Psychology

According to Murray (2006), post-traumatic stress disorder is an emotional as well mental condition that occurs after an event happens.

It can occur after a few days or years from when an event occurred. A person suffering from the disorder can have the following symptoms He or she could be having dreams of the event, he may also have memory lapses. This means that he forgets some important things. Thirdly, he or she may feel that there is no future. Therefore, the post-traumatic stress disorder results in depression which later makes one to be forgetful and thus it affects the learning process of an individual. It is important to learn its characteristics and causes as well as the remedial strategies that can be used to solve the problem.

Before we look into the effects of stress it is important that we discover the tell tale signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. First, a person lacks the interest in participating in some activities. For example, he or she may not want to do any work. The student may not want to do his or her assignments which are important in the learning process. Secondly, he may be withdrawn. He may not want to relate with other people and therefore he stays alone far away from other people. The student may not want to be involved in group during the learning process. Thirdly, such a person may have a problem concentrating in one activity. The person becomes very active and jumpy. This therefore affects his or her education or learning since she cannot concentrate in class. He may also appear hyper-active sometimes. They may also be involved in so many activities at any one time and they do not seem to be getting tired. The emotions of such people cannot be predicted since they sometimes become angry without a specific reason. Such an attitude is very detrimental since it affects the learning process. The teacher may fear the student and therefore they may not communicate well.
The students suffering from stress may also not have an interest in learning since they feel that they do not have a future. Consequently they end up losing hope and performing poorly in class. Such students may have suicidal thoughts and they only think of ending their lives. In some occasions they seem to lack some feelings. Additionally, students suffering from anxiety, depression or the post-traumatic stress disorder may work very hard to avoid places, people, thoughts or activities that are associated to the trauma. This in turn affects their learning because if for example a girl was raped she may hate all men including men teachers. This means that she cannot understand whatever the men teachers teach. The student may have dreams relate to the activity that led to the trauma (Kinchin 2005). He also continues to state that people or students suffering form post-traumatic stress disorder may have a low self esteem and they also have an impaired learning ability. They feel that they cannot achieve or attain high marks and this limits their performances. If the situation is left unattended to it could get out hand and the students may also drop out of school.

The behaviors that can be seen from the above discussion can only be detrimental to the learning process hence the poor performance.

Before we add onto the effects of post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression on education it is important that we understand the various causes. The causes according to Kinchin (2005) will be discussed below

Abandonment This occurs when a child feels that they are not loved. They go looking for the love in other zones which could be dangerous. The students or children may end up being sexually harassed or beaten. A child may feel abandoned if the parents do not spend some time with the child or they are divorced. Such a child may not also learn well in school since she may develop the characteristics exhibited by stressed people.

A second cause of post-traumatic stress disorder is abuse. When a child is physically or sexually abused the child may develop post traumatic disorders and thus her education will be affected.  If the family of the child has domestic problems her education will also be affected. It is important that we can now discuss the effects of stress on education.

According to Bodeeb (2010) students are most likely to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder because of child abuse, sexual harassment among others. He continues to state that most high school students suffer from the disorder due to the above reasons and many others. He supports Murrays view that the signs indicating that a person is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder may manifest themselves immediately or it may take a longer time which could be several years or decades. This disorder may therefore make the students not to understand what they are taught.

To understand how stress inhibits proper learning the following notes are important. When a student experiences stress the body releases cortisol. This hormone may cause too much fat to accumulate at the belly. This fat is very dangerous as it results into cardiac problems. Additionally when we become anxious the body releases adrenaline into the blood. Cortisol remains in the body for a very long period of time which enables it to negatively affect the brain. Cortisol affects the neurotransmitters and thus the brain cannot function properly. The neurotransmitters carry messages from the brain to the other parts of the body or vise versa. If their communication is impaired the student suffers from memory loss. This indicates that if the stress levels are low then the brain will work properly. There will be no memory losses and consequently high performances will be guaranteed.

Kar and Bastia (2006) looked at adolescents and discovered that the students who were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder anxiety or depression had a poor performance in school.

Bodeeb (2010) observes that if a student or students is seen to have the characteristics of someone suffering from post traumatic stress disorder the following should be done to assist them
First it would be prudent that the teachers and parents talk to the student. If a teacher notices that the behavior of a student has changed it is wise to talk to them. Students feel relieved if someone shows concern to them. If the student is discovered to be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder he or she should start treatment immediately. The teacher should also look for information from the school psychologist which he shares with the student. The student should also visit the psychologist regularly and this will make him or her feel that someone cares. The students emotions may stabilize with time and hence her performance also improves. The students should also be provided with information on the books or websites such as  HYPERLINK httpwww.pstd.org.uk www.pstd.org.uk that could be of help to them. In addition to the above, any student suffering from the post traumatic stress disorder should get a combination of medication and counseling.

In conclusion, it is necessary to identify students who are suffering from the post-traumatic stress disorder and intervene to help them. This is important because this is the only way that the students can be assured of performing well in school. The teachers are the ones that are close to the students most of the times. This therefore means that they are most likely to notice the changes in children behavior. They should talk to the students and if the student is suffering from stress they should notify the parents and they should work together until the student is healed. They should get the necessary medicines and attend the counseling sessions as recommended. Children of all ages are nowadays predisposed to the risks that can lead to them suffering from the post-traumatic stress disorder. However it was believed that only the adults that suffered from stress. This is not the case nowadays due to the many changes that has occurred in the society. Both parents are working and the children are left under the care of some people who may not be very careful. The children may get accidents which may make them suffer from the post traumatic stress disorder.