Analyzing the Effects of Yoga on PTSD Recovery in Men: A Case Study

This essay examines the potential of yoga to improve the well-being of men suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It highlights the experiences of individuals like Tasso, who struggles with sleep and upsetting memories after witnessing a traumatic accident, and discusses how yogic exercises can aid in restoring sleep patterns and promoting mental peace. The essay further explores the long-term effects of traumatic experiences, such as industrial disasters and war, on men's mental health, detailing how yoga can help manage nightmares, anxiety, and other psychological injuries. Ultimately, the essay argues that yoga can provide a valuable tool for men to cope with PTSD by improving their emotional and physical well-being, reducing stress, and facilitating a sense of stability and body awareness. Desklib offers this assignment solution and many other resources to help students excel in their studies.

Running head: Yoga 1
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Introduction
Yoga involves a combination of the body’s physical, mental, and spiritual practices that
help an individual to relax, improve health-wise and find happiness out of tension. It involves
deep in-breathing and breathing out. In addition, body exercises and self-meditation are
commonly used in yoga to promote discernment and regaining the peace of mind and
consciousness in a person. In the healthcare field, the general practitioners recommend the
practice of the yogic exercises to their patients to help them in regaining either their balance or
free them from any confusion and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medically yoga benefits the
patients in various ways such as enhancing her/his flexibility, promotes muscle strength and
tonal stability. Further, yogic exercises help to improve the respiratory system, synergy and
patient’s vitality (Cushing, Braun & Alden, 2018). Lastly, yoga aid in metabolic rate balancing
and offers protection against injury. The post-traumatic stress disorder refers to the mental
condition which develops on some of the people upon eye-witnessing a shocking and scary life-
time event such as a combat, an earthquake, natural disasters, grisly accident or traumatizing
sexual abuse. After an eyewitness has experienced a life-threatening event, he/she develops
disturbing memories that cause anxiety and depression.
In this paper, I shall focus on the experiences of men with PTSD taking yoga in order to
improve their well-being. Tasso, the 21-year-old is one of the men, mentioned in the given case
scenario. Tasso having witnessed a grisly road accident involving a motor vehicle is suffering
from post-traumatic stress disorder in which he is lacking sleep and having upsetting memories
on how the accident occurred. In the case of Tasso, yogic exercises will play a major role in
bringing back his normal sleeping pattern and help to restore a peace of mind (S. Haseena,
2011). Scientific research has proven that when yoga exercises are performed every day, enables
the patient, in this case, Tasso to sleep for longer periods, fall asleep quickly and go back to sleep
very quickly in instances of waking up amidst on the night. Yogic exercises result in the
flexibility of the joints and the straining of most of the muscles which bring about the sense of
stability and the well-being and also the body awareness. These actions aids with sleep, since the
moment one knows on how to let the hips free and shoulders’ relaxation, it is possible for one to
acquire a peace of mind through letting go of the unnecessary tensions in his/her body that are
detrimental to the pattern of one’s sleep (Ranganathan & Ramakrishnan, 2014). For Tasso, yoga

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will be very important in facilitating him to fall asleep and sleep for longer hours, her sister is
right. Tasso should adopt yoga and perform the daily exercises. The yoga postures will help
Tasso to let go stress in regard to the witnessed accident. The physical postures undertaken by
Tasso during the yogic exercises will bring about body movement and the muscles will be at a
good condition to have any stress hormones processed. Tasso should have yoga exercises gently
when the bedtime nears.
Men with the post-traumatic stress disorder have different experiences other those that
Tasso is experiencing after witnessing the motor vehicle accident. Most of the experiences have
long-term effects on the mental health and well-being of the affected men (Emerson & Hopper,
2011). Men who were involved in mass disasters such as an industrial disaster that might have
occurred in the past 30 years while they were young, they do still have the nightmares and
psychological injuries haunt them. For example, a young boy while at school at the age of 8
years still experiences the upsetting memories how the industrial disaster happened on his last
day in school before breaking for mid-term recess. The boy narrates how he lost his fellow pupils
in the tragic accident and the kind of physical injuries those who survived are still nursing
(Miller, 2013). The boy who is now a grown man gives a personal testimony that out of thirty-
four pupils only four of them survived the disaster, it was horrible! He stays that he was unable
to play since all his friends were no more, he sustained head, shoulder, stomach and leg injuries
which healed with time, he experienced frequent nightmares which were recurrent on what
happened that day ("Hot yoga relieves depression", 2017). The man testifies that still, the
psychological injuries are fresh in his mind. While at his young age, he developed an element of
fear, he even feared for the repeat of the disaster, this made him even not to go back to school.
Furthermore, his concentration ability dropped rapidly. The man is still experiencing nightmares
for years now, flashback memories on what happened on that material day, the face of a girl on
his shoulder, tremendous and loud noise as a result of thunder that struck the industry, the
crowding fear, and the feeling of being guilty on why he was the only who survived while others
perished (Gartlehner, 2013). All those experiences torment his life being leading into anxiety,
desperation, and depression. Yoga will help in the well-being of this man through meditation
sessions, bedtime yogic exercises to send him into an early sleep which will last for long hours
(Chokroverty, 2014). In addition, through yoga he will no longer be immobilized, his joints will
move during the exercises and the muscles will be also moved to make the relevant organs to

