As time passes, more and more countries legalize gambling, more casinos are opened in new and varied places around the world and more areas become legally approved by the authorities for gambling as a form of social entertainment.
If you ask people outside the business about career opportunities within the gambling industry, they will automatically think about the frontline roles such as dealer, bartender or cocktail waitress as these are the people immediately in the public eye. It is not something that is regularly examined, however the casinos industry holds a vast amount of job opportunities in numerous different areas of the entertainment arena. For example, around the casinos are often built Hotels, entertainment areas, and many more businesses that enjoy the gambling crowd and their business potential. As gambling becomes an increasing popular option for social entertainment, both following the population growth and increased disposable income trend, most of the countries that legalize gambling enjoy an increasingly stable economy around these environments.
A casino is like many other businesses or companies, in that it also has an infrastructure of management members, administrational staff, security officers and artists such as singers, musicians and dancers. If there is a hotel complex attached, then additionally all of these hospitality and catering roles will also need to be filled. Although generally most of these positions do not require any direct interaction with the casino floor, to have a working knowledge of casinos and customers alike is a necessity in order to complete the job roles more competently.
One particularly interesting and challenging role is the casino manager. This role is extremely varied and is responsible for the organization, direction, planning, controlling and coordinating of both the table games and the staff operating them. They are also responsible for recruitment, training and scheduling of all the casino staff. Casino managers also need to know all of the game rules, detecting any game that might put the casinos income at risk. Master Statistical and market analyzing methods are always monitored with regards to the gaming and predicting income growth or decline in the economy both locally and nationally is also a vital part of this role to keep the income of the establishment stable.
Salaries for Casino managers can vary hugely depending on a number of factors including region, however on average, the annual salary is $61000 a year according to a well known journal.
Another challenging role is the casino supervisor. They are responsible for ensuring that all gaming tables and the operating staff in a specified area are running to maximum optimization throughout any given shift. They are also there to support the casino patrons and can sometimes need to interpret the gaming rules and deal with any escalated customer issues. On occasion their role can also extend to organizing activities for casino guests staying in the hotel, outside of the gambling arena.
A gaming supervisor must possess exceptional communication skills, Interpersonal Skills and charisma in order to be able to both deal effectively with staff and employees alike. They also need these skills to try and maximize return patronage. Supervisor’s almost always gain previous casino experience working in other casino positions for several years before they can apply for promotion into this role.
In charge of the Slot machines area are the Slot key persons, also known as slot attendants or technicians who manage all slot area machines and staff. Their job description includes verifying winning payouts to casino patrons, resetting slot machines after winnings, and slot money refilling. An educational degree is not needed for this position but knowledge in slot machine operation and the games themselves are necessary. Previous work experience in casinos either in other positions or as slot attendant is also considered an advantage or having attended a slot operating course. According to statistics published in 1999 a Slot technician can make on average 12$ an hour.
Casino cage workers; these staff are in charge of all monetary transactions for the casino patrons. The cashier workers will be the people in charge of exchanging real money for chips, tickets or tokens and on occasion credit applications for both deposits and withdrawals within the casino.
The role most commonly associated with a casino is of course the dealer. They manage each game table such as roulette, blackjack, baccarat and poker, dealing out cards, rolling dice, collecting chips and enforcing the game rules. Dealers must master the game rules thoroughly to be able to pick up on inconsistencies. They must also possess very strong customer service skills, a professional look, and sharp calculating abilities as it is the dealer who declares the winner and is in charge of the winning payout or lost money /chip collection. This is a position in a very demanding and fast moving environment and most dealer job requirements demand at least two table games to have been mastered as a minimum.
Most professional dealers are certified. This is achievable through a two to four year course during which the participant will master gaming itself and also customer management fields as well. Experienced dealers are in great demand and it is a highly appreciated job. Dealers practice at first on low limit tables and they move up to high roller tables as they gain more experience. According to statistics published in 1999 a dealer can make on average 7$ an hour.
More general job requirements are also asked on top of these specific points mentioned, such as any gaming position applicant should be above 21 years old and with a high school certificate. In the United States casino workers must also have a specific license issued by the government for a fee each year, which also includes background investigations prior to issue. Almost every casino has its own training process in addition to requiring certification. As with any job, there are both positive and negative sides. Some people love the buzz of the environment which can also be conceived as glamorous and the fact that every day is different, however on the opposite side of the coin the hours can be very unsociable which can put some off but whichever side of the fence you are on there are thousands and thousands of applicants each and every year who cannot wait to join this ever changing and challenging environment.
This article was published by:
http://www.bethedealer.com

