). More research ought to be carried out to help people understand how alcohol changes the human brain and numerous circuits involved with the HPA alignment. Brain –imaging and strong generic models techniques should be employed as improved considerately of how to translate investigation using animals to the handling of humans, should aid investigators to express the relationship between alcohol and street further.
References
Gomes, M. J., Martinez, P. F., Campos, D. H. S., Pagan, L. U., Bonomo, C., Lima, A. R. R., … & Garcia, C. M. (2016). Beneficial effects of physical exercise on functional capacity and skeletal muscle oxidative stress in rats with aortic stenosis-induced heart failure. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2016.
Sayette, M. A. (2017). The effects of alcohol on emotion in social drinkers. Behaviour research and therapy, 88, 76-89.
Singewald, N., Schmuckermair, C., Whittle, N., Holmes, A., & Ressler, K. J. (2015). Pharmacology of cognitive enhancers for exposure-based therapy of fear, anxiety and trauma-related disorders. Pharmacology & therapeutics, 149, 150-190.