I'm not much of a tv person, but one show has always had me hooked since high school, Grey's Anatomy. While I admit the last year I haven't been that committed and I'm super behind, (Of course I had to start all the way from the beginning again. Got to love Netflix.) I now understand some of the stuff they're saying! Playing catch up I have re-met Dr. Major Hunt whom is the trauma surgeon and has served a couple of tours in Iraq. As the show progress, it hints in on to Dr. Hunt having post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Post traumatic stress disorder is caused by a experiencing a severe traumatic experience which leads to long-lasting state of frequent distressing recollections and nightmares about the traumatic event, avoidance of reminders of it and exaggerated arousal in response to noise and other stimuli. Grey's Anatomy is fictional so I know that not everything is accurate; however, Dr. Hunt cannot sleep, overreacts when he gets startled and has uncontrollable flashbacks, which now I can see so much more clearly as symptoms of PTSD. It made me wonder why some people get PTSD and others don’t. Here is a basic guide to PTSD. I thought this picture was really neat with all the statistics and basic knowledge of the disorder. (It's a little small, but if you click on the link under, it should take you to the see the picture larger.)
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| http://msw.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder-PTSD-Awareness-Infographic.jpg |
Studies have shown that smaller than averages hippocampi are more susceptible to PTSD. Also, those resulting with PTSD have lower than normal cortisol levels possibly meaning that they aren’t “equipped” to fight. Recently, in my memory class we have discussed PTSD and how certain genes may lead to a higher risk of being more vulnerable to get PTSD. In the link below, is an article that discusses how serotonin transporting genes may have to do with PTSD. It is still relatively new and studies are still being conducted to further locate and specify exactly what this means. I find this completely exciting that something like PTSD that happens from traumatic events can be found in a gene and how it just takes one life changing event to activate this disorder that seems to take a great toll on people’s lives.
Heredity Article.
