Psychopharmacological Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Introduction

Post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is one of the most common anxiety disorder that has different multiple disabling symptoms related to it. Research suggests that this disorder in people is the result of dysregulation or dysfunctioning of multiple neurotransmitter system that consist of norepinephrine, serotonin, and glutamate and hypothalamic pituitary axis. In order to come up with effective pharmacological treatment and methods to deal with this disorder it is extremely important to understand the underlying biological systems of how they can affect the different neural structures such as amygdale, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex which may result in clear symptoms for PTSD that are helpful in determination and development of important and effective pharmacological treatments. PTSD has also been suggested to be quite prominent in the US military veterans due to their exposure to improvised explosive device or IED. Majority of the war veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with severe symptoms of PTSD accompanies by other cognitive complications. Recent research study on US war veterans proved that increased exposure to the battlefield situations and improved medication, majority of the US war veterans are able to deal and endure injuries that were previously thought to be fatal or life threatening (Clark etal, 2007; Gironda etal, 2006). But this has its own side effects as these veterans are facing comorbid mental and physical health related issues and out of which PTSD is the most common and dominating mental health disorder especially in Operation Enduring Freedom of Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Veterans are returning home with comorbid mental and physical health problems (Lew etal, 2009). The most common issue among the war veterans was somatic complaints accompanied mental health disorders such as PTSD in prior era veterans while increased rates of comorbid pain and PTSD were common in the veterans who returned from the wars.  It has been suggested by few researchers that prevalence of PTSD in a population is quite common and around 90 percent of populations face lifelong incidents of traumatic disorder. It is further suggested that only quarter or fraction of the above mentioned population has the tendency to develop the symptoms in serious or problematic bunch of symptoms resulting in occurrence of PTSD syndrome (Frans etal., 2005). The prevalence of PTSD syndrome and symptoms has been suggested to be around 6.8 percent in the population of US while its prevalence for 12 month period is 3.5 percent and in sub populations it can go as high as 24 percent such as those of military veterans (Kessler et al., 2005a; Kessler et al., 2005b; Milliken et al., 2007).

Discussion

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

The PTSD syndrome is identified or takes place when a person gets exposed to some traumatic event directly or indirectly that may result in a fearful act of the person as a reaction to that incident. Such an act is in addition followed by dysfunction of one month that is proved by the presence of certain ...