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abnormalpsychfrog · 3 months ago

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[ PART 2.5 ] Let's talk a little bit more about Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Is there a discernible bidirectional relationship between PTSD and physical illness? Post-traumatic stress disorder, according to an article published by Cambridge University, is a life-threatening disorder and poses cardiometabolic risks throughout life (Koenen 2017). From my personal experience, a PTSD episode can cause me to experience tachycardia, along with an increase in heart rate and a drastic fluctuation in blood pressure. When there are days that occur where I am having flashbacks daily or near-daily, I am so full of stress that I cannot sleep, and my body responds in kind by becoming inflamed, swollen, or stiff. Only when I experience calm do I feel my body truly relax. That’s when I usually feel the soreness in my muscles, like my shoulders and neck, from tensing all the time. PTSD affects your autonomic nervous system in such a way that it puts your entire body on a "hyper-awareness mode". Your muscles tense, and your body holds itself in a state of "embrace for impact" until the perceived threat has gone or diminished. The imbalances it causes between your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems can make someone physically ill. How is PTSD and the treatment of it discussed in conversation and in media? Through media, there has become a portion of society where words that are used when discussing posttraumatic stress disorders are used in ways meant to elicit a cringe factor from the intended audience instead of its intended purpose. Take the word triggers for example. Triggers in the context of PTSD mean something that is an identified causation of a flashback or PTSD episode. In the context of social media, however, triggers are used negatively to make fun of something deemed “cringe-worthy”. Utilizing language like this can be detrimental to those who truly mean something; it is a trigger to them and can make it hard for those seeking help to receive support appropriately. To properly manage post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, I believe three main things would help anyone going through this disorder. The first would be practicing mindfulness techniques and figuring out how to ground yourself in the present moment. Develop an understanding and awareness of yourself through that and use it to focus on the root emotions attached to memories that may occur. Through that, you can guide yourself to cope with those emotions over time. The second most important thing would be to consistently and actively engage in a self-care routine that works for you. It doesn’t need to be elaborate, but it needs to be dedicated daily time for yourself where you talk positively to yourself and about yourself and you care for your body. It is through that process that you will begin to learn to prioritize yourself and allow yourself to learn ways that help you to regulate and express your emotions

Sources: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2014. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 57.) Exhibit 1.3-4, DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for PTSD. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/box/part1_ch3.box16/?ref=areo.quillette.com

Shuid, A. N., Jayusman, P. A., Shuid, N., Ismail, J., Kamal Nor, N., & Naina Mohamed, I. (2020). Update on Atypicalities of Central Nervous System in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Brain sciences, 10(5), 309. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050309

Koenen, K. C., Sumner, J. A., Gilsanz, P., Glymour, M. M., Ratanatharathorn, A., Rimm, E. B., … Kubzansky, L. D. (2017). Post-traumatic stress disorder and cardiometabolic disease: improving causal inference to inform practice. Psychological Medicine, 47(2), 209–225. doi:10.1017/S0033291716002294 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-and-cardiometabolic-disease-improving-causal-inference-to-inform-practice/EDB09DA4816C0282CFE4C9C10566BE5A Neff, M. A. (n.d.-a). DSM-5 criteria for autism explained (in picture form) - neurodivergent insights. Neurodivergent Insights. https://neurodivergentinsights.com/dsm-5-criteria-for-autism-explained-in-picture-form/

Understanding What's Behind the Disorder [Part 2]

A lot of the time, when discussing multiple disorders, each one is discussed individually. It is rare for them to be discussed in conjunction with one another, let alone how it affects a person. So, what about trauma within someone with Autism Spectrum Disorder? What does that look like, and how does identifying the comorbidities help? As with autism, there are also biases derived from media on what someone who lives with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder “looks” like. There is also an unfortunate stigma that surrounds the label of PTSD, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of those who hear of it. Someone diagnosed with PTSD can be labeled by society as a dangerous or unpredictable person based on the types of flashback episodes and the response(s) to them. Sometimes, people with PTSD are even told that they are the ones to blame for their disorder and that they simply need to “get over” their trauma. Post-traumatic stress Disorder (PTSD), according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), is diagnosed based on exposure to trauma and four main symptoms: intrusion, avoidance, negative conditions and mood, and arousal. PTSD is a disorder that someone may get after either experiencing a traumatic event themselves or witnessing one. These can be events such as severe natural disasters, assault or abuse, or even after the death of someone close. A person with post-traumatic stress disorder is likely to have reoccurring nightmares or images of the event they witnessed and can have a reaction to viewing depictions of similar situations that result in them dissociating and being entirely unaware of their physical surroundings. People with PTSD may also avoid certain places, smells, or even media that have the potential to remind them of the traumatic event. Things like this have the potential to leave sufferers feeling restricted in their lives, playing into a sense of hopelessness and a fear of never healing. For me, PTSD has the tendency to make me feel as though I am a broken piece of machinery incapable of repair, even after almost two decades of therapeutic intervention. Reading that back, though, I acknowledge the amount of growth I have sustained over the years. PTSD has the potential to cause depersonalization and/or derealization, causing the sufferer to have a detached sense of self and/or a detachment from reality. Not everyone with PTSD develops these symptoms, however, these symptoms lead to lapses in memory and a distorted perception of time.

