Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome, Self-esteem, and Gender Essay Example for Free

Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome, Self-esteem, and Gender Essay Introduction and Statement of the Problem Life is a continuous process of change and evolution. The only thing constant in this world is change. In order for an individual to grow, he needs to make a sound decision about the changes that he is going to adapt. In life one could not avoid having bad experiences. It is part of growing up and there are also some benefits that one could get from a bad experience; learning what went wrong and avoiding the occurrence of it in the future. However, the way an individual cope up with bad experiences differ from one another. There is no exact formula on how unlikable situations should be handled. There are some who are able to come out of it better but there are some who are being hunted by it. When one tries to suppress his feelings and not let others see what they are truly feeling, sometimes this bottled up emotions causes stress. Flashbacks are memories that we try to hide away. These are like bombs that when are lit up, creates vivid scenario of the emotions that one is trying to avoid. Some are unable to handle it this the lack of control of their emotion leads to different kinds of emotional disorder and one this will be the post-traumatic stress disorder. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a term that first appeared in 1980 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The development of the concept was said to be with socio economic and political implications as to veterans of war. PTSD is one of the psychiatric diagnoses in which a veteran could accept medical compensation. The diagnosis is highly controversial because of the strong connection with compensation seeking behavior and efforts and the uncertainty about the affect of this on objective diagnosis of those who may have been subjected to trauma (Wikipedia, 2006). Stress theory has defined post traumatic disorder as imbalance of chemicals within the neurotransmitters (Wikipedia, 2006). However not everyone who have suffered painful event could be said to have acquired a post traumatic stress syndrome. There are criteria set and look on by clinical psychologist before one could be diagnosed to have one. Examples of the behaviors that should be manifested by a victim would be constant flashback of the tragic or unwanted event, feelings of detachment, insomnia, exaggerated startled response and difficulty in concentrating (Morgan, 1996). Nowadays the term is associated with any anxiety disorder brought about by flood, earthquake, plane crash, rape, assault, accident, fire or any devastating event that could trigger emotional imbalance. Anyone could suffer from PTSD but the most vulnerable are the young and aged because of their less ability to cope with trauma. A recent survey concluded regarding those who suffered from severe burns, 80% of young children experience post traumatic stress 2-3 years after as compared to the 30% of adults. In the United States, it said that 12% of women and 6% of men of experience PTSD sometimes in the course of their lives. The most cases for women are about sexual molestations and about combat war duty for men (Morgan, 1996). A flashback does not only occur to those with emotional problems but also those that are healthy. The number of occurrence and the intensity of the effect of flashback have an effect for it to be called as an abnormal one. It shakes the mind to its core like the experience of an earthquake. They might be parallel to an epileptic seizure wherein there is no telling when it will occur in a person. It could be attributed in a total chaos felt by an individual that may make his head hurt and have his emotion in total chaos. In such a situation, the subject feels depressed and afraid. He or she feels confused, disassociated from reality and suffers from obsessive thoughts centered on the endless effort of easing the fear (Saito, 2006). This results to the person being in a continuous state of fear, worry and anxiousness. These flashbacks trigger more problems in an individual regarding how he interacts in his present situation. There are times that even if an individual diagnosed with post traumatic disorder is said to be clinically healed, there are still instances that flashbacks will plagued him. The difference though will be in the intensity and since a person is said to be clinically healed from post traumatic stress disorder, he knows how to handle and react when situations like this arises (Saito, 2006). Separation by parent could also have a major negative impact on the emotions of children. Domestic violence is a problem in society that is hard to eradicate. This kind of violence also causes trauma. The effect of depression that a child undergoes because of witnessing domestic violence was look upon. Gender differences in self esteem of forty five school children who are within the elementary grade was analyzed for the study. In this study the result shows that boys who have witness domestic violence have lower self esteem than the girls (Reynolds et al, 2001). Bigger percentage of those that were diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome is the children. They lack the proper experiences and they are unable to defend themselves when a bad situation arises. They still don’t know how to handle their emotions; they still lack the necessary skills to cope with the stress brought about by a bad incident in their lives. Social Learning Theory formulated by Bandura explains that learning is done by an individual through modeling a behavior that one gets from the environment. Observational language as proposed by this theory encompasses four important components; attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation. This theory has been widely use in the study of psychological disorder and behavior modification. Social learning theory has also been use by some social scientist regarding the relationship between self confidence and the learning process of an individual (Ormrod, 1999). When a person is overly exposed in a negative situation, this triggers an imbalance in his emotions. One quality for a person to be diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome will be the feeling of detachment and exaggerated response when startled.   