David Nolan
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-gambling-articles/working-in-the-gaming-industry-75553.html

I’m doing a project for school and it says I have high interpersonal skills and I need to list some good careers that i’m interested in that involves interpersonal skills. however the example I found involve politians and im not interested in that at all.

Simply put Interpersonal Skills are the skills we use to interact or deal with others. Interpersonal skills are sometimes also referred to as communication skills, people skills and/or soft skills. We begin learning these skills from very early in life and develop them as we get older and generally, people with good interpersonal skills have learnt to identify which are the best ways of interacting with others in different situations

They include being able to support and encourage others, being able to give and receive constructive criticism as well as being able to negotiate. They are also concerned with listening to and valuing others’ opinions, and being able to convey your point clearly to a group.

For instance, instead of losing your temper with a frustrating colleague, the person with good interpersonal skills would be able to speak calmly and with empathy for that person’s situation. The goal would be to move the situation forward – not score points or vent steam.

All jobs will need these skills, and the more the job involves being around others be it customers or colleagues, or involves managing or influecing others, the more advantadvantageous these skills will be.

Interpersonal skills include the habits, attitudes, manners, appearance, and behaviours we use around other people which affect how we get along with other people and with work we can continually improve and develop them.

Hope this helps a little.

Best of luck.

Business coaching is a practice of developing and honing business skills, to achieve substantial results in the organizational structure of a business. It helps you to improve and achieve the desired success. It enables a business owner to create a unique business plan that would reflect his identity. A business coach emphasizes on the importance of interpersonal communication skills in accomplishing an assignment or a project. He helps to deal with the practical problems and identify realistic solutions to them.

The basic responsibilities of a business coach are as follows:

A business coach enables you to develop the basic qualities required by a self-employed person and helps you to focus on your goals, make concrete plans and work towards executing them in an effective manner. The basic responsibilities of a business coach are as follows:

a) A business coach works towards strengthening the morale of the student, so that he can take charge of the responsibilities assigned. It will make the student accountable of his actions, as well as the likely consequences. In a way, it helps him to keep an open mind and analyze every situation critically, with respect to the available information.

b) It is very important to help a student identify the right direction and move forward, to achieve the desired results. However, it requires a considerable amount of planning and development of strategies. A business coach reviews the plans and strategies and makes suggestions, to ensure development consistency.

c) A business coach helps the student to realize the significance of openness in communication. It forms the basis of a successful business, as it minimizes confusion and clears doubts. It often leads to self-correction and an understanding that is required to focus on performance base issues and behavior.

d) A business coach enables students to inculcate leadership qualities and teaches them to be leader in their chosen fields. He leads the team by being a part of it.

e) An experienced business coach believes in sharing views and not dictating them. In case of a conflict, he tries to find a middle path. This path often helps the person to make a profitable decision.

f) He challenges the student, to widen his horizon and search for options even when there seems no possibility. This boosts his level of confidence.

g) The coaches teach you to relate to people in an effective manner. This in turn, builds and strengthens partnerships based on mutual appreciation and respect. Eventually, it helps the executives to understand, analyze and find solutions to their problems, with the timely assistance of the business coach.

h) Business coaches help people understand their strengths and weaknesses in a better way, so that they become aware of their hidden potential and work on their weaknesses.

i) A business coach acts as a guiding factor in motivating the students. Motivation forms the key to success, for an individual as well as the organization. A business coach helps executives understand the value of motivation, by recognizing employees, privately and publicly. This offers positive reinforcement to the employees, thereby motivating the executives to work harder.

