Verified Document

Life Trauma And Nursing Home Residents Early-Life Essay

¶ … Life Trauma and Nursing Home Residents Early-Life Trauma

When a person loses their ability to live independently and is forced to enter a nursing home, the experience can be a difficult one. But not all of the problems arise because of current influences, past traumas, which occurred in early-life, can sometimes arise in a resident's later years to cause trouble. Keith Anderson, and his colleagues at the College of Social Work at Ohio State University recently published an article which examined the impact of early-life trauma on older nursing home residents. After discussing how early-life traumas can influence how an elderly person reacts to certain aspects of assisted care, the authors then provide a hypothetical case where a patient has a difficult time adjusting to life in the nursing home. In this hypothetical case, social workers did not discover an early-life trauma which resulted in both the resident and the staff enduring a difficult time in providing care. The authors were especially careful to provide the reader with a complete discussion and numerous common examples to illustrate their points. Overall, the article was well written, provided a clear understanding of the issues involved, as well as an excellent hypothetical example which demonstrated what the article was trying to express to the reader.

The authors begin the article by defining exactly what they mean by the term "trauma," and assert that trauma can take various forms "from the severe (e.g. war, torture, disease)...

756) But the important thing is that the individual suffering the trauma must feel that there is real death or serious injury, to that person or someone else, involved with the event. The authors provide a number of examples of some extreme early-life traumas such as combat, abuse, life-threatening illness, and torture; as well as some more common ones like divorce or poverty. And while traumas can be defined as extreme forms of stress, the authors point out that many people have the ability to cope and adapt to traumatic events. However, when some people become older, their ability to cope with traumas declines which can allow the re-emergence of reactions to early-life traumas such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or late-onset stress symptom logy (LOSS). These two conditions may be similar, but "LOSS is differentiated from delayed-onset PTSD in terms of the severity of the symptoms." (Anderson, p. 757) Two groups which have provided examples of individuals suffering from these conditions are combat veterans and holocaust survivors, and the authors then examine how people who have suffered traumas react to care-giving situations.
While briefly discussing the effect of PTSD and LOSS on combat veterans, the authors provide a detailed examination of the effect of an early-life trauma, such as the Holocaust, on elderly survivors. For instance, showering, standing in line, or enduring a simple medical procedure may trigger memories…

Sources used in this document:
References

Anderson, Keith, Noelle Fields, and Lynn Dobb. (2011). "Understanding the Impact of Early-Life Trauma in Nursing Home Residents." Journal of Gerontological

Social Work, 54: 755-767. Retrieved from

com
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Function of Theory in Nursing
Words: 2840 Length: 8 Document Type: Annotated Bibliography

According to Newman, nurses practicing within this theory find their own lives are enhanced and transformed (Neill, 2002). Her beliefs and consciousness-centered approach were born from her early nursing experiences involving rehabilitation patients (Weingourt, 1998). She came to understand the altered connection between the concept of time for her patients and their limited mobility. For most of her patients, the day would seem to drag along despite the fact

Restraints As the Mean Age
Words: 2585 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Another study surrounding the use of restraints in non-psychiatric patients (Strumpf and Evans, 1998) reported that the nurses had difficulty reconciling the administration of restraints with concerns regarding patient dignity and autonomy. So it appears that the use of restraints is difficult on staff and patients alike. Interestingly enough, in a literature review for this paper, the writer could find no significant supporting data to recommend restraint devices as

New Way of Diagnosing Neurocognitive Disorders
Words: 1872 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Classic examples of these are relational problems within families, which are missing in DSM-IV-TR. A research team investigated how relational problems are handled in DSM-IV. From its findings, the team recommended the inclusion of relational problems or processes in DSM-V. It concluded by arguing for the inclusion of diagnostic criteria for relational problems in DSM-V in order to better serve science, families, individuals and the DSM itself (Heyman et

Health-Nursing Domestic Violence/Mental Health Since
Words: 797 Length: 2 Document Type: Thesis

When left untreated, mental health conditions can lead to school failure, family conflicts, drug abuse, violence, and even suicide. Untreated mental health disorders can be very expensive for families, communities, and the health care system. Teens in rural areas in particular face many challenges for which there are not enough resources available. They face problems such as: isolation, loneliness, and poor access to transportation, increased economic conflict, unemployment, poor

Cnos: Proposed Study
Words: 6509 Length: 21 Document Type: Dissertation or Thesis complete

civilians think of the nursing department in any well-run hospital, they often don't consider all the structure, organization and guidance which is required to make this department run as smoothly as it needs to be and to achieve the highest level of patient-centered goals. One position at the top of the pyramid of the nursing department is the position of Chief Nursing Officer or CNO. The Chief Nursing Officer

Costs of Denial in the Death and Dying Process
Words: 4587 Length: 15 Document Type: Research Paper

Denial in the Death and Dying Process Identification of the Problem: Denial and Subsequent Lack of Communication of the Impending Death Death is a natural phenomenon and has been there since the existence of mankind. In the past, people used to accept the death or impending death of a loved one easily because they knew that there was little that they could do about it. However, with the advancement in health

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now