Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Therapy and Treatment
Short and Simple Symptom List
• Flashbacks (memories of the event(s)
• Dreams or nightmares
• Difficulty sleeping
• Intrusive thoughts
• Bodily or emotional reactions to reminders of event
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is usually associated with events that are life-threatening such as those experienced by a soldier in combat, or a rape victim who fears for his or her safety.However, recent research indicates that people can have even worse PTSD symptoms from more common stressors such as divorce, loss of a loved one, job termination, and so on. Indeed, PTSD does not necessarily result from one type of trauma, nor from just one traumatic event. In fact, trauma therapists have learned that it is uncommon for just one bad experience to result in PTSD.
For example, one client who had endured horrific child abuse and saw combat in the Gulf War, was later involved in a traffic accident in which he was almost killed and another person on the scene died in his arms. He experienced incapacitating PTSD. Symptoms can be so distressing that PTSD sufferers may think they are going crazy. Their lives, for some, feel “spun out of control”. This man’s story is shown in the CBS news video link on the home page of ComprehensiveTherapyApproach.com.
The good news about PTSD is that it is treatable and resolvable. Check out the brain scan. This scan is that of a woman who experienced two violent rapes. The red area indicates over-activity, showing how activated the brain can become from PTSD. The second brain scan reveals how calmed her brain became after EMDR treatment. In the case of the client described above who did not suffer PTSD until after the traffic accident, that trauma was resolved in four sessions of EMDR. Indeed, because of that success, he decided to take the time to treat the other traumas, too, to make him less vulnerable in the future.
Research has shown that one single-event trauma can be resolved in one to three ninety-minute sessions for 80% of PTSD sufferers. Some PTSD sufferers (generally those with more negative experiences in childhood) need more time to heal and a treatment plan that moves more slowly, but they, too can lessen their symptoms and gain more freedom in their lives. EMDR is a proven, efficient and highly-effective therapy for PTSD.
