Types of PTSD Treatments
What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a kind of mental illness that may develop after a stressful experience. The incident might be hazardous, life-threatening, stunning, or very frightening. It may be due to:
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The traumatic incident may have occurred to you, or you may have seen it happen to someone.
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Combat in the military.
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The unexpected loss of a loved one.
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Natural disasters
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Fire.
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Accident.
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Sexual abuse
It's natural to be upset when something like that occurs. You may have difficulty sleeping, eating, or engaging in activities you like for a brief while. However, with PTSD, symptoms last for more than a few months and significantly impair your life.
If you think you are facing such symptoms, you may takea PTSD test that may help you determine if you are living with PTSD. You will just have to answer a series of questions related to your condition, and it will help you choose the severity of your condition.
What impact does PTSD have on your life?
PTSD may result in multiple health and life problems, including the following:
How is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosed?
There is no blood test available to diagnose PTSD. Consult a healthcare specialist if you've been through a traumatic incident and are experiencing PTSD symptoms.
The healthcare practitioner may make the diagnosis after discussing your symptoms with you. To be classified as having PTSD, symptoms must last longer than a month.
Nowadays, there is now the option of taking a PTSD test online, which can assist you in determining the severity of your disorder.
Treatment of PTSD
PTSD is often treated with medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of the two. Additionally, alternative treatments such as yoga, acupuncture, and meditation are becoming more widely regarded as methods of treating PTSD. Let's take a look at some of the most often used PTSD treatments
1. Exposure Therapy:
This therapy is predicated on the concept that PTSD is mainly retained by avoiding distressing thoughts, emotions, and memories.
During this therapy, symptoms should be eased by immediately tackling (addressing) the traumatic experience's memories. To begin, you and your therapist must determine why this therapy is beneficial for lessening your symptoms. Once you are sufficiently stable to participate in this therapy, various phases of exposure with unpleasant memories occur.
Benefits :
The usefulness of this therapy has been shown in scientific research. In general, this therapy is quite successful and has a long-lasting beneficial impact. You will get skills dealing with memories and processing painful events.
Disadvantages:
The therapy may be pretty distressing since it demands confronting memories and events that you have avoided earlier, which might not be a practical experience for some individuals.
2. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a kind of psychotherapy that focuses on problem-solving and action-oriented approaches to mental health problems.
CBT is useful for PTSD because it enables a person to understand and confront the complex thinking processes and emotions associated with the disorder, alleviating symptoms and increasing the overall quality of life. CBT typically lasts between 12 and 20 sessions, with weekly sessions lasting around 50 minutes.
How Does CBT Aid in the Treatment of PTSD?
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a beneficial and effective modality for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The patient can realize the trauma's truth by challenging the cognitive patterns. Additionally, CBT may assist by enhancing an individual's emotional awareness via exploring reactions to memories of the trauma.
3. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
In eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), you direct your attention to certain noises or motions provided by the therapist while thinking about what happened. Its goal is to lessen the impact of the incident gradually.
Your therapist may ask you to follow the motions of his finger with your eyes while recalling the most traumatic event of your trauma. A stop signal is agreed upon, at which point the exercise may be terminated.
The efficacy of this treatment has been proved by scientific research. This therapy is often very successful and has a long-lasting beneficial impact on most patients.
4. Medication to treat PTSD
Many persons with PTSD may benefit from medication in addition to counseling. The most appropriate drug for you will depend on a variety of variables. Your healthcare professional should explore any medication's advantages and adverse effects.
Antidepressants are among the most often given drugs for PTSD. Antidepressants may be beneficial for anxiety, mood, and sleep disorders, as well as other PTSD-related symptoms.
5. Online Therapy
All online counselors are qualified, trained, and licensed to speak with clients in person and online, and all services and processes stick to the same set of standards.
Your chosen therapist will be available to communicate with you through chat messenger or phone calls.
Numerous individuals claim that this strategy enables them to open up from the safety of their own house, allowing them to seek aid without traveling beyond their critical comfort zone. You can also go through BetterHelp reviews to read people's experiences with online therapy.
The Bottom Line
The vital point to remember is that PTSD is a very curable disorder. With proper management, individuals with PTSD may expect to heal from their symptoms and lead an everyday peaceful life.
Nowadays, you get the option of e-therapy as well. Various platforms like (BetterHelp and TalkSpace) provide services of online therapy. BetterHelp reviews can help you to find out if it's a suitable option for you or not.
At the end of the day, whether you choose online counseling or in-person therapy is entirely up to you, and the only way to determine which technique is proper for you is to take the initial step and find out.