Detachment could be defined as the lack of enthusiasm or a very low motivation about interacting with peers or with the environment. Thus there could be relationship between self-esteem of a child and post traumatic stress syndrome. Self-esteem will be how one person looks at himself; his view about his worth and the qualities that he can offer the world. The feeling of detachment has something to do with the level of self-esteem that a child has. The relationship between self-esteem and post traumatic stress disorder will be look on. This could help parents or guardians, and school administrators in checking the status of the children and thus they could employ a way to help, if it is needed. Since children are still unable to establish their personalities, they are the likely candidate for post-traumatic stress disorder. This study will try to examine the relation of having a post traumatic stress syndrome with the gender of a child. They say that women are more emotional than men; this will hold true for adult individuals but how about for a child who has not yet have the necessary emotions to build his personality, there might be a different case thus a different approach to healing should be employed. Statement of the problem The relation of gender to post traumatic stress disorder will be analyzed. The sample will be middle school children. The study will try to check what gender of a child the most needed help to overcome or avoid post traumatic stress syndrome. The relationship between these variables will be analyzed and recorded to check the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. How it affects children ages ten to twelve years old will also be look upon. A survey will be utilized to administer the test. The result will be analyzed using regression coefficient test. Research Questions and Hypotheses Hypotheses Self Esteem: H1: There is a relationship between self esteem and PTSD symptoms. Ho: There is no relationship between self esteem and levels of PTSD. Gender: H1: There is a relationship between symptoms of PTSD and gender. Ho: There is no relationship between gender and levels of PTSD Research Question Research Aim: The aim of this research is to show a relationship between self-esteem and gender with level of post traumatic stress disorder that a child experiences. Theoretical construct to be employed will be of social learning theory. The survey from will have questions that are directed will be directed not only with the children but also with the teachers, guardians, parents and friends of the target population that has been said to have experience a traumatic incident and have been diagnosed with a post traumatic stress disorder. Sample Research Question: The names and other personal information regarding the participants will be withheld for their protection. The personal information that will be obtained from them will be their age and gender. Have your child experience a traumatic event in your life? What kind of traumatic event have you been exposed to? When did you experience this traumatic event? How many times do you think you have been exposed to traumatic events? Have you been experiencing constant uncontrollable shaking or heart palpitations? Have you had clinical diagnosis and treatment after the traumatic experience? Did this traumatic event made you change how you deal with other people? Do you find it easy to trust other people now? Are you having problem sleeping at night? Are you having recurrent flashback of the traumatic event that you have experienced? Are you having problems relating your emotions to other people? Did you have problem eating after the painful experience that you have encountered? Do you think your family is giving you enough support in healing the painful experience that you have? Rate your confidence within yourself regarding your emotional capabilities. One being the lowest and ten being the highest. Are you able to focus well on your tasks in school? Do you think you have many or just few friends? Do you think your peers understand you? Are you satisfied with your current status regarding your studies? Are you satisfied with your current status regarding your family? Are you confident about your future, that you will have a good one? Are you able to share the traumatic experience that you have encountered with your friends or family members? How many months before you had felt better after the traumatic event? Definitions of Theoretical Constructs Traumatic events will be defined as an experience that an individual had that causes him to feel emotional disturbances like horror, helplessness and a sense of disrupt equilibrium. Traumatic events could also be marked by an injury to the victim. The injury may be emotional or physical. Some say that a person may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder if the person’s emotional status will not get better after three months after the incident. This is the threshold month before a person could be said to have an emotional disturbance (CDC, 2005). Self esteem will be the level of confidence that a child has regarding how he can achieve things. This will also be related to how a child interacts with his peers, friends and family members. Self esteem is also how a child sees himself, if he thinks he has good physical attributes, as well as emotional and mental capabilities. Gender is another term for the sexuality of a human being. There will only be two distinction regarding the sexuality of human beings, that will be a person could only be a male or a female. The physical attribute of the person will be the basis for sexuality and not the emotional preference of the child. Social learning theory focuses on how an individual relates to