Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT): CBT is a type of psychotherapy that has consistently been found to be the most effective treatment of PTSD both in the short term and the long term.
The primary treatment is psychotherapy, but can also include medication. Combining these treatments can help improve your symptoms by: Teaching you skills to address your symptoms. Helping you think better about yourself, others and the world.
Trauma can contribute to anxiety and other symptoms, but there are a number of coping skills for PTSD that can help bring relief. Strategies such as distraction, deep breathing, mindfulness, and behavior activation are just a few techniques that you can try.
For example, if you feel intense fear and freeze up, a deep breathing exercise can help calm your reaction. Other coping strategies may also be helpful: Perform relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises, meditation, muscle relaxation exercises, listening to soothing music, or getting in touch with nature.
Triggers can include sights, sounds, smells, or thoughts that remind you of the traumatic event in some way. Some PTSD triggers are obvious, such as seeing a news report of an assault. Others are less clear. For example, if you were attacked on a sunny day, seeing a bright blue sky might make you upset.
A person with PTSD has four main types of difficulties: Re-living the traumatic event through unwanted and recurring memories, flashbacks or vivid nightmares. There may be intense emotional or physical reactions when reminded of the event including sweating, heart palpitations, anxiety or panic.
Intrusive memories
Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event. Reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again (flashbacks) Upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event. Severe emotional distress or physical reactions to something that reminds you of the traumatic event.
Eat some Chocolate
Dark chocolate can regulate levels of cortisol (which is usually in abundance in those with PTSD). Just one square can make a difference to your mood.
Sertraline (Zoloft) is FDA-approved for treating PTSD, and it's one of the most common medications prescribed for this condition. In studies, sertraline effectively reduced PTSD symptoms in over 50% of those taking it and was well-tolerated, with the most noticeable side effect being insomnia (trouble sleeping).
Like most mental illnesses, PTSD is not strictly curable. This condition is caused by trauma and causes serious symptoms that make normal functioning challenging or impossible. Treatment with special types of therapy and sometimes medication can make a big difference, but it is not a cure.
While you can't entirely heal from PTSD naturally, these tips and techniques can help decrease the frequency and severity of symptoms. Though you might not be 100% free from your PTSD symptoms, the ideas here might be able to help you. “There are many widely effective treatments for PTSD.
SMI includes major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post traumatic stress (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (VA).
Most guidelines for the treatment of PTSD in adults recommend that trauma-focused psychotherapy be used as a first-line treatment and medications be used as a second-line treatment, Sonis said. In other words, they recommend that psychotherapy should be offered, preferentially, to adults with PTSD, over medication.
People with PTSD may also experience physical symptoms, such as increased blood pressure and heart rate, fatigue, muscle tension, nausea, joint pain, headaches, back pain or other types of pain. The person in pain may not realize the connection between their pain and a traumatic event.
This includes war veterans, children, and people who have been through a physical or sexual assault, abuse, accident, disaster, or other serious events. According to the National Center for PTSD, about 7 or 8 out of every 100 people will experience PTSD at some point in their lives.
Feeling jittery, nervous or tense.
Women experiencing PTSD are more likely to exhibit the following symptoms: Become easily startled. Have more trouble feeling emotions, experience numbness. Avoid trauma reminders.
Suffering from severe fear, anxiety, or depression. Unable to form close, satisfying relationships. Experiencing terrifying memories, nightmares, or flashbacks. Avoiding more and more anything that reminds you of the trauma.
When there's an overload on the adrenal system, someone with PTSD might experience a variety of symptoms such as fatigue, exhaustion and an overload of stress. The bottom line is that fatigue (and often inexplicable fatigue) very often accompanies symptoms of PSTD.