How to Write an Expository Essay on PTSD in Military Veterans
When learning how to write an expository essay, you will find out that the structure of an expository essay entails a catchy introduction, well-explained body with factual evidence, and a conclusion.
When instructors want to test the students’ understanding of a topic, they will ask the students to write an essay on the subject. Essays are a perfect way to gauge a student’s knowledge on a subject while testing their writing skills. Therefore, a quality essay will constitute the right content and the right structure. There are various types of essays that a student may be required to write throughout their school life. Each type of essay has its unique structure that every student must follow. Here is an article that seeks to show how to write an expository essay:
Expository essay definition
You need to understand the purpose of an essay before you can learn how to write an expository essay. Expository essays derive their name from their purpose. These essays expose a particular subject to readers and give more information about the subject. The main purpose is to explain a topic to the reader in a logical way. When giving your information about a subject, you should provide accurate evidence to support your claims. You need to write the essay in an unbiased and objective manner. You cannot dismiss any fact about the subject because it is not in line with your opinion. The instructions for how to write an expository essay use the words ‘explain’ or ‘define’.
Types of expository writing
The common types of expository essays you will come across when learning how to write an expository essay are:
Problem and solution
These writings seek to identify an issue, give the details, and suggest possible solutions for the issue.
Cause and effect
Here, the writer seeks to connect the cause of an issue and the effect of the issue.
Compare and contrast
These writings take two angles; comparison looks for the similarities between the two content, while contrast points out the differences between the two content.
Definition and classification
This writing explains to a reader what something is and any classification that there may be.
How-to
This writing gives a reader the details about carrying out a particular task. Mostly, this writing uses points to show the steps to accomplish a task.
Expository essay format
The structure of an essay is equally important as the understanding of the topic. It is therefore important to learn the correct structure of an expository essay when learning how to write an expository essay. An expository essay takes the following structure:
Introduction
Some students believe that the body of an essay is the most important part of an essay. Wrong. An expository essay will be incomplete without the right introduction. Imagine this, you have done your research well and presented your information right. However, the reader does not get to read the body because you do not have a good essay introduction. The introduction should attract the attention of a reader and encourage them to read on.
An expository essay should behind with a ‘hook’. The hook refers to the first sentence of your essay. The first sentence should lure the reader into reading the essay. It has to be interesting and within the expository essay topic. You can choose a question, fact statement, or analysis of statistics when creating your first sentence. The sentences that follow should give the essay context and any relevant background information. In so doing, you will not be assuming that the reader is familiar with the subject topic.
An essay is as strong as its thesis statement. The thesis provides navigation of the subject topic without straying from the subject topic. An essay without a thesis can contain a lot of information that is not related to the subject topic and hence miss the whole point altogether. The thesis statement should be the last statement of the introduction. It should be informative, precise, and powerful.
Body
Once you have a great essay introduction, you can dive into the body of the essay. The purpose of the body is to offer more insight into the subject topic. The body will take different paragraphs that all contribute to the thesis. Every point should be in a separate paragraph depending on the subject topic and assignment requirements. Regardless of the number of paragraphs you choose for your essay, every paragraph should contain the following:
Topic sentence
This explains to the reader the main idea that the paragraph will be about.
Factual evidence
In an expository essay, an idea is just that if there is no evidence to back it. Therefore, for every idea that you out across, ensure that you include the factual evidence that support it. The evidence could be from your course material, e-book, or a website.
Evidence analysis
Exposition does not mean the statement of facts only. You should analyze the factual evidence that you just provided. Although your essay needs to remain unbiased, you can go all the way when analyzing your evidence. Explain to the reader the significance of the evidence you provided and your perceived meaning. Again, you should not assume that the reader will read the evidence and see the relation to the subject topic.
Transition sentence
Since you will have different paragraphs, it is important that the ideas in the paragraphs flow smoothly. That will call for the use of transition words and phrases to provide an undisturbed flow of ideas in your essay. The commonly used words in an expository essay are, therefore, thus, next, in fact, and finally among many others
You can organize your ideas chronologically or in order of their importance. Failing to organize your ideas will end up causing confusion among your readers. Also, your ideas should be to the point. Thus, avoid the fluff and being too wordy when expressing your ideas.
Conclusion
Once you have presented the subject topic using well-organized ideas, the last thing you need to know when learning how to write an expository essay is to write the conclusion. The conclusion should be brief but strong to make the essay complete. Here are the ways you can use to make a great conclusion for your essay:
Give a summary
You can summarize your thesis and the factual evidence showing the connection between the two.
Show the significance
Here, point out to the reader the importance of the subject topic.
Explore questions
The conclusion is ideal for including any questions about the subject topic that are unanswered. In so doing, you will be raising awareness about the essay topic.
Call-to-action
Depending on the subject topic, you can end the essay with a call-to-action. The call-to-action could be a motivation for the readers to take action on the subject topic.
Like the introduction, the conclusion should be logical and precise. Lastly, do not introduce any new idea in the conclusion as you could be opening a new discussion.
Do not submit the essay yet
After finishing writing the essay having followed the above procedure, you could be tempted to send in your work. Bad idea! You should revise your essay before submitting it. Revising your essay gives you the opportunity to spot any mistakes in your essay. The mistakes could be grammar or incorrect flow of ideas. You can then edit the essay carefully removing the errors you identified. Submit your essay after correcting all the errors. Learning how to edit your essay is critical when learning how to write an expository essay.
Expository essay on PTSD in Military Veterans
Now that you know how to write an expository essay, below is an expository essay sample on PTSD in military veterans:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in military veterans
Post-traumatic stress disorder refers to a stress-related disorder that develops over time after an individual has encountered an event that had severe harm or worst-case scenario death. The individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder include military officers, survivors of shooting cases, rape, and violence. The family members of post-traumatic stress disorder may develop post-traumatic stress disorder through vicarious trauma.
