Exploration of Andy’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Case

Exploration of Andy’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Case

Andy is an adult and male person who has been in firefighting job for more than 20 years. He once experienced an event while working that made him to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was in the course of discharging his duties when he was supposed to remove the remains of the three bodies after their house burnt down. Despite the fact that this event happened so many years back, it later came to haunt him 17 years later(Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – Andy’s story).

The event that that lead Andy to experience PTSD happened 17 years before the condition got worse. He was supposed to remove the remains of three bodies that had completely got burnt in the house and this experience made him to have a psychological trauma whenever he remembered that event and as a result he became depressed and emotional .Furthermore, when his condition was at a critical stage, he used to experience 3 to 4 flashbacks per day about thatevents. As a result, he became distressed for no good reason and this made him to be frustrated all the time, angry and short-tempered(Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – Andy’s story).

At first, Andy was reluctant to share his experience that detached him from the reality with anybody and he continued to suffer in silence. Nevertheless, the feelings continued to bother him and he later realized that he was doing himself a disservice and he decided to look for help. Andy registered for a course in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy which helped to understand he had experienced something abnormal. In addition, talking about fire also helped him to process the memories which reappeared as the flashbacks. The memories have now gone and he is now fully recovered and in a position to move on with life.

Symptoms that were experienced by Andy link his condition to PTSD. Some of the symptoms he experienced include becoming emotional and angry, experiencing the flash backs about the event whenever he found himself in firefighting situation or talking about it, becoming depressed and keeping the problem for himself at first and all these symptoms are connected with PTSD. The other aspect about the Andy’s case was its cause which was basically the event he experienced when he was supposed to remove the bodies from remains of a burnt house. The treatment model Andy sought was evidenced based. He decided not to keep the problem for himself and he sought support support from a PTSD charity group called ASSIST that helped him to understand the feelings he was experiencing were abnormal and there was nothing wrong with that and to process the memory flashbacks.Andy’s case is easily identifiable as it is closely linked to the symptoms he experienced. The recommendation that I would have made to Andy is to allow himself to feel the feelings that caused him anxiety and accept them. This would have helped him to accept them.

From Andy’s case, I have learnt that PTSD is a condition that can be linked to an event that happens in one life and which makes him to experience psychological trauma. Though the condition is manageable, it can make the victims not to enjoy the quality of life by being depressed and uncomfortable especially when they receive the flashbacks that remind them of traumatic event. Friends, relatives and close members of the family are required to be patient and be understanding as the person is likely to become emotional, tempered and angry for no justifiable reason. On the contrary, they should provide necessary support and they show care.

Questions to the PTSD Victims during Interview

Did you use alcohol or any other drug to feel better?

Did you try to avoid the things which remind you of the trauma?
References
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – Andy’s story.http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Post-traumatic-stress-disorder/Pages/Realstoriespage.aspx