Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that may develop in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic incident. The incident could be dangerous, fatal, shocking, or extremely frightening. Long after the traumatic event has passed, people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) continue to face intense, disturbing thoughts, feelings, flashbacks, or nightmares that may cause them to re-experience the incident. Person who have PTSD may avoid people or circumstances that trigger their painful memories, and they may have strong negative responses to seemingly unimportant things like loud noise.

Following are a few examples of PTSD-causing events:

• • • Rape or sexual assault
    • Unexpected loss or death of a loved one
    • Terrorist attack
    • Natural disasters, such as a tornado, hurricanes, fires, or floods
    • Physical assault
    • Witness a person being shot or stabbed
    • Accident
    • Military combat
    • Hospitalization
    • Bullying

PTSD can be categorized into the following four groups. The degree of a certain symptom’s severity might change.

Persistent, unpleasant thoughts, disturbing nightmares, or flashbacks to the traumatic incident are signs of intrusive thoughts. People who experience flashbacks sometimes feel as though they are seeing or reliving the painful event.

Avoiding reminders of the traumatic incident may include staying away from the person, places, things, activities, and situations that can bring back those terrible memories. People could make an effort to ignore or avoid thinking about the terrible experience. They can be reluctant to discuss what occurred or how they feel about it.

Changes in cognition and mood include the inability to recall important details of the traumatic event, negative thoughts leading to distorted beliefs about oneself or others, thoughts about the cause or consequences of that horrible event leading to placing blame on oneself or others, less interest in once-enjoyed activities, and being unable to experience positive emotions.

Changes in arousal and reactivity include irritability and angry outbursts, reckless or self-destructive behavior, being highly aware of one’s surroundings, being quickly startled, having trouble focusing, or having trouble sleeping.

It is important to remember that not everyone who suffers trauma goes on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and not everyone with PTSD needs psychological treatment.  For some people, symptoms of PTSD gradually disappear over time or get better. Others improve with the help of their support network (family or friends). However, many PTSD sufferers require medical treatment to overcome their psychological distress, which can be severe and impairing.

Following are the types of CBT used to treat PTSD.

• • The goal of cognitive processing therapy is to change trauma-related, painful, negative feelings and beliefs. Therapists assist patients in facing such upsetting feelings and experiences.
  • Prolonged exposure therapy uses repeated, detailed exposures of the trauma or periodic exposures to trigger in a safe and controlled environment to help a person face their fear, control it gradually, and learn to cope.
  • Through exposure to lower levels of stress, stress inoculation therapy seeks to provide the patient with the coping mechanisms required to successfully defend against stressful triggers.
  • Group therapy invites survivors of similar traumatic events to share their experiences and reactions in a comfortable and non-judgmental setting.
  • Family therapy may also help because the behavior and distress of the person with PTSD can affect the entire family.

PTSD symptoms can be managed with the help of medication. Additionally, medicine enables many patients to engage in psychotherapy more productively. Some medications can help your body produce more chemicals that regulate stress and emotions. They can be divided into two categories:

• • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (also called SSRIs).
  • Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (also called SNRIs).

Other medications may be used to treat PTSD-related nightmares and sleep issues, as well as to reduce anxiety and physical discomfort.

Structured therapy encourages the patient to pay attention to the traumatic memory for a brief period of time while also undergoing dual stimulation(usually eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the emotional intensity and clarity of the painful recollections. In other words, you focus on certain sounds or motions introduced by the therapist while you think about the event. Over time, it seeks to lessen how unpleasant the experience was.

There is also an increase in the use of complementary and alternative therapies to assist those with PTSD. In comparison to psychotherapy, these methods offer treatment outside of the typical psychiatrist’s office and could include less talking and disclosure.