Treating Trauma

As part of an Abnormal Psychology class, I wrote a research paper about the various medications used to treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When I started writing this paper, my goal was to promote medication adherence by supporting the efficacy of psychotropic medications (with a specific focus on combat-induced PTSD). It seems like the media is always sharing stories about people with a mental disorder who end up in some sort of trouble because they stop taking their prescribed medication. It is common knowledge that a medical overdose can be extremely dangerous, but it seems to me that many people underestimate the danger of an underdose.

However, the more research I conducted, the more I realized that these medication treating PTSD are not always well-researched, safely tested, or even effective…in fact, complete remission is the exception rather than the rule. SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used 90% of the time, and only result in complete remission in 20-30% of cases). There also are many other medications being studied, but each one requires further research before it can truly be regarded as a viable treatment method. I was shocked when I first read that SSRIs are the only FDA-approved medications, and all others were prescribed off-label, but further reading proved that the pool of existing research about other medications is astonishingly small, and even the studies that have been done are full of limitations such as small sample-size and time-frame.

Rather than advocating medication adherence, this new information has inspired me to advocate further research in the area of PTSD treatments. We cannot currently treat a disorder that seems to be increasing in prevalence. The public places a high priority on cancer research, and other more “publicized” areas of medicine, and mental illnesses tend to slip under the radar, and still have a very negative stigma attached to them. I believe mental disorders deserve the same perseverance and resources that we devote to physical illnesses. In particular, after war veterans have risked their lives to protect civilian rights and safety, it seems natural that we would show them the same devotion they have shown us. While I do not approve of combat in general (brute force ought to be employed only by small children and not by large nations), it is trending in today’s society, and the concept of “war” is not likely to disappear any time in the near future.

It is also important to recognize that in modern culture, the entire world is a battlefield. College campuses have been the settings for numerous shootings in recent years; a movie theater and an elementary school were also attacked. In the past week alone, there was a bombing at the Boston Marathon, and a shooting at MIT. Within the past month, there have been bomb threats at our local middle, elementary, and high schools. Backwater, rural towns and bustling New England cities have both served as the backdrop for tragedies. Society, now more than ever before, must be prepared to handle trauma, and to emerge from these incidents with a positive outlook and a healthy populous.