Road To Recovery Case Study

and Dentistry and Director of the Program in Disaster Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and the UR Center for Disaster Medicine and Emergency Preparedness. For over a decade, he has responded to numerous national disasters as a volunteer with the American Red Cross. He has also developed comprehensive disaster mental health training programs for the New York State Office of Mental Health and the New York State Department of Health currently being disseminated throughout every county, state psychiatric center and acute healthcare facility throughout New York State.

Ronald Reagan once said that “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things”. He is the one who gets the people to do the greatest things.” This quote relates to Friar Lawrence in the way that he was a poor leader towards his son Romeo in William Shakespeares: Romeo and Juliet. Romeo was dreadfully influenced by his father in many ways in the story. Friar Lawrence shows he is the main problem of conflict through his character traits and terrible decisions made throughout the Book.

In the video, Collateral Damage: The impact of Caring for Persons Who Have Experienced Trauma by Dr. Brian E. Bride was enlightening and informative for professionals who are and will work with traumatized clients. Dr. Bride focused on secondary traumatic stress and the impact it has on one's personal life, professional life, and organization. In this synopsis, I will reiterate the key points, implications of treatment, and the role of social work that Dr. Bride spoke about in the video.

A person will think that the decisions that everyone around him makes will be his demise and he will abandon others in order to keep himself alive. After losing all family and friends, a person will put up a wall and become numb to his surroundings. In order to help someone else survive, people must be able to survive themselves (Grossman). Persons with PTSD will cope after the chaos of the apocalypse by considering their environment and making adjustments to fit in. Exploring thoughts and feelings about the trauma is the next step in self- healing and also working through feelings of guilt, self-blame, and mistrust. After getting connected with others, challenging one’s sense of helplessness and concentrating on the strengths a person has will bring that person back to reality, and life begins again (Smith and Segal).

Any time that the federal agency that responds to disaster events handles such situations there is likely to be a significant loss of life due to the disaster event. This makes a requirement that responders know how to deal with the psychological issues and challenges that are present. It is reported that mental and behavioral health, "in the context of disasters and emergencies, include a wide range of interrelated factors psychological (emotional, cognitive, behavioral), psychological and social that influence people's ability to cope with and recover from extreme situations." (Disaster Mental Health Subcommittee of the National Biodefense Science Board, 2010, p.4) Stated as examples of such issues are those of "fear and anxiety resulting from safety concerns, the death of loved ones, separation from family members and uncertainty as to their fate, and loss of homes and possessions; noncompliance with government directives resulting from loss of confidence in authorities; breakdown in community social

Lowe, Sarah R, et al. “Psychological Resilience After Hurricane Sandy: The Influence of Individual-and Community-Level Factors on mental Health After a Large-scale Natural Disaster.” Plos ONE, vol. 10, no. 5, May 2015, pp. 1-15. EBSCOhost, doi: 10 1371/journal.pone.0125761.

As humans we all have experienced some type of trauma in which we are stressed about which is normal for us to go through all types of emotions such a fear, crying, grief and hopelessness. Only a minority of the victims will go on to develop posttraumatic stress disorder and with the passage of time, the symptoms will resolve in approximately two-thirds of these (McFarlene & Yehuda, 1996). This study also includes helplessness and learned helplessness that people experience when they encounter adversities in life. According to Bannink (2008), The expectancy that adversity will continue and one will be powerless in its wake leads to helplessness, passivity, withdrawal, anxiety, depression and even physical illness. A meta-analysis (Stams, Dekovic, Busit, & de Vries, 2006) shows that although SFBT does not have a larger effect than traditional forms of psychotherapy, it does have a positive effect in less time and satisfies the clients need for autonomy (Bannink, 2008). This study was successful and effective in helping clients be apart of their their treatment plan unlike the traditional approach. Clients learn healthy effective coping mechanisms to deal with trauma in their

A victim/survivor suffering from PTSD is in a continual loop of unconscious self-traumatization, coping and exhaustion. When these symptoms are experienced on a chronic basis, they can devastate every aspect of the victim/client’s life, from physical well-being to the quality of relationships to the victim/survivor’s experience of the world (Cozolino, 2010).

*note for the purpose of this survey trauma is defined as an event more overwhelming that a person ordinarily would be expected to

Problems resulting from disasters linger for quite some time after the acute phase in a disaster and victims may have issues arise that they were not aware of initially. Community health nurses are often a primary point of contact for many of these situations and must be prepared for various problems. Sometimes, they are called on to simply reassure the victim that they are not alone in the situation and that help will continue to come. When a nurse allows a victim to discuss their concerns, the nurse can quickly expedite referrals to the appropriate area if it is out of their scope of practice. Occasionally, just having the validation and reassurance from a professional instills hope that things will get better soon. In the situation where the

The first is the avoidance of memories of a trauma as well as emotions, stimuli or circumstances that serve as reminders (Courtois & Ford, 2013). Secondly, is the experiencing of extreme physical, mental and emotional arousal (Courtois & Ford, 2013). There are a number of techniques for accomplishing this which are listed below. The success of this phase is based on the ability of a client to tolerate the pain of remembering the trauma. Clients with a single incidence of trauma may be able to withstand exposure with minimal training whereas clients with complex trauma may need months of skills training in order to be prepared to process the

Natural and man-made disasters, crises, and other trauma-causing events have become a focus of the clinical mental health counseling profession because of the need to help people who experience such events and who may develop psychological disorders that arises from them. PTSD is a crippling outcome of many of these disasters and accounts for a large percentage of the major effects to not only those experiencing the disaster first hand, but also to the first-responders and members of the affected communities (Satcher, 2007).

“Traumatic losses, manmade and natural, test the resilience of those who experience them. How individuals react to national crises and traumatic events, and the factors that promote resilience or increase the risk for problems following trauma” (National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). It is very important to know how to work with traumatized patients and what their needs are. Traumatized can affect many people in many different ways. A traumatized patient may experience a situation that was very troubled for them but may not be for others. Here we will talk about the specific needs and methods used to communicate effectively with a patient who is experiencing trauma in their life.

When I decided to take the trauma course, I was hesitant at first to take it. I did not know what to expect nor felt I would be prepare listen to stories about traumatic occurrences, despite of the number of years I have worked in the field of community mental health. Therefore, now that we are in week eight, I am delighted to have taken this course. The impression I had at first, has changed my insight concerning what is trauma, as for many years, I did not understand why a person in many instances, could not process their trauma. In a quote by Chang stated, “The greater the doubt, the greater the awakening; the smaller the doubt, the smaller the awakening. No doubt, no awakening” (Van Der Kolk, 2014, p. 22). The goes in congruence with my understanding on trauma and how it has changed during this course. As a result, I feel I am awakening when acquiring more about trauma.

The term “Psychological trauma” refers to damage wrought from a traumatic event, which that damages one’s ability to cope with stressors. “Trauma” is commonly defined as an exposure to a situation in which a person is confronted with an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to self or others’ physical well-being (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Specific types of client trauma frequently encountered by which therapists and other mental health workers frequently encounter in a clinical setting include sexual abuse, physical , or sexual assault, natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis, domestic violence, and school or/and work related violence (James & Gilliland, 2001). Traumatic