Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s caused by an extremely traumatic event – either by being part of it or witnessing it. Getting treatment after PTSD symptoms arise is very important to manage symptoms and help people function better. The treatment of PTSD includes:
Psychotherapy:
Specific forms of psychotherapy for PTSD include:
- Cognitive therapy: The therapist helps you see the ways of thinking (cognitive patterns), that are keeping you stuck. Examples include negative beliefs about yourself and the risk of traumatic things happening again. Cognitive therapy is often used along with exposure therapy for the treatment of PTSD.
- Exposure therapy: This form of therapy helps you safely face situations and memories that you find frightening so that you can learn to cope with them. This has to be done gradually and in a controllable manner. Exposure therapy helps to deal with flashbacks and nightmares.
- Group therapy: This encourages survivors of similar traumatic events to share their experiences and feelings in a comfortable and non-judgmental setting.
- Eye movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: This a trauma-focused therapy which is administered to help a person reprocess the memory of the trauma so that it is experienced in a different way. Eye movement similar to those in REM sleep is recreated during a session by having the therapist’s fingers go back and forth or by watching a light. After repeated sessions the memory tends to change and is experienced in a less negative manner.
Medication
There are several types of medicines that can help you manage the symptoms of PTSD better. The symptom relief that medication provides allows many people to participate more effectively in psychotherapy. Antidepressants like Selective Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) and anti-anxiety medications maybe used to treat symptoms of PTSD.
PREVENTION
You can’t really prevent PTSD, but some studies have shown that certain steps may help you prevent it afterwards. These steps include:
- joining a support group after a traumatic event
- seeking support from family and friends
- being able to act and respond effectively despite feeling fear
- learning to feel positive about your actions in the face of danger
- having a healthy coping strategy after the traumatic event
Coping and support
- Consider a support group
- follow your treatment plan
- Learn about PTSD: This knowledge can help you understand what you are feeling and then you can build coping strategies to respond effectively.
- Don’t self-medicate
- Break the cycle: when you feel anxious, take brisk walk or work on a hobby to refocus
HOW TO HELP A LOVED ONE WITH PTSD
- Be willing to listen to your loved one and try not to force them to talk about their trauma until they are ready
- learn about PTSD so that you can what your loved one is going through
- Offer to go to healthcare appointments.