Access over 20 million homework & study documents

Florida international university edp 6277

Content type
User Generated
Rating
Showing Page:
1/3
Eirk Erikson Psychosocial Stages of Development and PTSD
PTSD is a psychiatric condition that can develop after exposure to a disturbing or
traumatic event. Traumatic events can include but are not limited to experiences such as war,
getting into an accident, and sexual abuse (Torres, 2020). According to the American Psychiatric
Association PTSD is characterized by symptoms that fall into 4 categories: Intrusion, Avoidance,
Alterations in cognition and mood and Alterations in arousal and reactivity. Intrusion is when a
person experiences disturbing thoughts that may be unwelcome such as nightmares and
flashbacks. Avoidance is when a person avoids people, places or objects that remind them of the
traumatic event. Alterations in cognition and mood means that a person may not be able to
remember all aspects of their trauma leading to distorted thoughts about themselves and or the
world around them. Finally, those with PTSD may experience alterations in arousal and
reactivity such as hypervigilance (Torres, 2020).
In childhood PTSD can be a consequence, for example, of child maltreatment. Child
maltreatment is often a result of parents who are isolated with little ties to others or social
support. They may also feel like they are powerless as a parent and resort to critical and abusive
behavior toward their child. In early childhood if a child is mistreated, they can experience low
self-esteem, increased anxiety and self-blame. When a child experiences severe trauma they are
highly hypervigilant and generalize all things as a threat (Kolk, 2015). The chances of attempted
suicide in mistreated children during their adolescence is increased (Berk, 2018) additionally,
older adults who experienced trauma in their childhood had more severe symptoms of PTSD
than those who experienced trauma in any other time period (Ogle et al., 2013). During this time
children are in Erik Erikson’s stage of Initiative versus Guilt. A child who is maltreated most
likely would not achieve a purpose and develop a sense of guilt (Mcleod, 2018).

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Showing Page:
2/3
Among all of the symptoms of PTSD, adolescents may struggle most with engaging in
risky behavior, because in general adolescents struggle more with decision making than adults.
Teens struggling with PTSD are also more likely to take risk such as using drugs and alcohol to
cope and have difficulty making friends. Another result of a traumatic event for adolescents
could be that they are fearful of separating from their family. Adolescents are in the Erik Erikson
Identity versus Role Confusion stage. During this time, they are individuating themselves and
typically place an emphasis on their social relationships (Mcleod, 2018). For teens who develop
or experience PTSD, these milestones are difficult to attain, and may not reach identity
achievement. Instead they may reach identity moratorium, foreclosure or diffusion (Berk, 2018).
The effects of PTSD are similar for adults of all ages, however, for this discussion we will
focus on early adulthood and Erik Erikson’s stage of Intimacy versus Isolation. For adults PTSD
continues to make it difficult to form close bonds. During this time young adults are seeking
emotional and sexual companionship. As an example, being sexually abused as a child, may
cause them to struggle to allow themselves to feel any satisfaction from having a partner (Kolk,
2015). If they also experienced PTSD in adolescences Erikson believes that a young adult may
see intimacy as a threat to their identity and may push themselves in to isolation (Berk, 2018).

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Showing Page:
3/3

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Eirk Erikson Psychosocial Stages of Development and PTSD PTSD is a psychiatric condition that can develop after exposure to a disturbing or traumatic event. Traumatic events can include but are not limited to experiences such as war, getting into an accident, and sexual abuse (Torres, 2020). According to the American Psychiatric Association PTSD is characterized by symptoms that fall into 4 categories: Intrusion, Avoidance, Alterations in cognition and mood and Alterations in arousal and reactivity. Intrusion is when a person experiences disturbing thoughts that may be unwelcome such as nightmares and flashbacks. Avoidance is when a person avoids people, places or objects that remind them of the traumatic event. Alterations in cognition and mood means that a person may not be able to remember all aspects of their trauma leading to distorted thoughts about themselves and or the world arou ...
Purchase document to see full attachment
User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Anonymous
Goes above and beyond expectations!

Studypool
4.7
Trustpilot
4.5
Sitejabber
4.4