The lessons on psychological disorders, therapy and treatment covered this week were very informative but still saddening due to the many disorders discussed and the fact that a successful therapy or medication of one patient may be unsuccessful for another patient with similar conditions (Beck, & Sloan, 2012). There are no better ailments, but given the need of this paper to determine the most challenging disorder to have, I believe that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be termed as the most challenging of the covered psychological disorders. PTSD has a broad range of symptoms and may be evident few weeks after the traumatic experiences or may take years before the symptoms are noted. The traumatic events ranging from physical brutality to events that happened to a loved one makes the scope broad and challenging to treat as its treatment entails reliving the events to ensure the individual overcomes the fears.
The ailment is characterized with three major categories of characteristics namely, avoidance and numbing, arousal, and re-experiencing the symptoms (Beck, & Sloan, 2012). Avoidance and numbing results in the patient doing everything possible to not to remember the traumatic experiences leading to the denial of the events and is dangerous as the patient develops lapses in memory and handling the illness. I believe that these symptoms may be the most challenging, as they would hinder acceptance that I am suffering and would tamper with treatment progress.
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Although the PTSD decreases the social connections of the patients because they do not want to be reminded of the shameful or tragic experiences (Beck, & Sloan, 2012), I would like support from my family and the society. Victims of the rape who lack support tend to commit suicide or view themselves negatively. Support and understanding rather than sympathy would thus be the most important for a PTSD patient.
Therapies and medications are beneficial to the patient, but in PTSD patient, whose main symptoms are avoidance and numbing, the best treatment is cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) which allows room for different types of therapies such as exposure therapy that may use virtual technology to relive the events. These therapies enable memory recovery and ability to face the fears rather than deny their existence (Beck, & Sloan, 2012). Although I believe that CBT therapies are, most successful, it is important for the psychiatrists to determine which treatment to use depending on the patient.
Reference
Beck, J. G., & Sloan, D. M. (2012). The Oxford handbook of traumatic stress disorders . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
