Everyone Thinks They Understand Ptsd But What Is It Really
Posted August 1, 2014
You cant turn on the television or read a newspaper or blog without hearing about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder .Yet most people have no idea of what it is, or that you can truly recover from it. Some writers say you never, ever heal and that there is always a hurt and reminder from severe trauma. However, there are many people, myself included, who believe that when getting the proper treatment, you can heal and recover from PTSD.
If you have PTSD, you know that even the slightest sound or movement can trigger a wider array of symptoms from slight dissociation of current time and place , to total dissociation, where you are reliving the traumatic event again, such as the death of a spouse.
Tips To Keep In Mind While Selecting Ptsd Recovery Method
There are many methods available for treating PTSD. Some people may require medication to help them cope with the symptoms while others may benefit from therapy or a combination of both. It is important to speak with a mental health professional to determine which method is best for you. Here are some tips to keep in mind when selecting a PTSD recovery method:
-Choose a method that you feel comfortable with: It is important that you feel comfortable with the method you choose as this will help you stick with it and see results. If you are not comfortable with the idea of taking medication, then therapy may be a better option for you.
-Find a qualified professional: make sure that whoever you choose to help you recover from PTSD is qualified and has experience treating the condition. You can ask for recommendations from your doctor or mental health professional.
-Be patient: recovery from PTSD takes time and it is important to be patient with yourself. Do not expect to see results overnight and be sure to give yourself time to adjust to any new treatments.
-Be consistent: Conquering PTSD is a journey, not a destination. It is important to be consistent with your treatment and to stick with it even when you feel like you are making progress.
Seek support: There are many organizations and groups that offer support to people with PTSD. These can be a great resource for information and emotional support.
Reconnecting With The Self And Others
Once the client has begun to feel more safe and has processed the memory of the trauma, it leads us on to the final stage of recovering from PTSD when people learn to reconnect and try to get back into relationships. This is both with new people but also a new sense of self and new future. At this point survivors can manage their emotions and symptoms, trust others better, and seek social connections. Much of this stage is not just about regaining parts of life that were lost such as hobbies and social connections, but about joining these as a new person. As a survivor rather than the victim they were before. From this the trauma becomes integrated into the survivors life story but does not define them as a person.
Quest Psychology Services are specialists in helping people recover from PTSD within Salford, Manchester. To discuss getting help yourself call us on 07932737335
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Seeking A Ptsd Diagnosis
Treatment can help you recover from PTSD, but only if you get a diagnosis. A mental health professional can evaluate your symptoms and your medical history to determine if you have PTSD and any other mental illnesses or a substance use disorder. There are several conditions with symptoms that overlap, so a differential diagnosis by an experienced professional is essential.
The diagnosis is also crucial in determining if you have co-occurring disorders. If you do have PTSD you are at a greater risk of also having a mood disorder, like depression, or of developing a substance use disorder. The most effective way to treat co-occurring conditions is together, with an integrated approach.
Be Mindful Of Your Caffeine Intake
While caffeine is known to have certain health benefits, it can also cause anxiety and exacerbate PTSD symptoms. Be aware of your intake of coffee, tea, energy drinks, and other substances that are likely to contribute to anxiety. Less caffeine in your system can help you stay calm and composed, even if you feel the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder settling in on you.
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How Can I Feel Better
PTSD can be treated with success. Treatment and support are critical to your recovery. Although your memories wont go away, you can learn how to manage your response to these memories and the feelings they bring up. You can also reduce the frequency and intensity of your reactions. The following information may be of help to you.
Psychotherapy. Although it may seem painful to face the trauma you went through, doing so with the help of a mental health professional can help you get better. There are different types of therapy.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy helps you change the thought patterns that keep you from overcoming your anxiety.
- During exposure therapy, you work with a mental health professional to help you confront the memories and situations that cause your distress.
- Cognitive Processing Therapy helps you process your emotions about the traumatic event and learn how to challenge your thinking patterns.
- Psychodynamic psychotherapy focuses on identifying current life situations that set off traumatic memories and worsen PTSD symptoms.
- During Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, you think about the trauma while the therapist waves a hand or baton in front of you. You follow the movements with your eyes. This helps your brain process your memories and reduce your negative feelings about the memories.
- Couples counseling and family therapy helps couples and family members understand each other.
Do Children React Differently Than Adults
Children and teens can have extreme reactions to trauma, but some of their symptoms may not be the same as adults. Symptoms sometimes seen in very young children , these symptoms can include:
- Wetting the bed after having learned to use the toilet
- Forgetting how to or being unable to talk
- Acting out the scary event during playtime
- Being unusually clingy with a parent or other adult
Older children and teens are more likely to show symptoms similar to those seen in adults. They may also develop disruptive, disrespectful, or destructive behaviors. Older children and teens may feel guilty for not preventing injury or deaths. They may also have thoughts of revenge.
