PTSD

"For months after the attack, I couldn't close my eyes without envisioning the face of my attacker. I suffered horrific flashbacks and nightmares. For four years after the attack I was unable to sleep alone in my house. I obsessively checked windows, doors, and locks. Soon I became unable to leave my apartment for weeks at a time. For me there was no safe place in the world, not even my home. This just became a way of life." 
- P.K Philips

It's not about what's wrong with you. It's about what's happened to you. 

-Karl Gotthardt

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is a mental disorder in which affected individuals have experienced stressful and traumatic events in their lives. Some of those traumatic events include fighting or being exposed to wars, experiencing or witnessing a tragic accident/event, and being physically or sexually assaulted (PubMed, 2013). Although, not every person who has  PTSD has been through a traumatic evident. PTSD can develop in a person just by the sudden unexpected death of someone close to you or seeing a friend or a family member in danger or hurt (NIMH, 2013). Anyone can be affected by PTSD at any age. People have different reactions to traumatic events and PTSD may entirely develop differently in each person.  The symptoms associated with PTSD are flashbacks, re-experiencing the traumatic event, intense physical reactions to the event (pounding heart, rapid breathing, nausea, muscle tension/ache, sweating, and there may even be bouts of crying and angriness).

PTSD in Male and Female:

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 Source: Nebraska Department of Veteran's Affairs

Map - Regarding Military Transitions/Deployment Around the world
Geography Theme: Movement, US military soldiers transitioning from other countries and setting up bases all round the country. Moving from place to place, we as individuals move around a lot and the migration of armies from other countries show how movement and geography is connected with each other  (Anthamatten and Hazen, 2011).

     Source: CannabisCulture, 2012

Conclusion:The geographic theme that Africa, US, Philippines, and Cambodia share is location because every  location is different from each other. Many locations/countries have advantages and disadvantages. Some of them might even lack resources than other locations have that are essential to the health and wellness of the individuals living in that particular location.

1. Vector - PTSD does not have a vector like the health issue Dengue. PTSD  is a mental illness/disorder that can be developed at any age. In addition, PTSD is not transmissible through bodily contact like the health issue HIV/AIDS. Moreover, PTSD is not a bacterial infection like the health issue Tuberculosis. What these health issues have in common are the people affected. The populations who are vulnerable to the health issues of PTSD, HIV/AIDS, TB, and Dengue are all populations. Those populations are children, adults, and seniors.

Source: http://www.ptsd.ne.gov/what-is-ptsd.html

2. Chronic Disease - PTSD is linked with many causes of chronic diseases. These chronic diseases linked with PTSD cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Source: http://www.ahrq.gov/news/newsletters/research-activities/feb12/0212RA12.html

3. Stigma - The stigma around PTSD is that a lot of individuals don’t see that people have this condition.  “The truth is, because we don’t see these injuries…they don’t receive the same level of attention as amputations, burns, shrapnel injuries.” People who have PTSD don’t show any visible injuries on the outside, but they carry and show severe pain and trauma on the inside. This stigma causes people to become unaware of people’s feelings and experiences when taking on a sensitive subject that might relate to the person’s trauma or tragic events in his or her life.

Source: http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/4893/the-stigmas-surrounding-ptsd-and-tbi/

4. Disease Burden - The disease burden of PTSD is high among veterans and people serving in the armies because “...high rates of clinically significant PTSD symptoms have been found among active-duty service members and veterans.”

Source:http://judithandersen.squarespace.com/storage/possemato%20wade%20andersen%20ouimette%202010%20psych%20trauma%20article.pdf

5. Discourse - PTSD

Narrative: TV shows and movies about wars and documentaries about the history of wars that affected millions of lives in the past. An example of this is “Saving Private Ryan,” where Tom Hanks hands was physically shaking due to all the deaths he has experienced throughout battle. And physical ache and muscle tension is one of the known symptoms of PTSD. So, I would believe that the shaking hands might be one of the early onset symptoms of PTSD.


   Source: Google, 2013

A veteran who watched the movie said, “The reliving was, in its way, worse.”

Source: http://articles.philly.com/1998-08-06/news/25724660_1_omaha-beach-va-center-nearest-va-facility

Ideas: Brain is the most sensitive and crucial part inside a person. The idea is that brain the one of the most used way in better understanding PTSD. Amygdala, is known for its function in the brain to learn, feel, and remember. It is known for its “...fear acquisition,” such as fearing and event or learning not to fear.

Source: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

Ideologies: People think that there is something wrong with a person who has PTSD. Mental Disorder

Institutions: In military institutions, PTSD is known as the “silent killer” in combat. Because even though it doesn’t show any visible physical injuries, it can be as deadly and painful as an intense wound. “One in five..,” military veterans suffer from PTSD and has difficulty re-inserting their lives back into society.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-croft-md/ptsd-in-the-military_b_3981211.html

Text: And image/ad representing PTSD as wounds we can’t see.

Source: Google, 2013 

Social Practice: Talk therapies within communities and outside communities are known to effectively help people with PTSD live the best life they can live.

Source: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

6. Governmentality - "psychological wounds of war" have affected every generation of veterans, and an increased response is necessary now. The government has spent and budgeted the screening and treatment of PTSD among veterans. The article also mentions Veterans Day, which is one of the federal/government holidays in which the people celebrates and thank the services of many soldiers who are serving the country.

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/region/2010/11/07/Government-military-broaden-offensive-against-PTSD/stories/201011070287#ixzz2mexRLLtP


Connection

PTSD and HIV/AIDS do have some relationship with each other. Among People living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, it's been show that a high rate of exposure to traumatic events such as sexual assault are found in among individuals with HIV/AIDS (Tull, 2012). PTSD and HIV/AIDS show overlaps in terms of the people who are affected. . While many are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, PTSD, or even Dengue the populations that are the most vulnerable are children and adults. On the other hand, stigma is one factor that may contribute to the experience of these health issues. Stigma is a concept that refers to individuals being shunned and not accepted from society due to a condition, disease, or sickness that they have. PTSD, HIV/AIDS, Dengue, and Tuberculosis all have forms of stigma because a lot of people with who suffer from these health issues are burdened with stigma because they might not very well be accepted into society due to misconceptions about these diseases (Johnson, 2006). Therefore, there is connection among these health issues and the connection that they have is that they discriminate because not every individual is at equal risk because some countries are still developing such as Cambodia and countries in Africa while some countries are developed.