A business coach brings about an understanding of business principles among the employees and helps them develop, unleash and maximize the potential within.

Kris Koonar
http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/what-business-coaches-do-101891.html

Dysthymia or dysthymic disorder (chronic depression) is a form of low grade depression which can last for a few years. If you or someone you know is suffering from this affection, you may be interested to find out how to deal with it. Dysthymia is a form of depression that lasts at least two years with out showing improvement which affects around 6% of the population. Different from the clinical depression, this form does not interfere with the abilities and well functioning of a man. It just prevents the person from fully enjoying life. These people often feel disheartened and despairing.

When suffering from dysthymia, you will also encounter two or more of the normal symptoms: poor appetite or overeating; insomnia or excessive sleep; low energy or fatigue; low self-esteem; poor concentration or indecisiveness; and hopelessness. In some cases, dysthymia and major depression can occur together, and this affection is called double depression.

What can be done?

Most of the patients remain untreated of this disorder because the family doctors miss it in their evaluations. However, once it is diagnosed, it can be easily treated with psychotherapy and drugs.

The role of psychotherapy in the treatment

Often, dysthymia is not treated with drugs because it is a long term condition so more kinds of therapists are ready to be of assistance for treating it. Cognitive therapy, interpersonal therapy and solution focused therapy as well as family, group or couples therapy.

Medications

Researches have produced divided opinions about the antidepressants treatment for dysthymia so any prescription that would be made must be based on individual evaluation. In 2003, a medical study came to the conclusion that tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to be equally effective for dysthymia. While cheaper, TCAs such as imipramine (Tofranil) were more likely to cause side-effects than SSRIs like fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft).

What are the available alternatives?

Dysthymia can be treated with a large range of alternative medications and supplements. One of them would be St. John’s wort which has shown improvement of the symptoms in the mild to moderate cases. Yet, a 2005 review founds the evidence of the benefits inconsistent and confusing.

Some encouraging results have been obtained from omega – 3 fatty acids. They can be consumes wither as supplements or as oily fish. For now, they have no known side effects and can be prescribed for treatments but further researches are awaited.

Changes of lifestyle

Dietary supplements have gained importance over the past time. Having a good looking and smelling food may take over suppressed appetite. It may help to include in your diet B vitamins, potassium and zinc. Another thing that may help by reducing their physical and mental effects would be to avoid smoking, drinking and caffeine.

Aroma therapy, acupuncture or other complementary therapies could be of assistance. Insomnia can be fought with the valerian herb and the energy level may be arisen by ginseng.

Also exercising may help restoring the order in eating and sleeping habits. Exercises release endorphins in the body which are responsible for happiness.

Social support

A very important role in treating dysthymia is played by help and support of other people regardless their position or connection. So, friends and family can provide very much support for the suffering person and can help him improve and deal easier with his condition. Nevertheless, it is very helpful to receive comfort from unknown people like in community support groups. Sharing the problems, the needs and the experiences with others like you may help understanding the condition and maybe develop new skills of dealing with it.

Dysthymia and children

The condition is encountered in 5% of the children and 8% of adolescents. Children don’t present the same symptoms as the adults. The main characteristics of children suffering from dysthymia are anger and irritability. Those symptoms can do much harm on their behavior, social skills and education and they may have even further consequences in the adult life setting in place a vicious circle that may trigger major depression one day.

Recovery

It can not be guaranteed that one will fully recover from dysthymia although the rate is as high as 70 percents in a four year period. Yet, once recovered, the treatment should not be neglected because this a recurrent form of depression.

Final word

Many people shame of the effect that diagnosing such a disease will have over their life. They believe that the symptoms of this disorder may be shaken off by themselves and avoid seeking help treating what is treatable.

Never fear of calling your doctor if you have thoughts about death and suicide or if the treatment doesn’t improve the symptoms or even worsens them.

Sebastian Bunten
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/understanding-chronic-depression-and-the-options-114385.html

I’m doing an assignment for college and i’m playing the role as a careworker and i have to explain what Interpersonal Skills are important to me as a careworker for me to establish a relationship with the family.