his environment. The way an individual response to different stimuli that has been presented has something to do with the motivations and degree of attention that the person gives to the specific stimuli that has been presented to him. This theory has been employed to better understand aggression and concept of self worth by some individuals. This would be how one sees their worth despite the odds and how they define themselves according to what they have experience. Post traumatic stress disorder is an emotional disturbances cause by negative stimulus that an individual experiences within his environment. Sometimes, too much exposure to this negative stimulus causes a disruption of equilibrium and sometimes the individual will have problem regarding the distinction of what society perceives as right and wrong. Emotional stress might have an affect on the cognitive aspect of an individual. People surrounding an individual who has experience post traumatic stress disorder should keep in mind that they have to help in creating a balance again in the lives of the victims; this could be done by being aware that they need attention and motivation. This could help in making sure that the victim will heal and that his future will not be jeopardize because of a mistake that has harmed him when he was still a child. That is why in the study; those surrounding the children, like teachers, guardians and parents will also be interviewed. The interview with them aims to create an awareness regarding what post traumatic stress disorder is and makes them think about how to help create a better environment for the victims of traumatic events. Research Design A random sample of fifty children age 10-12 will be the target population for the study. The sample will be obtained from three different local schools within the state. Teachers and parents will be interviewed first to check those students who could be use for the sampling. They should be those students who have witness or experience a traumatic event in their life. They may or may not be diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. The school record of those who will answer the survey will also be checked to. A survey format questionnaire will be given the random sample of fifty children. Ratio of the number of male and female population will also be recorded. The statistical test that will be use to interpret the survey will be regression coefficient of beta and the statistical measure will employ the F test or F equals t-squared. Ancova will be the program to be use to help diagnose the coefficients of the result of the survey. Contributions Self-concept on the other hand for me is a person’s ability to relate them to what they are trying to learn. This means having a clear notion of how one could learn not only by the aid of mentors but also on how we would help ourselves to learn new concepts that are being presented to us. In life there will be instances that a person’s self concept may be put into jeopardize when a person, specially a child, experiences a traumatic event in his life. There could problems regarding how he will interpret the new things that are being presented to him after the traumatic event. A better understanding of what a child goes through after a painful experience will help understand the trauma and stress that is being experienced. This could aid on the right approach that should be employed to make sure that the emotional and intellectual growth of a child is not hampered but he was able to learn and get the lesson in the bad thing that has happened to him. This could also help parents, teachers and guardians by having a correct awareness about post traumatic stress disorder and its effect to their children. It is hoping that after those surrounding the child who is a victim of a traumatic event; they will do the necessary assessment and intervention needed to create an equilibrium within the victim’s emotions. That since they will have better understanding, they will have greater patience to the child if it is showing negative attitudes because of their traumatic experience. That they will give him more motivation to heal himself from the pain that he is experiencing. Life is never easy, painful experiences are part of one’s life but proper knowledge on how to handle these pains will be beneficial on coping with changes and making sure that children grow up healthy, physically and mentally. Reference: Department of Heath and Human Services. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). (2005). Coping with a Traumatic Event. Retrieved September 26, 2006 from http://www.bt.cdc.gov/masscasualties/copingpub.asp Elklit, A. (2002). Victimization and PTSD in a Danish National Youth Probability Sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry. 41(2):174-181, February 2002. Lippincott Williams Wilkins Kurtz, Linda. (1995). A Coping Processes and Behavioral Outcomes in Children of Divorce . University of Alberta. Canadian Journal of School Psychology .Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 1995. Morgan, Barbara J. (1996). Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. p343. Guide to Medical Cures and Treatments, The Reader’s Digest Association Inc. Pleasantville New York, Montreal. Motta, Robert. (1995). Childhood Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the Schools. Hofstra University. Canadian Journal of School Psychology .Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 1995. Ormrod, J.E. (1999). Human learning (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Reynolds et al. (2001). The relationship between gender, depression, and self-esteem in children who have witnessed domestic violence. Loyola College of Maryland, Baltimore, USA. MedLine Publication. Saito. (2006). The Best Way to Cure Anxiety Disorder. Saito Therapy. Retrieved September 26, 2006 from http://healmind.com/saitotherapy/flbgraphstt.htm Wikipedia. (2006). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Retrieved September 26, 2006 from . http://www.answers.com/topic/post-traumatic stress disorder.