PTSD can occur at any age and affects approximately 8 million American adults. The female gender develops this order more often than the male gender. There is proof that this disorder can run in families. PTSD is accompanied by other disorders such as anxiety disorder, depression, and substance use disorder.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of PTSD happens when the symptoms have been around for about one month. When an individual develops the stress immediately after exposure, the disorder is known as an acute stress disorder. In some cases, the symptoms can take up to six months after the event to appear.
PTSD in military veterans statistics
PTSD in military veterans statistics are as follows: 30 percent of veterans of the Vietnam war, about 11 percent of veterans of Afghanistan war, 20 percent of veterans of Iraq war, and 10 percent of veterans of Gulf war. Some of the factors that further increase the risk of veterans getting PTSD are their role in the war, the enemy they are facing, the place of war, and political issues around the war. Military sexual trauma is also another cause of PTSD, as highlighted in veterans articles.
Military sexual trauma happens to veterans during training, peacetime, or when at war. Military sexual trauma affects both men and women, although PTSD in military veterans facts reveal that the number of cases in women is higher than that of cases in men.
Symptoms of PTSD in Vietnam war veterans
The common trigger for PTSD in military veterans is when they re-experience the traumatic event through exposure to an event or item that reminds them of the trauma. The common symptoms of PTSD in military veterans are anger outbursts, sadness, intense guilt, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and emotional numbness.
Causes of PTSD
There is no known cause of PTSD. However, there are social, physical, genetic, and psychological factors that contribute to PTSD. PTSD influences the way a body responds to stress. Previous instances of traumatic experiences in individuals increase the risk of developing PSTD. The temperamental variables that increase the risk for PSTD include anxiety problems and externalizing behaviors. The risk for PSTD is greater when the trauma is equally big. There are some factors that can minimize the risk of getting PSTD, and they are known as resilience factors. Resilience factors can appear before, during, or after the traumatic experience. These factors include seeking support from professionals and friends, feeling good about actions, and getting a coping strategy for a traumatic experience.
PTSD treatment for veterans
There is no standard treatment method for PTSD. The treatment plan one is out on is unique to an individual and requires evaluation beforehand. The two main treatment options for PTSD are medication and psychotherapy. Traumatic experiences vary from one individual to another, and the consequences of the traumatic experience as well. Treatment for PTSD only begins when the survivor is out of the situation, causing the trauma.
Some of the commonly used military PTSD treatment strategies include:
- Exposing the survivor to the traumatic experience in a safe environment. The health professional can examine the patient’s reactions to the event.
- Educating survivors about PTSD and the effects. The health professional should make the survivor understand that PTSD is a medical disorder, and survivors recover from it through the right treatment plan.
- Resolving emotions that are as a result of the traumatic experience. This is possible after closely examining the emotions that are related to the traumatic experience.
Medication
The approved medications to treat PTSD in military veterans are paroxetine and sertraline. These two medications are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and help manage PTSD symptoms which include anger, numbness, sadness, and worry. Medical professionals may also prescribe psychotherapy alongside taking the recommended medications. These medications may take time before you can notice any change, and that calls for patience from the patient. If there are no changes after a few days of taking medications, patients should change their medication. Therefore, a patient should be in close communication with the doctor.
Psychotherapy
Therapy is an effective process in the treatment of PTSD in military veterans and is one of the benefits that PTSD veterans access. The process involves talking to and with a mental health professional about the traumatic experience. Psychotherapy can be in the form of an individual to another or in a group. The therapy takes different sessions and only come to an end when the individual has learnt how to cope with the traumatic experience. It is only after that that an individual can perform well. A survivor’s needs dictate the kind of therapy they will need.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in PTSD treatment. This therapy consists of the following:
Exposure therapy
This therapy seeks to make the survivor aware of the traumatic experience. The therapy exposes the person to the memory of the trauma but in a safe manner. This therapy utilizes visits to the event venue, writing, and imagery.
Cognitive restructuring
The purpose of this therapy is to help people make sense of the traumatic experience and memory. Individuals may have a different image of the traumatic experience. The therapist seeks to make the individuals see the traumatic experience in a realistic way.
Stress inoculation training
This therapy teaches an individual how to handle situations that may provoke anxiety. Individuals learn how to reduce the anxiety that may arise if they are exposed to a scenario almost similar to the traumatic experience.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
This treatment method combines both cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy. The method also utilizes hand taps, sounds, and eye movements to alter attention. Overall, the treatment method helps individuals access and process traumatic content.
Brief psychodynamic psychotherapy
This treatment method focuses on emotional conflicts that a traumatic event causes in individuals. Through this method, an individual understands the connection between what they feel now and past events. The retelling of the traumatic experience helps a victim achieve self-esteem and develop a way of coping with the trauma.
Group therapy
Group treatment is also a treatment option for PTSD in military veterans. Patients who are suffering from this disorder can form a group. The victims share their PTSD military stories and therefore obtain support from the group members. Members understand their traumatic experience more and therefore regain trust in themselves and others. They also address the emotions that are related to the traumatic experience such as anxiety, guilt, and grief. That way, victims are able to cope with the memories of the traumatic experience.
Family therapy
PTSD in military veterans affects the family members of the victim. The victims may express their anger and emotions to the close family members and thus make the entire family vulnerable to PTSD. Family therapy refers to therapy for the entire family with the aim to treat PTSD. In this case, the therapist helps family members to communicate with each other. With good communication, family members are able to express how they feel and their fears. Family members should be honest about their feelings. By the time the family completes the therapy sessions, the family is prepared to handle PTSD.
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