I think you could just start with a list of what interpersonal skills are, and go through them one by one.

Listening – hearing where the family really is, to see what their perception of the situation is (which can be very different from reality), to be able to better judge how to help them in a way they will accept.

Speaking – choosing your words, metaphors, arguments to best convince the family to take appropriate action

Body Language – don’t let your face show disapproval at a situtation, or the family will get immediately defensive and not take any of your guidance

etc etc

Let’s say you’re a small business owner and you need to hire someone to support your growing business. You might not be able to afford to hire a full time Human Resources Manager, but you feel you need a little more expertise to help you find the right person for the job.

Job analysis may just be the solution you need.

Job analysis is simply defined as the collection and organization of critical information about a job. When doing a job analysis, you take into account the job’s tasks and activities, any management or supervision requirements, the products and services that result from the job, equipment and materials necessary to complete the job, and the job’s working conditions.

After completing the following 5 important job analysis steps, you’ll be much more knowledgeable about what qualifications the right person to fill the job should have. If you do it reasonably well, finding the right person for the job will be considerably easier…

…because you’ll know exactly who you’re looking for! Here are the steps to job analysis:

1. Ask yourself: What do you want your new employee to accomplish on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis? The answer to this question will inform the next step of your job analysis.

2. Identify the tasks and responsibilities that will need to be a part of the new job to make sure it accomplishes your desired result.

Here are some questions to consider that will help you get this information.

What will your new employee do on a day to day basis? What equipment will he use? Will there be different tasks to do on different days? Will your new employee be supervising any people or processes?

3. Once you think you know all the tasks your new employee will need to perform on a regular basis, you’re ready to start thinking about the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) necessary to successfully complete the tasks and responsibilities of the position.

What knowledge will your new employee have to have?

Knowledge is factual information that your employee has acquired through education and experience, which she’ll need to use during the course of a normal work day.

For example, perhaps the right person would have a strong knowledge of accounting principles. Or they might need a specific knowledge of your target market.

What skills will your new employee have to have?

Skills are techniques your employee will have learned and honed through repetition and experience for completing specific tasks.

For example, do they need to have the skill to run or fix your machinery? Maybe she needs to have excellent managerial skills to be able to run your new branch office, or closing skills for a high-level sales position.

And finally, what abilities should your employee have?

Abilities are the natural gifts that we’re all born with.

For example, some positions require a high level of interpersonal intuition, others a high level of mechanical ability, some may require an employee to remain cool under pressure, etc.

4. Get together a group of subject matter experts. People who already hold similar jobs, supervisors and managers are typically included in your group of job experts. In certain circumstances, important customers can be included as well.

Call a meeting of your experts and discuss everything important to the position. Talk about the tasks, responsibilities and KSAs that you’ve already come up with, and ask for their thoughts and ideas about the list.

Then, use your group to prioritize the requirements of the job. You want to make sure you hire someone who meets your top requirements.

5. Discuss with your team if there will be any differences between the job to be filled now, and the same job in the future. If you’re going to be implementing new procedures, new software, new products, etc., you need to take those KSAs into account, too.

Prioritize your list once more, and presto! Your job analysis is done, and you now have all the information you need for a solid job description!

If you want to be very thorough, you can ask yourself (and maybe a select few of your experts) these questions about your new job description: Is it realistic? Can any one person do all the tasks and have all the skills you’ve listed?

Don’t strike anything from your list if you think the job description might be unreasonable, just write notes on any reservations you have and adjust your results accordingly if your job opening isn’t immediately filled, or if your new employee seems overwhelmed.

Now you’re ready to start the hiring process, which is where your job analysis really makes things work better for you.

You can use it to help you write a targeted job listing in your local paper or industry periodical. This will help you weed out prospective employees who you don’t want to interview, and will attract those you do want to interview.

Once you’ve got a good pool of resumes, use the job analysis to narrow your pool to a manageable list of people who you want to interview. Most businesses don’t have time to interview more than a half dozen people for a job, so shoot for that number of top candidates, or less if you can.

