PTSD,+Alcohol,+and+Trauma

__PTSD, Alcohol, and Trauma__

__Sexual assault and PTSD__

Current therapies for sexual assaults that are related to PTSD are in desperate need of improvement. This means we need to increase our knowledge and understanding of pathologies associated with biological, psychosocial and sociological domains to have a more effective treatment for survivors ( Wilson, 2006). However, the healing process does not mean that the survivor never forgets about the experience or never experiences symptoms again. A victim’s cognition has a dramatic effect for the onset, severity and progress of PTSD following a sexual assault (Wilson, 2006). There are pharmacotherapies that are available to treat PTSD but are inadequate and also unwanted by the survivor. Also, sociological impacts of assault influence PTSD development by the victim adopting a blaming attitude and prolonging the existence of rape myths (Wilson, 2006). In order for a recovery to be most successful, positive regard, education and early social support are vital and necessary (Wilson, 2006).

__PTSD and Childhood Sexual Abuse__

Alcohol use and dependence among parents and caregivers can be associated with physical abuse of children. Curtis (1999) considered that alcohol use was a factor in 38 percent of cases of child abuse. Curtis (1999) also found that alcohol and/or drug abuse was involved in 64% of all child abuse. It was found that at least 675,000 children each year are seriously mistreated by an alcoholic or drug abusing caregiver.

Clinical research by Najavits et al. (as cited by Harrison & Carver, 2004, p. 416) indicates a prevalence of trauma history ranging between 25 percent and 66 percent among individuals receiving treatment for substance use. Furthermore, Harrison and Carver (2004) describe a gender difference in reported abuse among those seeking assistance for substance use problems. Women report past abuse much more frequently than men. In fact, most women report physical and sexual abuse over their lifetime while for men, the physical abuse is more common than sexual abuse.

Research by Zlotnick, Johnson, Stout, Zyweik, Johnson, and Schneider (2006) explores the connection between child sexual and physical abuse and increased severity of difficulty with alcohol. Similar to other literature on the subject, sexual abuse was more commonly reported among women (33%) than men (11.9%) (Zlotnick et al., 2006) Among participants seeking treatment for alcohol problems, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was more likely in those with histories of childhood sexual abuse (32.2%) than those without such histories (6.9%) (Zlotnick et al., 2006)

Traumatic experiences including childhood abuse have a powerful impact on a person's life. Alcohol consumption may be an attempt to cope with the trauma and numb both the physical and psychological pain that accompanies such experiences. Zlotnick et al. (2006) find that childhood sexual abuse was related to age of onset of alcohol abuse. Specifically, an earlier age of onset of alcohol related problems.

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