Sorathia, Ruqayyah (2022) "The Lasting Impact of Deinstitutionalization: Policing and the Mental Health Crisis," Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science: Vol. 10 , Article 4. https://doi.org/10.31979/THEMIS.2022.1004 https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/themis/vol10/iss1/4 Koenen, K. C., Sumner, J. A., Gilsanz, P., Glymour, M. M., Ratanatharathorn, A., Rimm, E. B., … Kubzansky, L. D. (2017). Post-traumatic stress disorder and cardiometabolic disease: improving causal inference to inform practice. Psychological Medicine, 47(2), 209–225. doi:10.1017/S0033291716002294 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-and-cardiometabolic-disease-improving-causal-inference-to-inform-practice/EDB09DA4816C0282CFE4C9C10566BE5A Neff, M. A. (n.d.-a). DSM-5 criteria for autism explained (in picture form) - neurodivergent insights. Neurodivergent Insights. https://neurodivergentinsights.com/dsm-5-criteria-for-autism-explained-in-picture-form/

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abnormalpsychfrog · 3 months ago

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Understanding What's Behind the Disorder [Part 3]

Similar to posttraumatic stress disorder, Panic Disorder can also cause rather intense fear and anxiety, however, each disorder has different causes and symptoms. Both disorders can cause panic attacks, however, panic attacks brought on by panic disorder happen suddenly and without a specific cause. Whereas panic attacks in PTSD are often a result of a “trigger”, meaning something that is a reminder of the trauma (i.e., places, people, smells). Panic attacks as a result of panic disorder can happen as little as a few times a year or as often as several times a day. Panic attacks can cause a lot of physical symptoms, too, like chest pain, nausea, and tremors. People such as myself who experience these attacks are also left with this intense fear and anxiety about when and if another panic attack may occur, causing us to avoid specific places or even restrict outings entirely to avoid a panic attack in public. When considering biomedical factors, we can look at how panic attacks affect someone with ASD. A panic attack can elevate someone’s heart rate and blood pressure, cause chest pain and sweating, and cause an overwhelming sense of fear. If a panic attack is severe or multiple episodes are had, then someone may develop chills, tingling sensations in their hands or feet, and nausea. Panic attacks can be debilitating and last anywhere from a few minutes to upwards of an hour. Similar in how it affects the body, posttraumatic stress disorder is a reflexive response of the nervous system and body that engages the lizard brain in survival mode, all due to a perceived threat. This perceived threat causes a systematic chain reaction throughout the body that can last for long periods. PTSD episodes can cause a rush of stress hormones and stunt the release and distribution of other chemicals in the brain, including things like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and so many others. One of the more prominent deficits caused by PTSD is a reduction in hippocampal volume. The hippocampus is notably responsible for emotional regulation and memory recall, so when its volume decreases over time as a response to the trauma endured, it presents as a danger to one’s health and general well-being. And, because of the overload of stimulation the brain and body are receiving during a panic attack, someone with ASD may experience all of these symptoms at a much more intense level. When it comes to diagnosing, due to the comorbidity of these disorders and some symptom overlap, further distinctions between them must be sought. With all three mental health disorders, there are challenges with things such as emotional regulation and navigating social situations. Each disorder presents with difficulties in interpreting social cues and communicating effectively. For someone with autism, verbal communication may be impossible at times, and for someone with a panic disorder, it may be difficult to verbalize what triggered the episode. Someone with PTSD may struggle to articulate their emotions and regulate after flashbacks, resulting in outbursts of unregulated emotions, much like how an autistic individual may experience an autistic meltdown.

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abnormalpsychfrog · 3 months ago

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Understanding What's Behind the Disorder [Part 2]

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abnormalpsychfrog · 3 months ago

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Understanding What’s Behind the Disorder [Part 1]

When most people think of autism, there is often influence from the media on what autism “looks” like to them and what criteria need to be met to be considered autistic. This is also the case with many mental health disorders. If someone does not fit the widely preconceived notion of what the disorder “looks” like, the person’s needs and struggles are then widely underestimated. The process of getting diagnosed with autism can be a difficult one if you are someone like me, an assigned female at birth autistic person with trauma in their late twenties. Though the main diagnostic features remain the same, it can be difficult to diagnose someone with another disorder comorbid to the one being screened for. With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), some of the key things that are looked for but are not limited to are: the inability to maintain eye contact or abnormal patterns regarding eye contact, abnormal body language, the repetition of abnormal behaviors like tapping or rocking, repetition of words or whole phrases such as lines from a movie or things guardians have said, and the hyper-fixation and obsessive interest in specific things like a television show, video game, or book series. ASD is a wide spectrum of experiences and symptoms with varying degrees of severity for each person. This means that each person with autism experiences different symptoms, and those symptoms impact each of them differently. According to research conducted by Universiti Sains Malaysia, autism spectrum disorder is modeled as a brain-based disease (Shuid 2020). It is a disorder that directly affects the brain structure and function, and in some cases, it can even affect the immune system and the way the body regulates itself. Dr. Emily Casanova and Dr. Manuel Casanova discuss this and what exactly that means for someone who has autism in their webinar: How the Autonomic Nervous System May Govern Anxiety in Autism. They note how autistic individuals take in and process more sensory information than the average individual, resulting in autonomic dysregulation. Gastrointestinal issues, abnormal pupil dilation, disordered sleep, and even temperature regulation issues are all results of how much autism spectrum disorder can affect the nervous system. Disorders that affect the brain can affect many other areas of the body.

REFERENCES: Shuid, A. N., Jayusman, P. A., Shuid, N., Ismail, J., Kamal Nor, N., & Naina Mohamed, I. (2020). Update on Atypicalities of Central Nervous System in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Brain sciences, 10(5), 309. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050309

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