Medication can help provide relief from symptoms, such as anxiety or depression, associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Psychiatrists at NYU Langone may prescribe antidepressants, mood stabilizers, antianxiety medications, and alpha-1 blockers for the treatment of PTSD.
If someone has PTSD, it may cause changes in their thinking and mood. They may suffer from recurrent, intrusive memories. Upsetting dreams, flashbacks, negative thoughts, and hopelessness are also common. Experiencing PTSD triggers may cause the symptoms to become worse or reoccur frequently.
Chronic feelings of guilt, shame and self-blame. Feelings of emptiness. Difficulty forming and maintaining close relationships. Feeling as through no one understands you or what you've been through.
The SSRIs sertraline and paroxetine are the only medications approved by the FDA for PTSD.
Psychotherapy. 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. CBT for PTSD is trauma-focused, meaning the trauma event(s) are the center of the treatment.
Avoid alcohol and drugs.
But substance use worsens many symptoms of PTSD, including emotional numbing, social isolation, anger, and depression. It can also interfere with treatment, and add to problems in your relationships. Eat a healthy diet.
PTSD can be worsened due to the kind of trigger involved. A trigger reminds you of what happened, activating memories, emotions, and physical responses, leading to a severe reaction.
The 2 medicines recommended to treat PTSD in adults are paroxetine and sertraline. Paroxetine and sertraline are both a type of antidepressant known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is no longer classified as an anxiety disorder. It has now been recategorized as a trauma and stressor-related disorder, in recognition of the specific and unique circumstances that provoke the onset of the condition.
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.
PTSD does not always last forever, even without treatment. Sometimes the effects of PTSD will go away after a few months. Sometimes they may last for years – or longer. Most people who have PTSD will slowly get better, but many people will have problems that do not go away.
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.
People can have PTSD even though they do not recall the experience that triggered the problem. As a result, such people may live with PTSD for years without realizing it.
“PTSD is one diagnosis for which the psychotherapy modalities, which are evidence-based, are shown to be far more effective than any medication,” Dr. Hunter says. Those modalities include therapies like prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy, and eye movement desensitization (all described later).
Reliving the experience through flashbacks, intrusive memories, or nightmares. Overwhelming emotions with the flashbacks, memories, or nightmares. Not being able to feel emotions or feeling “numb” Dissociation, that can include disconnecting from yourself or other people.
If left untreated, complex PTSD can become life-threatening. It raises the risk of developing anxiety, depression, addictive behavior, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. Chronic pain, fatigue, and changes in eating and sleeping patterns are all possible physical health problems.
Exposure therapy has been thoroughly studied and referred to as the gold standard for PTSD patients, helping them process emotions and overcome their fears. The goal of exposure therapy is to actively confront the things that a person fears.