Research Paper on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that significantly increases the likely hood of suicide, one in which a person experiences extreme duress due to the recall of traumatic events that have occurred in their past (Gradus, 2018). In The HBO documentary Crisis Hotline Veterans Press 1, the audience is introduced to a number of crisis hotline operators who assist veterans with suicidal ideations and actions. My initial reactions after finishing the documentary are hard to convey in words. The seriousness of PTSD, the way in which it affects the lives of everyone involved in the life of the person suffering from it, and the trauma that percolates into the lives of all of them is devastating. Listening to someone kill themselves is traumatizing. The constant anxiety of speaking with people on the verge of suicide day in and day out has to create an unimaginable toll on a person’s soul. Even listening to this as a viewer is increasing my heart rate and provoking noticeable anxiety responses. The uncertainty of how things are going to play out is stress full, even when you have no perceived responsibility for the incident. It is impossible to watch this without noticing that PTSD is involved nearly every incident. The flashbacks and visualizations that are caused by the disorder appear to be overwhelmingly responsible for the emergence of suicidal thoughts and actions within the community. 

Given that the people who are immediately involved in the lives of a person suffering from PTSD experience events that involve the potential violent death of another person close to them and placing themselves in situations that could be dangerous to their own lives; I believe they should be provided with adjunctive treatment measures in order to alleviate the psychological trauma that emerges from the relationship. According to Brian E. Bride (2007, p. 68), a substantial number of social workers will experience a traumatizing event over the course of their career with 15.2 percent undergoing trauma that could be diagnosable as PTSD. Within the documentary one of the crisis line operators recalled experiencing flashbacks of incidents where they had a caller commit suicide, going over in their head things they could have done differently and placing an undue amount of responsibility on themselves for the outcome of the event. This suggests that the operators themselves are experiencing symptoms of PTSD, which should entitle them to treatment in order to mitigate the damages before they become chronic.

Within the context of the prompt, a question was posed regarding whether or not compulsory counseling should be required for the clinicians that work with people who experience PTSD. Considering that there are myriad people within the field that come from diverse backgrounds and respond to stressors in diverse ways, with a considerable proportion experiencing extreme duress while and after dealing with things of this nature, and others being able to maintain a state of normalcy. I believe that it should be an option, that is strongly encouraged but one that is not necessarily compulsory in nature. With that being said for clinicians that are experiencing symptoms that mirror PTSD and other psychological ailments seeking help should be mandatory. Considering that they will not be able to provide the optimum amount of care for the patients if they themselves are not operating to the best of their abilities.