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process hormones. Yoga will make this man learn on how to live with the traumatizing
conditions since they will not be overcome them completely.
A military man shares his experience after his last duty in the war field. He testifies that
the time he had the military for his home, his entire life was completely changed and his
perception and attitude towards his neighbors and friends had changed. The man experienced
upsetting memories, lack of sleep, ever terrified on hearing loud bangs and other fireworks,
being the only affected by such while at home, he felt guilty and at the same time ashamed. He
claims that his self-confidence greatly dropped, he had to fight with the mood swings and he was
totally antisocial (Frommberger, Angenendt & Berger, 2014). He further mentions that upon
visiting his general practitioner, who never investigated on what was disturbing him, the GP
prescribed paroxetine drug which made the military man life deplorable whenever he missed to
take it. His life changed to comprise of self-doubts, self-hatred, and worthlessness. He
experienced many other problems such as profuse sweating, social phobia, anxiety, despair, and
hyperventilation (Delimar, Sivik, Korenjak & Delimar, 2012). All these experiences will be
reduced through yogic exercises.
In conclusion, the traumatic experiences have got long-term impacts which builds
themselves in the psychological and the physiological ways, which directly affects someone’s
emotional and physical well-being. In most instances, men are made to believe that they are
strong and they should suck up the experiences and act like real men who never experienced or
witnessed any life-threatening event. Although, this has never been the case in most men. Men
have been trained to endure traumatic feelings such that they may be emotionally less attached
but it has turned to be tantamount to meekness and lack of superiority. Such has contributed to
the attributes of sporadic anger, hypersensitivity, anxiety, conflict in families and addiction to
certain drugs. All these experiences may be resolved through yogic exercises. Yoga will also
improve the wellbeing of the men experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

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References
Chokroverty, S. (2014). 100 questions & answers about sleep and sleep disorders. Sudbury,
Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Cushing, R., Braun, K., & Alden, S. (2018). A Qualitative Study Exploring Yoga in Veterans
with PTSD Symptoms. International Journal Of Yoga Therapy. doi: 10.17761/2018-
00020
Delimar, D., Sivik, T., Korenjak, P., & Delimar, N. (2012). The Effect of Different Traumatic
Experiences on the Development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Military
Medicine, 160(12), 635-639. doi: 10.1093/milmed/160.12.635
Emerson, D., & Hopper, E. (2011). Overcoming trauma through yoga. Berkeley, Calif.: North
Atlantic Books.
Frommberger, U., Angenendt, J., & Berger, M. (2014). Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. Deutsches Aerzteblatt Online. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2014.0059
Gartlehner, G. (2013). Interventions for the prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
in adults after exposure to psychological trauma.
Hot yoga relieves depression. (2017). New Scientist, 235(3138), 18. doi: 10.1016/s0262-
4079(17)31562-2
Miller, R. (2013). The iRest program for healing PTSD.
Ranganathan, L., & Ramakrishnan, N. (2014). Yoga and sleep: Is there a scientific link?. Indian
Journal Of Sleep Medicine, 9(3), 113. doi: 10.5958/0974-0155.2014.01112.7
S. Haseena, S. (2011). Impact of Yoga Exercises on the Mental Health of Adults. Indian Journal
Of Applied Research, 3(6), 476-477. doi: 10.15373/2249555x/june2013/158

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