Trauma: A Distressing Mental Health Phenomenon - Essay Sample

Introduction

In mental health, the term trauma is used to denote a disturbing experience or deeply distressing. It is a common phenomenon in a society where individuals experience this type of mental complication. In most cases, trauma is usually triggered by frightening situations. An individual suffering from trauma can either exhibit Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or traumatic stress. Trauma may last for days, weeks, or months depending on the intensity of the event, causing the and also the ability of an individual to manage stress. However, though the trauma may last for a few days, some usually have lifetime effects on an individual. This research focuses on trauma among female adolescents.

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Sexual abuse is the primary source of trauma among female adolescents. There are various sources of PTSD among the teen, which include childhood abuse, crimes, fire, and natural disaster. Other sources of trauma are from ongoing traumatic events such as gang violence, domestic violence, and child abuse. However, statistics show that the aspect of sexual abuse causes 70% of female teen trauma. In society, there are various methods in which teen are exposed to sexual violence. The most common form of sexual abuse is rape, where girls are forced to have sex without their consent (McLean, Morris, Conklin, Jayawickreme, & Foa, 2014). According to Bowen and Walker (2015), sexual abuse has become significant domestic violence where adolescents females are sexually abused not only by strangers but also by their relatives at home. Using trickeries such as alcohol and sleeping pills is a common occurrence. The problem is that, after realizing that they have been sexually abused, most teen females end up developing PTSD.

There is a correlation between sexual abuse and the development of PTSD among teen females. Though several events trigger PTSD, sexual abuse is more likely to cause PTSD among the teen female than any other traumatic event. This was ascertained by a study that was conducted by Spinazzola et al., (2016) which suggested that 90% of teen females exposed to sexual abuses develop PTSD. This implies that, while many females teens can recover from trauma coursed by other traumatic events, only 10% can heal from sexual abuse quickly, and most of them end up with PTSD (Sundermann & DePrince, 2015).

Though sexual abuse is the most common cause of PTSD among the female teen, most of these cases go unreported. The higher percentage of the cases that go unreported are domestic sexual abuse and among the peer such as in schools. The most-reported sexual abuse is those from a stranger. Sundermann and DePrince (2015) asserted that fear of the consequences and lack of information on how to report sexual abuse makes more teen fail to report such violations. For example, at home, a teen might be abused by their guardian and threatened not to say. At school, female adolescents may also be coaxed by their peer using drugs. In reference to McLean et al. (2014), most teens are first persuaded to take alcohol, and then they are sexually abused. Though the conditions under which female teen are sexually abused may make them not to report such cases, they are negatively affected, and most of them end up in distress, regret, and eventually PTSD.

What makes female teen PTSD significant social phenomenon is that it is significantly correlated with substance abuse. Though the symptoms of female teens are similar to those of adults and young children, they are more likely to exhibit aggressive and impulsive behaviors than any other group. Besides, after experiencing sexual abuse, female teem are more likely to seek self-medication with drugs or alcohol. This has been proved by the report from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network which shows that more than 50% of the female teen with PTSD usually deal with painful emotions by the use of alcohol and drugs (Bowen & Walker, 2015). This is more so to those who fear to report their cases.

PTSD also has a long term effect on teen females. Whenever a teen is affected by PTSD, almost every area of her life is affected. They tend to use most of their emotional and mental energy to suppress or deal with the symptoms. This makes them struggle with relationship and other daily functions. For example, most of them are unable to develop and maintain a relationship, especially with people of the opposite sex. According to Sundermann and DePrince (2015), a female teen who gets PTSD as a result of sexual abuse are likely to resist challenge because of fear, poor academic performance, difficulty in thinking and focusing abstractly, and increase risk-taking behaviors.

PTSD is a mental disorder that is usually triggered by traumatic events that individual experience in life. Anyone can develop traumatic disorder regardless of age. Different events can cause PSTD to anyone. However, particular circumstances have a higher preference for treating PTSD among a specific group of people than others. This study shows that sexual abuse is the primary cause of PTSD among the female teen as 90% of those who are exposed to sexual violence end up being affected by PTSD. Female teen who are exposed to sexual abuse end up not reporting and prefer to fight with these suppressive emotions alone. As such, most of them seek refuge on drugs and alcohol as a personal medication. However, this is detrimental as it just worsens their condition. Most of them struggle with every aspect of their life, such as education and relationships. Quick intervention among victims of sexual harassment among the teen female is hence necessary to avoid such implications.

References

Bowen, E., & Walker, K. (2015). Risk and Protective Factors for Adolescent Dating Violence. In The Psychology of Violence in Adolescent Romantic Relationships (pp. 52-72). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

McLean, C. P., Morris, S. H., Conklin, P., Jayawickreme, N., & Foa, E. B. (2014). Trauma characteristics and posttraumatic stress disorder among adolescent survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of family violence, 29(5), 559-566.

Spinazzola, J., Ford, J. D., Zucker, M., van der Kolk, B. A., Silva, S., Smith, S. F., & Blaustein, M. (2017). Survey evaluates: Complex trauma exposure, outcome, and intervention among children and adolescents. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 433-439.

Sundermann, J. M., & DePrince, A. P. (2015). Maltreatment characteristics and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties as predictors of mental health symptoms: results from a community-recruited sample of female adolescents. Journal of Family Violence, 30(3), 329-338.