Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Normally, our minds and bodies can deal with whatever stressors we encounter – intense meetings, crises, illness, and more. Our in-built fight-or-flight response to potentially dangerous situations allows us to cope under stress and respond to perceived and real threats. The situations we encounter can be traumatic, meaning that they involve the actual or threat of death, violence, or severe injury.

Our fight-or-flight response kicks in and helps us to respond to these situations. While initially shocking, we eventually recover from that shock and can function well as before. Sometimes, however, the shock induced by the stressful/traumatic event can be so overwhelming that it can disrupt a person’s ability to function in their relationships or at work.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder that sets in after a person experiences, witnesses, or is threatened with a traumatic event. If they have repeatedly experienced traumatic events/situations such as severe abuse, violence, or neglect, a doctor may diagnose them with Complex PTSD. Complex PTSD has symptoms akin to PTSD, though it can be more severe if the trauma was experienced early in that person’s life.

One of the challenges of PTSD is that it can set in unpredictably. It can, for instance, set in soon after the inciting event, or long afterward when it is triggered by something else.Some people experience PTSD after a traumatic event while others do not, and it is not entirely clear why this is the case.

Not only can PTSD set in due to experiencing a traumatic event, but it’s important to understand that trauma can occur even if someone wasn’t directly involved in the event. As such,trauma and PTSD can occur if you know of someone close to you who experienced or was threatened by the event, or you’ve been exposed to images or graphic details about the traumatic event.

PTSD can last for months or years after the traumatic event, and it affects a person’s fight-or-flight mechanism by changing how their body responds to stress and stressful situations. PTSD can trigger intense physical and emotional responses to thoughts or memories of the event, and they feel as though they are reliving the event. PTSD can cause that fight-or-flight mechanism to be triggered by benign everyday situations, like when a car backfires and their body responds as though they are caught in a firefight.

PTSD stems from a traumatic experience, and while not every traumatic experience develops into PTSD, if the symptoms of trauma recur or present over extended periods, which may signal PTSD.

Some of the symptoms of PTSD include:

• struggles to maintain meaningful relationships, and finding yourself avoiding any people, places, and thoughts connected to the event
• persistent and prolonged feelings of intense fear
• (unwanted) flashbacks to the event
• reliving and having uncontrollable thoughts about the event
• hyperarousal, which looks like constant alertness to danger and being easily startled or angered
• loss of memory or misremembering the event
• severe anxiety
• feeling helpless
• struggles with falling and staying asleep– having insomnia and nightmares
• in children, symptoms include bed wetting, reenacting the event, forgetting how to talk, and clinging to family members.

As with other mental health concerns, it’s important to let your doctor or other qualified mental health professional assess you. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, to arrive at a diagnosis of PTSD, healthcare providers must confirm that the patient has experienced all the following for at least one month:

• Two or more cognition and mood symptoms (misremembering the event, having negative thoughts, feeling guilty, losing interest in enjoyable activities)
• One or more re-experiencing symptoms (flashbacks, bad dreams, frightening thoughts)
• Two or more arousal and reactivity symptoms (feeling startled, tense, restless, angry)

One or more avoidance symptoms (avoiding places, events, objects, thoughts, or feelings that relate to or could remind someone of the traumatic event)

In most people’s minds, PTSD is associated with individuals that have seen active duty in war zones, or people exposed to traumatic situations everyday such as first responders and law enforcement. However, PTSD affects people from all walks of life, including children, and more than eight million American adults have PTSD in any given year.

The traumatic events or situations that a person can find themselves in include:

• war or war-like situations
• life-threatening health issues
• the sudden death of a loved one through illness or violence
• natural disasters like a flood, or wildfire
• difficult childbirth experiences
• serious road vehicle accident
• violent sexual assault or mugging

While counseling for trauma isn’t always a painless process, it is vital for healing, and the journey toward healing from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a long one. There are several treatment options available for PTSD,and your therapist will work with you or your loved one to design a treatment plan using various therapies and medications in a way that is sensitive to the unique situation you or your loved one is in.

The therapist may recommend family or group therapy instead of individual therapy where appropriate. Having others be part of the treatment team can help with consistency in therapy and implementing the treatment recommended.

There are various therapies for PTSD, including Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Cognitive Therapy,which are all variations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)and designed to assist an individual in recognizing and adjusting pessimistic evaluations and memories of the trauma, as well as helping them to approach and face trauma-related situations, memories, and feelings.

Other therapies that may be used to address PTSD include:

Brief Eclectic Psychotherapy, which combines a psycho dynamic approach with elements of CBT and seeks to alter emotions of shame and guilt the patient may have concerning the traumatic event

Stress Inoculation Training (SIT),which focuses on how a person deals with the stress from the traumatic event. It can teach skills such as breathing techniques and muscle relaxation to help relax both body and mind.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, which encourages one to focus on the traumatic memory as they simultaneously experience bilateral stimulation (such as watching or listening to something). This enables the patient to think about something positive while remembering the trauma.

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), which helps one develop a meaningful life narrative that provides context to their traumatic experiences

The therapies for PTSD have several main goals, including providing the tools and skills to deal with the symptoms; improving or treating symptoms and other issues related to the traumatic experience, such as anxiety and depression; and restoring a positive outlook of oneself and the world.

In addition to therapy, medication may also be prescribed for someone with PTSD, and this is intended to tackle the chemical imbalance in the brain which triggers the “fight or flight” response too quickly or in situations where it’s not necessary. Medications such as paroxetine (Paxil) and sertraline (Zoloft) interact with and affect the brain chemicals related to anxiety and fear, such as serotonin and nor epinephrine.

These and other medications can reduce the intensity of the symptoms or make them more manageable. The therapist may also prescribe antipsychotics, antidepressants, or beta-blockers. It’s important to recognize that medication takes time to have a noticeable effect; it must be taken consistently and as prescribed, and it’s a combined effort between the patient and their therapist to find the combination and dosage that works best with marginal side-effects.

There are several treatment options for PTSD. At Orange County Christian Counseling, the counselors will work with you to design a treatment plan that is personalized to your unique situation and needs to afford you the highest chance of success. The counselors are skilled professionals who are trained to treat and help you or your loved one overcome PTSD using therapies such as Exposure Therapy and Cognitive Therapy, as well as medication where necessary.Through their empathy, patience, compassion, and support, your counselor can help you or your loved one as they recover and find healing from PTSD.

That journey toward healing can begin today. Reach out and contact us today to find out more about counseling for PTSD at Orange County Christian Counseling or to schedule your appointment.