week 10 assignment

· intro

· Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of PTSD.

· current theories,

o theory one emotional processing

o Theory two dual representation, and the cognitive model of PTSD

o both theories help to define the concept. which has been renamed and reexamined enumerable times over the centuries as soldiers and civilians try and work on the different aspects of the trauma they suffer. Similar reactions or PTSD behaviors have been exhibited.

o emotional processing; emotional processing theory (aka, information processing theory) is a theory developed around 1986 in order to provide a solid and substantial foundation to explore the emotional side of anxiety disorders, which PTSD is in that area of scientific exploration. championed by among others Dr. Foa .

o On the surface from a basic examination of the evidnece, IPT was developed suing Behaviorism as a loose base but soon took on a huge amount of the discipline of cognition in identification and treatment. Which in some cases has a great deal of merit. On the other hand, in the short run the treatments are still just metaphorically a band aide on a gunshot.

o the previous versions of treatment for what PTSD has been labeled in the past were almost exclusively come from Behaviorism. Since those tools are designed for population control. To fix the “Shell Shock” one of several previous names for the current PTSD scientific identification was to force the soldiers back onto the battlefield to face the trauma first hand. The old phrase “if the horse bucks you, get right back up on the horse and finish the ride”.

o In general this is a good idea for the general non-violently traumatic events. But when an entire situation turns from just a bad situation to violent trauma, example in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” the Ryan character during the height or the battle over the bridge, with most of the guys sent to get him out were KIA (Killed in Action), he collapses on the ground pulls up into a ball and screams/crys reacting to all the chaos around him. about 8 soldiers against about 500 with heavy equipment it is a wonder more of them did not crawl into a ball and scream/cry. But by then most of those directly in the battle who were not old hands had already been killed.

o The upper brass were not interested in “shell shock”, they wanted to get their infantry back on the lines and stop acting like cowards. So behaviorism techniques were used to force the point.

o It would be fascinating to dig into the research of the battles to find the soldiers who had started to slip into traumatic stress, how many of them committed battlefield suicide. They acted heroic, but in truth were wanting to be killed by the enemy. So they charged machine gun nests, or volunteered for missions which had a very low survivability factor, etc. They could not be treated so they had no other option for their pain and emotional issues, they had to be hero’s and thus suicide.

o So the field has little choice but to come from a foundation of behaviorism. Battlefield commanders want results, not what they determine are “cry babby’s”. Said techniques have been used since the trojan war when psychology was still “The Classics”.

o the interesting part is wundt suffered for a long time with his own PTSD in a war which was entirely clandestine. He was not allowed to talk about it, even decades later. it was a War between the Prussians and the British in Ohio. William James learned about the events and he traveled to where Wundt had done the bulk of his research and his actions and journey are also classified. Where he went and what he learned neither men talked about or even really mentioned.

o How is it possible to prove where Wundt was to acquire PTSD in a clandestine battle. The Prussians had spent the previous entire centuries seizing control of every library in Europe they could get their hands on. The results were futile to say the absolute least. The key books and technical manuels for the weapons including psycolgoy the Prussians had been searching for and committing genocide since 1130, they di dnot find. They only found then after onquering a very specific library on the other side of the Atlatnic in a very specific Valley the Prussians had been fighting over control of that valley since the French and Indian War aka the 7 Years War, it has another name but that is irrelevant at this point. However how many special operations soldiers come out of secret battles and have violent sympoms, how many of the civilians affected by the so called “secret battles” remember what happened because it happened in front of them and there behavior patterns become textbook PTSD regarding attacking the people who brought violent trauma to their home.

o Statistically speaking there is a mathematical equation which can be created regarding western culture soldiers suffering from “shell shock” etc changes per generation unless the current scientific name sticks aroudn for a few more decades. They are sent into battle and in a yet to be studied sufficientely to prove it, how many of them go back into battle and commit “heroism suicide”. An entire episode of MASH in the late 1970s discussed this exact topic. A half Asian half western culture soldier put himself through unending jeopardy and instead of being killed/suicide he survived. Had a chest full battlefield metals for his attempts. But that is where his sub-conscius PTSD presented itself in a suicide attempt in the hospital.

o Immediately upon the PRussianas gaining access to the library they had spent the previous more than half a millenia killing any and al who got between them and the technology they had been demanding to sieze and control. They immediately put the technology to work, within 10 years of the library being seized form its rightful owners, the library was used to create the Indistural Revolution. Within either a few miles of the library for a few of the key inventions, 100 miles for some of the seoncary inventsion.

o The extreme jump in technology is what the Prussians had been demanding access to since day one. The second they gained access is the second they put the tools and weapons into play. If they ahd been gained access previous, in other locations the library books had been stored. They would have done it then. That is the scientific proof regarding the location the library was, and that the battles were entirely clandestine/secret.

o Those same parameters can be used to uncover other historiography secrets to allow both the individuals and communities to explore and heal. The longer things remain secret, the more mental health damage they cause.

o It is interesting that a field both men did not like which was birthed from patriarchal cultures which only care about instant results turned the PTSD Wundt may have suffered from over to a sub-field to come up with treatments for. It is like handing one of yoru best tools over to someone yu cannot stand, but the commander does. So your tool now belongs to someone you do not like because the person you do not like uses the tool the way the commander does like.

o however if emotional processing was handled the way Wundt wanted it to be, through the nervous ystem, specifically starting in the synapses and neuropathways. That would have produced a real and solid solution to the long term health of those suffering from PTSD. The field of emotional processing in the 21^st century is starting to dive into where Wundt wanted treatment to start in 1860.

o Although in all hard reality as treatment moves away from behaviorism and towards cognition. A large part of the field of cognition is moving at various speeds towards neuropsychology. which is hwere Wundt wanted it to be in the first place. Short term solutions are good for what they are good for, but long term treatment requires tacking the issues in the brain and thinking patterns aka cognition.

o Theory two dual representation, and the cognitive model of PTSD

· Treatment

· treatment becomes based on exactly what the culture will allow. Some cultures have less than zero toleration for “shell shocked” troops and punish them as hard as they punish deserters and traitors.

· while other cultures understand that the PTSD soldier there mind is as injured as if they had a broken bone and or a near fatal wound. Treatment and the soldier can return to the front lines and continue. Sometimes they are better soldiers after treatment than previous to being mentally injured.

· conclusion