Symptoms and Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

You can develop post-traumatic stress disorder after you have experienced a traumatic event. Traumatic events may include accidents, fire, military combat, natural disaster, physical abuse, sexual assault, terrorist attack, or sudden death of a loved one. Post traumatic stress disorder Flowood can make you have negative, anxious emotions. About half of people in the United States experience traumatic events, and at least ten percent of men and twenty percent of women develop PTSD. PTSD can cause sleeping and eating troubles and doing things you enjoy for a little while. These effects may last several months, interfering with your life.

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder

There are many symptoms of PTSD, and you may experience one or more. The common symptoms include:

Avoid things: If you have PTSD, you may avoid people or situations that remind you of traumatic events, like military service friends.

Being edge: PTSD can make it difficult for you to relax or enjoy the things you used to. You may feel jittery or anxious and easily startled or expect something bad to happen.

Having negative thoughts and feelings: PTSD may make you angry, sad, guilty, or distrustful.

Relieving or re-experiencing traumatic events: Traumatic events can come in dreams or flashbacks.

Treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder

Medications

Your doctor can prescribe certain antidepressant medications to treat post-traumatic stress disorder to control anxiety feelings and associated symptoms. These medications include:

• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors like citalopram, fluvoxamine, and fluoxetine.
• Tricyclic antidepressants like Elavil and doxepin.
• Mood stabilizers like Divalproex and lamotrigine.
• Atypical antipsychotics like aripiprazole and quetiapine.
• Propranolol can help minimize the formation of traumatic memories.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy helps you learn skills to manage your symptoms and develop coping skills. It also focuses on teaching you and your family about the stress disorder and helping you work through the fears associated with the traumatic event. There are various psychotherapy techniques that can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder, including:

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy emphasizes learning to recognize and change your thought patterns that lead to disturbing emotions, feelings, and behaviors.

Prolonged exposure therapy

Prolonged exposure therapy is behavioral therapy where you relieve the traumatic events, objects, or situations that cause anxiety. Your doctor performs this treatment in a well-controlled and safe environment. Prolonged exposure therapy helps you confront the fear and slowly become more comfortable with frightening events that cause anxiety. Studies show that this technique is very successful in most PTSD patients.

Psychodynamic therapy

Psychodynamic therapy involves your specialist helping you examine your values and the emotional conflicts caused by the traumatic events. The specialist develops ways to help you cope with the situations.

Group therapy

Group therapy involves several individuals with PTSD. It allows people to share their thoughts, fears, and feelings about traumatic events.

Eye Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a complex psychotherapy that doctors initially used to relieve distress associated with traumatic memories. Now they use it to treat phobias in PTSD patients.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health problem that can develop after a traumatic event. You may avoid things you like, re-experience your past traumatic events, or have negative thoughts and feelings. Schedule an appointment at Precise Research Centers for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment to manage your negative thoughts and emotions.