Keep your job analysis handy during your interview. If you use it to ask each qualified applicant how they meet your needs, you’ll be more likely to be comparing “apples to apples” when you make your hiring decision.

Once the hiring decision is made, share the job description you’ve made with your new employee, and then keep it on file for performance reviews. This can help your employee to know exactly what you expect of them, and will help you to know if they’re on the right track.

Good luck!

Mac Bartine
http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/job-analysis-and-hiring-the-right-person-105678.html

Healthy kids for the most part are dependant on their parent’s ability to lead by example and provide a healthy home life with a variety of situations. It’s through these varied life experiences that children learn to develop the self confidence, independence and interdependence on others outside their direct family.

There are many causes of separation anxiety in children. I won’t say that anything in regards to children is easy or can be broken down into a set of rules that work with every child. Each is different and as a parent of 8 with 4 adopted at various ages, our family knows first hand that what works for one child doesn’t necessarily work for another.

That said, one thing what has served our family well is consistency whenever possible. Children are not born with a sense of major attachment but more with a sense of wanting to be secure. You can see readily see this in babies. While many new parents may not want to be away from their newborn babies, it’s important to realize even they need to begin to develop ways to interact with others. It’s only through the experience of being with other people can be skills be learned. Once again, parents can go a long way in developing mentally healthy infants and children if only by their attitude in a given circumstance.

With my children, it was important to make certain that they couldn’t manipulate the situation when my husband and I decided to have a night out. All fits of crying and acting out were to no avail. It was only after they recognized that their manipulations didn’t work did they begin to develop the self confidence and sense of independence that is critical to beating this form of Separation Anxiety Disorder. The key, at least for us was NOT to allow the child control the situation.

Another thing we were certain to do is follow through on our plans. When we said we would be back soon, we were soon. There was no attempt to manipulate our children and promise them gifts are other benefits to stay at a babysitters or relatives home.

Although separation anxiety is natural and the feeling of insecurity may be new, it’s up to parents to help their children overcome the problem BEFORE they need counseling. There are resources available to help children overcome separation anxiety but a better approach is for parents to help their children develop the confidence and Interpersonal Skills necessary for life.

While not a professional child counselor, I can say that although my kids have had separation anxiety challenges, all have been able to overcome it. It’s thorough parental consistency that children learn that they can trust what their parents say and do. This allows them to grow in confidence and independence.

Abigail Franks
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/dont-let-your-kids-develop-separation-anxiety-100044.html

Communication and Interpersonal Skills. In the space below, give a recent example that demonstrates that you possess these skills.

If you have worked previously: Team communication: Something vital to work you have passed on in an effective manner and how this helped prevent problems (i.e. there was a customer complaint you dealt with tactfully to prevent further complaints being made against the company), or team relationships: i.e. conflict with another person, how you tactfully spoke to that person and resolved the problem or reduced the conflict. Also useful: any time you’ve dealt with an upset customer sucessfully.

If not: dealing with an upset friend (i.e. comforting, finding out what the problem is, being tactful), conflict resolution with people who don’t like you (same as above), times you have de-escalated (calmed down) a confrontational situation, etc

Over the past decade, as I have worked with cops, firfighters, abuse victims and children of addicts, I have learned that there are many causes for PTSD. It has also affirmed my belief that PTSD is real and harmful, not only to those who have it, but also to those around them. It impacts the way we act, react, our motivation and our capacity to feel–well, anything.

Terrifying experiences that shatter people’s sense of predictability and invulnerability can profoundly alter their coping skills, relationships and the way they perceive and interact with the world. The criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are 1) exposure to a traumatic event(s) in which the person witnessed or experienced or were confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others, and 2) the person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness or horror DSM IV p. 427-28). Gradual Onset Traumatic Stress Disorder can be caused by repeated exposure to “sub-critical incidents” such as child abuse, traffic fatalities, rapes and personal assaults.

