• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

By Hemesh Patel

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks left many Americans emotionally wounded and some possibly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Because the severity of PTSD can vary from mild to severe, some patients are able to heal themselves while others need medical or psychological treatment.

According to the National Center for PTSD, the severity of the disorder increases with the amount of physical and emotional exposure to the incident.

“The firefighters and rescue workers responsible for picking up people’s ears and fingers as well as people who barely got out (of the towers) will be highly affected,” said Dr. Mark Barad, UCLA assistant professor of psychiatry.

According to Hal Pruett, director of Student Psychological Services at UCLA, trauma cannot be measured; each person reacts to different situations in different ways.

“What determines trauma is the meaning of what a person makes of it,” he said. “People may be more traumatized by these events if they lost someone or know someone that died – that doesn’t mean that those in Los Angeles will not be traumatized.”

While scientists are unclear of the exact processes in the brain that lead to this disorder, researchers know some of the causes of PTSD.

The disorder occurs because it unleashes chemicals that block the release of other compounds in the body that help the body cope with stress, Barad said.

This deregulation affects the corticosteroid and the adrenergic systems of the brain, which allow the body to react to long- and short-term stressful situations.

According to Pruett, symptoms of the disorder include a loss of appetite, irritability and depression.

Treatment for the disorder can include going to therapy or taking drugs such as Prozac, which is commonly used for depression.

“Many people do not get better with drugs alone,” Barad said.

For people who are not severely afflicted with the disorder, patients can treat themselves through self-healing, which involves talking about the experience with others and getting regular sleep.

Half the people with PTSD will see their symptoms dissipate in three months without seeking professional treatment or taking medication, said Janine Shelby, a clinical faculty member in the psychiatry department.

“Some people can’t make themselves feel better – they are the ones we have to worry about,” she said.

Those suffering from the disorder may benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, where patients look at disturbing images to desensitize them and ease the memory of the traumatic experience, Barad said.

The causes of PTSD can be traced by studying particular behaviors of a family from generation to generation.

People who have a lower intelligence level and a history of abuse have a higher risk of acquiring the disorder, Barad said.

A person displaying these symptoms may not have PTSD, Pruett said, but if the symptoms last for more than a month or six weeks, then the person may be diagnosed with it.