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Triggers Of Complex Ptsd
People who have PTSD or complex PTSD can react to different life situations as if they are reliving their trauma.
The particular situation that triggers a person can be random and varies depending on their specific trauma history. A person can be triggered by situations, images, smells, conversations with others, and more.
This triggering can manifest as a fight-or-flight response triggered by the amygdala, responsible for processing emotions in the brain.
When this happens, a persons brain can perceive that they are in danger, even if they are not. This is known as an amygdala hijack and can also result in things like flashbacks, nightmares, or being easily startled.
People with PTSD or complex PTSD may exhibit certain behaviors in an attempt to manage their symptoms.
Examples of such behaviors include:
- misusing alcohol or drugs
- avoiding unpleasant situations by becoming people-pleasers
- lashing out at minor criticisms
These behaviors can develop as a way to deal with or try to forget about the original trauma and the resulting symptoms in the present.
Friends and family of people with complex PTSD should be aware that these behaviors may represent coping mechanisms and attempts to gain control over emotions.
To recover from PTSD or complex PTSD, a person can seek treatment and learn to replace these behaviors with ones focused on healing and self-care.
Often, people with complex PTSD have experienced prolonged trauma such as ongoing physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.
How To Treat Ptsd By Yourself
How to treat PTSD by yourself is a tough process to discover. In fact, as someone who struggled with posttraumatic stress disorder for over 25 years, I can tell you from personal experience that you won’t discover how to treat PTSD by yourself and reach 100% success. You will need the insight and training of professionals who have deep knowledge in processes that can ease the pain, soothe the memories, and release the fear. That having been said, there are many things you can do on your own to supplement the work you do with a professional, or to tide you over until you find the support you need.
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Habituate To Mindfulness And Relaxation Techniques
Mindfulness is a very recent advancement in the field of mental health. It is a form of therapy that teaches you to be present in the moment and focus on your thoughts, feelings, and sensations without judgment.
This can be extremely helpful for PTSD because it allows you to focus on the here and now rather than dwelling on the past. It can also help you to become more aware of your triggers and how to deal with them in a healthy way.
There are many different ways to practice mindfulness, but some common ones include:
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction
These are just a few of the many different ways you can practice mindfulness. It is important to find one that works best for you and that you and comfortable with.
Tip : Reach Out To Others For Support
PTSD can make you feel disconnected from others. You may be tempted to withdraw from social activities and your loved ones. But it’s important to stay connected to life and the people who care about you. You don’t have to talk about the trauma if you don’t want to, but the caring support and companionship of others is vital to your recovery. Reach out to someone you can connect with for an uninterrupted period of time, someone who will listen when you want to talk without judging, criticizing, or continually getting distracted. That person may be your significant other, a family member, a friend, or a professional therapist. Or you could try:
Volunteering your time or reaching out to a friend in need. This is not only a great way to connect to others, but can also help you reclaim your sense of control.
Joining a PTSD support group. This can help you feel less isolated and alone and also provide invaluable information on how to cope with symptoms and work towards recovery.
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Do Some Parts Of Ptsd Last Forever
Often, PTSD can be completely overcome . Sometimes, though, there are lingering effects. Living with PTSD can be a nightmare for multiple reasons, including the fact that positive feelings, trust, and a sense of closeness and intimacy seem out of reach for a long time. With time and treatment, though, most people greatly improve and are once again able to enjoy positive relationships.
However, approximately five- to 10 percent of people who developed PTSD after a trauma continue to have long-term relationship problems . Even when someone experiences ongoing relationship problems, therapy can help diminish them over time. Further, other effects of PTSD disappear, making the lingering relationship difficulties a bit easier to deal with.
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime , in people who have been raped, the trauma and resulting PTSD may cause permanent physiological changes in the brain . These individuals tend to have a lasting inability to
- Accurately gauge the passage of time, so they are very frequently early or late for work/events/obligations, or they dont show up at all
- See the big picture to determine if a problem is big or small to these individuals, every little problem seems like a crisis.
Some effects of PTSD do last years or a lifetime, but most do not.
Common Barriers To Recovery From Ptsd Explained
There are barriers to recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder . Mental illness recovery often begins as an uphill battle. It doesnât help that aside from difficult symptoms, those of us living with one or more mental illness also have to combat stigma and wide-spread misinformationâall while navigating a mental healthcare system that often favors the wealthy. Recovery from PTSD is saddled with some very specific barriers. In fact, treatment resistance is actually a symptom of PTSD. If you or a loved one are struggling to recover from trauma, please hold back from judgement. There are reasons for treatment-resistant PTSD behaviors you or your loved one are not at fault.