Nevertheless, not all people exposed to trauma are “traumatized.” Why? In 1998, Pynoos and Nader proposed a theory to assist in explaining why people have different reactions to the same event. They asserted that people are at greater risk of being negatively impacted by traumatic events if any of the following are present: 1) they have experienced other traumatic events within the preceding 6 months, 2) they were already stressed out or depressed at the time of the event, 3) the situation occurred close to their home or somewhere they considered safe, 4) the victims bear a similarity to a family member or friend and 5) they have little social support.

It has been argued that officers, emergency service personnel, children of addicts and abuse victims experience traumatic events or threats to their safety on an almost daily basis. Being abused, not knowing when or if your parents will come home, repeatedly seeing children murdered, people burned in car fires and devastated victims starts to take its toll. People like idealistic officers who joined the force to change the world and protect the innocent begin to feel like nothing they do makes a difference, they cannot even keep their zone safe (criteria 3). This is especially problematic for officers who live in or near their work zone and often leads to frustration and burnout (criteria 2). Children start to feel that the whole world is uncontrollable and unsafe.

It is still not totally accepted within the law enforcement community for officers to discuss the impact of situations on them. Anger, humor and sarcasm are but a brief outlet for what many officers dream about at night. As their condition worsens, many officers withdraw, because they are fearful of seeking help or support for fear it is a one way ticket to a fitness for duty evaluation or will get out and be an obstacle for future promotions. Several studies in recent years have shown that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is among the most common of psychiatric disorders.

Another thing that distinguishes people who develop PTSD from those who are just temporarily overwhelmed is that people who develop PTSD become “stuck” on the trauma, keep re-living it in thoughts, feelings, or images. It is this intrusive reliving, rather than the trauma itself that many believe is responsible for what we call PTSD. For example, I have worked with officers who have responded to child abuse calls and had a child of their own who was a similar age (criteria 4). In the course of daily life children get hurt and have bad dreams. As parents they have seen looks of pain and fright on their kids faces. This makes it just that much easier to envision the looks of terror and agony on the face of the child as their parent beat them. Sometimes this visualization gets corrupted and officers suddenly they start to see their child in their mental re-enactment of the trauma, obviously a much more powerful memory. These officers are much more likely to be “traumatized” by the incident and potentially get “stuck.”

Traumatized individuals begin organizing their lives around avoiding the trauma. Avoidance may take many different forms: keeping away from reminders, calling in sick to work, or ingesting drugs or alcohol that numb awareness of distress. The sense of futility, hyperarousal, and other trauma-related changes may permanently change how people deal with stress, alter thier self-concept and interfere with their view of the world as a basically safe and predictable place. In the example above, these people often became even more overprotective of their children, suspicious of others, and had difficulty sleeping, because every time they close their eyes they see the child.

One of the core issues in trauma is the fact that memories of what has happened cannot be integrated into one’s general experience. The lack of people’s ability to make this “fit” into their expectations or the way they think about the world in a way that makes sense keeps the experience stored in the mind on a sensory level. When people encounter smells, sounds or other sensory stimuli that remind them of the event, it may trigger a similar response to what the person originally had: physical sensations (such as panic attacks), visual images (such as flashbacks and nightmares), obsessive ruminations, or behavioral reenactments of elements of the trauma. In the example above, sensory triggers that triggered some of the officers memories were certain cries, hearing or seeing a parent spank their child, returning to the same neighborhood for other calls and, of course, television shows or news reports that involved descriptions of abuse.

The goal of treatment is find a way in which people can acknowledge the reality of what has happened and somehow integrate it into their understanding of the world without having to re-experience the trauma all over again. To be able to tell their story, if you will.

The Symptoms of PTSD

Regardless of the origin of the terror, the brain reacts to overwhelming, threatening, and uncontrollable experiences with conditioned emotional responses. For example, rape victims may respond to conditioned stimuli, such as the approach by an unknown man, as if they were about to be raped again, and experience panic.

Remembrance and intrusion of the trauma is expressed on many different levels, ranging from flashbacks, feelings, physical sensations, nightmares, and interpersonal re-enactments. Interpersonal re-enactments can be especially problematic for the officer leading to over-reaction in situations that remind the officer of previous experiences in which she or he has felt helpless. For example, in the child abuse example above, officers may be much more physically and verbally aggressive toward alleged perpetrators and their reports tend to be much more negative and subjective.

