Psychological well-being can become a crucial issue for various populations in the contemporary age. With the constant threat of stress and trauma present in people’s everyday lives, it is highly significant to define and explore the emergence and development of conditions related to mental health. As such, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been identified as a mental illness that frequently occurs in individuals who have experienced severe traumatizing events and have difficulties returning to their normal state of mind (Tang et al., 2017). Although PTSD might be caused by various factors, the most probable origins are devastating trauma, such as experiencing an earthquake (Tang et al., 2017). From this perspective, it is crucial to address the consequences of developing PTSD, clarify the potential influence of this disorder, and establish the pathways to mitigate these risks.
PTSD has always been an important topic of conversation for mental health scholars. Defined as a psychological condition that arose as a result of experiencing a terrifying event, PTSD can become the origin of various negative symptoms that prevent the affected individuals from leading healthy life (Hong & Efferth, 2016). As such, PTSD has been reported to cause such symptoms as severe anxiety, insomnia, depression, and a confused state of mind (Wu et al., 2016). In the majority of PTSD cases, patients are unable to maintain an appropriate level of welfare and engage in their normal activities due to experiencing such events (Hong & Efferth, 2016). However, the absence of treatment programs often forces affected individuals to overcome PTSD by themselves, which results in the emergence of consequences related to untreated PTSD. Therefore, defining the ramifications of untreated PTSD becomes of critical importance.
Earthquakes often become the origin of PTSD due to their traumatizing nature. Given the specifics of experiencing a natural disaster, the aspects of PTSD in earthquake survivors can be highly unique. For instance, a concept that is directly related to this is depression, a symptom of PTSD developed after experiencing the earthquake but left professionally unattended. Another factor is the natural process of rehabilitation that occurs without any interventions and promotes well-being (Tang et al., 2017). While some researchers claim that PTSD developed as a result of earthquake-related experiences can be resolved naturally, some data suggests the significance of PTSD-aimed therapy in alleviating the negative outcomes (Hong & Efferth, 2016). Given this complication, I will examine whether individuals who experienced an earthquake are more likely to resolve depressive PTSD symptoms naturally or with the help of interventions.
The population for this proposal is the survivors of earthquakes that have received injuries or were otherwise directly impacted by such natural disasters. It is essential to note that the individuals should have had first-hand experience in the event, as observing an earthquake can elicit a different type of trauma (Hong & Efferth, 2016). While survivors of both genders are the primary targets, for the age range, it would be beneficial to include individuals above 18 years old to ensure the person’s consent. Demographically, survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake can be taken into consideration, as this earthquake had a tremendous impact on the population of this region and has been adequately researched by scholars (Wu et al., 2016). The title of the proposal will be as follows: “The consequences of untreated PTSD in earthquake survivors: the therapeutic resolution of depressive symptoms in Wenchuan survivors.”
References
Hong, C., & Efferth, T. (2016). Systematic review on post-traumatic stress disorder among survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 17(5), 542–561. Web.
Tang, B., Deng, Q., Glik, D., Dong, J., & Zhang, L. (2017). A meta-analysis of risk factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in adults and children after earthquakes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(12). Web.
Wu, Z., Xu, J., & Sui, Y. (2016). Posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth coexistence and the risk factors in Wenchuan earthquake survivors. Psychiatry Research, 237, 49–54. Web.