Question

You are a member of the social sciences research team and are tasked with the following:  Write a 1-page literature review on the ‘common’ traumatic incidents experienced daily by average South Africans.  Discuss the potential effects of witnessing such traumatic incidences daily.  Discuss the theoretical approach most applicable to understanding such incidences.  Discuss the intervention strategy and trauma counselling approach most applicable to alleviating the impact/effects of such traumatic incidences. You may choose to focus on one traumatic incidence to discuss an intervention strategy

Answer 1

Imagine that you are sleeping peacefully in your own bed when suddenly the ground under your home heaves and shakes, and you are thrown to the floor. Once awakened, you find yourself surrounded by the sounds of objects, and even entire building crashing to the ground that was accompanied by shrieks of fear and pain from your neighbors or perhaps even your own family. This is precisely the kind of experience reported by many person following earthquake.

Such experiences are described as traumatic by psychologists because they are extraordinary in nature – and externally disturbing. It is not surprising, then, that some persons exposed to them experience Post traumatic stress disorder.

Some individuals who experience traumatic events develop post traumatic stress disorder in which they persistently reexperience the traumatic events in their thoughts for dreams and show signs of increased arousal such as difficulty in falling asleep, irritability, and difficulty in concentrating.

In the post traumatic stress disorder the people persistently reexperience the traumatic event in their thoughts for dreams. They feel as if they are reliving the events from time to time; persistently experience stimuli associated with the traumatic events ; and persistently experience symptoms of increased arousal that has difficulty falling asleep, irritability, outbursts of anger, or difficulty in concentrating. Post traumatic stress disorder can stem from a wide range of traumatic events – natural disaster, accident, rape and other assaults, torture or the horrors of war time combat.