Hyperarousal. While people with PTSD tend to deal with their environment by reducing their range of emotions or numbing, their bodies continue to react to certain physical and emotional stimuli as if there were a continuing threat. This arousal is supposed to alert the person to potential danger, but seems to loose that function in traumatized people. This is sort of like when rookie officers start and a hot call is toned out, they usually have an adrenaline rush. After two or three years, the tones hardly have any impact on them. Since traumatized people are always “keyed up” they often do not pay any attention to that feeling which is supposed to warn them of impending danger.

Numbing of responsiveness. Aware of their difficulties in controlling their emotions, traumatized people seem to spend their energies on avoiding distress. In addition, they lose pleasure in things that previously gave them a sense of satisfaction. They may feel “dead to the world”. This emotional numbing may be expressed as depression, and lack of motivation, or as physical reactions. After being traumatized, many people stop feeling pleasure from involvement in activities, and they feel that they just “go through the motions” of everyday living. Emotional numbness also gets in the way of resolving the trauma in therapy.

Intense emotional reactions and sleep problems. Traumatized people go immediately from incident to reaction without being able to first figure out what makes them so upset. They tend to experience intense fear, anxiety, anger and panic in response to even minor stimuli. This makes them either overreact and intimidate others, or to shut down and freeze. Both adults and children with such hyperarousal will experience sleep problems, because they are unable to settle down enough to go to sleep, and because they are afraid of having nightmares. Many traumatized people report dream-interruption insomnia: they wake themselves up as soon as they start having a dream, for fear that this dream will turn into a trauma-related nightmare. They also are liable to exhibit hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response and restlessness.

Learning difficulties. Being “keyed-up” interferes with the capacity to concentrate and to learn from experience. Traumatized people often have trouble remembering ordinary events. It is helpful to always write things down for them. Often “keyed-up” and having difficulty paying attention, they may display symptoms of attention deficit disorder.

After a trauma, people often regress to earlier modes of coping with stress. In adults, it is expressed in excessive dependence and in a loss of capacity to make thoughtful, independent decisions. In officers, this is often noticed because they suddenly begin making a lot of poor decisions, their reports lose quality and detail and they are unable to focus. In children they may begin wetting their bed, having fears of monsters or having temper tantrums.

Aggression against self and others: Both adults and children who have been traumatized are likely to turn their aggression against others or themselves. Due to their persistent anxiety, traumatized people are almost always “stressed out,” so it does not take much to them set off. This aggression may take many forms ranging from fighting to excessive exercise or obsession about something—anything to keep them from thinking about the trauma.

Psychosomatic reactions. Chronic anxiety and emotional numbing also get in the way of learning to identify and discuss internal states and wishes. May traumatized people report a high frequency of headaches, back and neck aches, gastro-intestinal problems etceteras. Since the stress is being held inside, the body begins to become distressed.

Summary

After a trauma, people realize the limited scope of their safety, power and control in the world, and life can never be exactly the same. The traumatic experience becomes part of a person’s life. Sorting out exactly what happened and sharing one’s reactions with others can make a great deal of difference a person’s recovery. Putting the reactions and thoughts related to the trauma into words is essential in the resolution of post traumatic reactions. This should, however, be done with a professional specializing in PTSD due to the wide range of reactions people have when they start confronting and integrating the memories of the trauma.

Failure to approach trauma related material gradually is likely to make things worse. Often, talking about the trauma is not enough: trauma survivors need to take some action that symbolizes triumph over helplessness and despair. The Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem and the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, are good examples of symbols for survivors to mourn the dead and establish the historical and cultural meaning of the traumatic events. There are several events for survivors of traumas that officers can also take part in. These events remind survivors of the fact that there are others who have shared similar experiences. Other symbolic actions may take the form of writing a book, taking political action or helping other victims.

PTSD is real, and can be resolved with time, patience and compassion.

Dawn-Elise Snipes
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd-what-is-it-110738.html