PLEASE RESPOND TO THE BELOW DISCUSSION BOARD RESPONSE:
Requirements of PTSD in Adults
Our culture has linked PSTD with any traumatic experience or mental health issue without fully understanding the origin of the term. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) recently listed PTSD as a valid mental disorder in 1980. According to James & Gillian (2017), the current version of the DMS’s diagnostic requirements for PTSD in adult’s breaks down into several criterions which states that the person must have had direct exposure to the experience, the traumatic event is reexperienced through an intrusive symptom, the person engages in persistent and purposeful effort to avoid distressing stimuli, the person experiences negative alteration in cognitions and mood after the experience, the individual has trauma-related alterations in arousal and reactivity that began or became worse after the traumatic event, the duration of the foregoing symptoms persist more than 1 month, there are significant symptoms of any of the foregoing criteria that cause enough related distress or ability such that the individual is unable to function either socially or occupationally, the disturbance is not due to medication, substance use, or other illnesses and lastly the person may be specified as having PTSD along with dissociative symptoms. It must be noted that there are several factors when assessing PTSD if one went through a traumatic event may or may not experience PTSD (2017).
Clues and Warnings about Suicide
According to James & Gillian (2017), verbal clues can consist of written or spoken statements, behavioral clues are actions of intention such as making suicidal gestures, slashing of the wrist, or visiting websites about suicidal activities. Situational clues are associated with a direct traumatic or drastic change in one’s life such as death of family or loved one, terminal illness, or divorce. Syndromatic clues are patterns that may include severe depressive episodes, dissatisfaction with life, and hopelessness. Warning Signs of suicide are like suicidal clues but differ. The Path Warm is an acronym created by the American Association of Suicidology. The list defines substance abuse, withdrawal, anger, anxiety, and mood fluctuations as some of the suicide warning signs.
Jesus is a comforter and in Matthew 11 he says we must all come to him who are heavy laden, and he will give us rest. In the next verse Jesus says, “take my yoke upon you and learn of me and we shall find rest”. (King James Bible, 2024, Matthew 11:28-29) Jesus is such a gentle Savior that is omnipresent and omnipotent but, still wants us to bring our troubles and worries to him. Jesus is the only one that heal such a violation and allow us to experience true peace and healing.
All suicidal gestures should be taken seriously due to their being so many clues or signs that can easily be overlooked. Society tends to judge another person based on personal experience or their own standards, which is dangerous. It is very important as interventionalist to study the theories, models, characteristics, and moral issues surrounding suicide to be effective and recognize when someone is in crisis that may not be verbally asking for help.
Common Myths of Rape and how they have been debunked.
It is very unfortunate that many myths exist regarding such a violating and hurtful act. Some of the common myths include
If the woman doesn’t resist, she must have wanted it.
Debunked: There is no evidence to prove if a woman should or should not fight back while being raped. James and Gillian, (2017) argue that there are more psychological obstacles in the way of resisting and that a woman may be killed while trying to resist a physically powerful attacker with a firearm.
Real rapes happen only in bad parts of town, at night, in abandoned buildings or lonely fields by strangers who have knives or guns and who engage in brutally beating the victims when they resist heroically—even unto death.
Debunked: Rapes can occur in any place at anytime to anyone. Many rapes have occurred in the homes of family members, workplace, and even at public events. Rapes have been reported in some of the safest and wealthiest neighborhoods in the country which prove that a person can and will commit this heinous act when and where they please.
If the perpetrator is female, the boy just got lucky.
Debunked: Society has a twisted way of how to justify certain things when it comes to males and females and this myth is one of the most dangerous stereotypes about rape. Everyone is entitled to say no and mean no, especially when it comes to sex. Adolescent boys abused by older females or female is authority have severe psychological effects which turn into destructive adults’ behavior towards women.
According to a study conducted on how quickly after sexual assault PTSD affects victims (Dworkin, Jaffe, & Fitzpatrick (2023), found that PTSD has a direct effect on victims of rape especially within the first three months following the assault. One month after sexual assault, 75% of survivors met criteria for PTSD. Twelve months after sexual assault, 41% of survivors met criteria for PTSD. The article also describes rape as debilitating and that there are higher rates of PTSD with victims of sexual assault. This was the first prospective meta-analysis to examine and clarify the course of recovery from sexual assault and the study had limitations as all the subjects had not fully recovered from PTSD.
References
Dworkin, E. R., Jaffe, A. E., Bedard-Gilligan, M. & Fitzpatrick, S. (2023). PTSD in the Year Following Sexual Assault: A
Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(2), 497–514. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380211032213Links to an external site.
James, R. K., & Gilliland, B. E. (2017). Crisis intervention strategies. Cengage Learning.
King James Bible. (2024). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-11-28/Links to an external site.
(Original work published 1611)
King James Bible. (2024). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-11-29/Links to an external site.
(Original work published 1611)