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Eye Movement Desensitisation And Reprocessing
Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing is a psychological treatment that’s been found to reduce the symptoms of PTSD.
It involves recalling the traumatic incident in detail while making eye movements, usually by following the movement of your therapist’s finger.
Other methods may include the therapist tapping their finger or playing sounds.
It’s not clear exactly how EMDR works, but it may help you change the negative way you think about a traumatic experience.
What Does Ptsd Do To A Person
People with PTSD have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares they may feel sadness, fear or anger and they may feel detached or estranged from other people.
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Taking My Medication As Prescribed
I took the medication that I was prescribed because it allowed me to dip my toes back into the pool of life, and it helped to lift the fog that had been hanging over me. Eventually, I started looking for a different, more sustainable path to healing. Medication provided a bridge and helped me begin to feel better, but in order to fully overcome my PTSD, I needed to take an integrative approach that addressed my mind, body, and spirit. When we care for all parts of ourselves, our healing can be holistic and transformative. For me, it was. By detoxifying my mind and my body through meditation, yoga, and nutrition, I was able to find a long-term solution to deal with my trauma.
Starting A Yoga Practice No Matter My Flexibility Level
Many people think they cant do yoga because they arent flexible, or they feel like its too complicated, and they feel self-conscious, but the magic of yoga is in its adaptability. You get to make your yoga practice suit you. There are no prerequisites to yoga. Anyone can do it. Start small, do exactly what you can each day and no more than that. Yoga is more than just exercise. Its a moving meditation that was designed thousands of years ago to both heal the body, and to retrain the brain, putting your mind, body, and spirit back into balance. The benefits of a consistent yoga practice to all areas of life are numerous and dramatic.
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How Is Ptsd Treated
PTSD doesnt usually go away on its own. Getting treatment and help can make all the difference. Mental health providers have the experience to work with patients with PTSD.
Treatment for PTSD can include therapy and/or medicines to help with anxiety, mood problems, and sleep issues.
Therapy for kids with PTSD is called trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy . This type of talk therapy uses talking and learning activities, guided by a mental health therapist.
For younger kids, trauma therapy includes talk, play, drawing, and story activities. A parent or caregiver is almost always there during the therapy. Their support and comfort play a big role in helping their child feel safe and do well.
TF-CBT can help any child who has been through a trauma, not just those who have PTSD. Getting therapy soon after a trauma helps kids cope well.
For teens, PTSD therapy often includes:
- cognitive processing therapy activities: to help with thoughts and feelings about the trauma
- prolonged exposure activities: to help teens lower anxiety and learn to safely face things they avoid after trauma
- eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy : combined cognitive therapy with directed eye movements to reduce the power and pain of the trauma. This helps the brain reprocess memory of the trauma. There are therapists who specialize in this type of trauma therapy.
Why Does Ptsd Happen
PTSD can happen to anyone who has survived or witnessed a traumatic event. You do not need to be directly involved in the incident that impacts your mental health in the future.
Why does PTSD occur, though? How does it become so embedded in ones mind that it feels almost inescapable without treatment?
Research states that the traumatic memory dominates the mind of the person who experiences PTSD. This can influence thought and behavior patterns as well as contribute to other mental health conditions and substance abuse issues later in life, such as anxiety, depression, suicidality, and addiction to alcohol or drugs.
Treating PTSD often involves empowering and assisting the individual to healthily process these memories so that they no longer remain dominant in their thinking. This helps create a clearer mental path for developing healthy coping skills, creating new behavior and thought patterns, and setting positive goals for the future.
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What Can I Do If I Am Not Happy With My Treatment
If you are not happy with your treatment you can:
- talk to your doctor about your treatment options,
- ask for a second opinion,
- ask a relative, friend or advocate to help you speak your doctor,
- contact Patient Advice and Liaison Service , or
- make a complaint.
There is more information about these options below.
Treatment options
You should first speak to your doctor about your treatment. Explain why you are not happy with it. You could ask what other treatments you could try.
Tell your doctor if there is a type of treatment that you would like to try. Doctors should listen to your preference. If you are not given this treatment, ask your doctor to explain why it is not suitable for you.
Second opinion
A second opinion means that you would like a different doctor to give their opinion about what treatment you should have. You can also ask for a second opinion if you disagree with your diagnosis.
You dont have a legal right to a second opinion. But your doctor should listen to your reason for wanting a second opinion.
Advocacy
An advocate is independent from the mental health service. They are free to use. They can be useful if you find it difficult to get your views heard.
There are different types of advocates available. Community advocates can support you to get a health professional to listen to your concerns. And help you to get the treatment that you would like.
You can find out more about: