Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) belongs to the anxiety disorders. It gets established after a person survives a deeply disturbing or frightening event. Common examples include wartime combat, violent assault or rape. However, PTSD can happen to those who’ve been caregivers for loved ones through long illnesses or even had a loved one die suddenly. PTSD is always associated with living through extremely stressful or life-threatening events.

However, PTSD doesn’t necessarily show up right away. It can be months before it emerges. When it does, those suffering from it will have symptoms arrayed into the following categories:

  • Increased arousal: People with PTSD tend to be hypervigilant and always on their guard against potential threats, whether that threat is real or imagined. This extreme vigilance is often unconscious and causes lots of fatigue. Other symptoms include difficulty falling asleep; irritability; outbursts of anger, being easily startled, high blood pressure, nausea, and elevated heart rate.
  • Re-experiencing: People with PTSD may have intense flashbacks, nightmares or hallucinations of the traumatic event.
  • Avoiding: The person may avoid situations, thoughts, places, and people that remind him of the traumatic event. This leads to isolation from friends and family and feelings of detachment.
  • Negative mood and cognition: People with PTSD often feel bleak and hopeless, with depression and anxiety being common co-occurring disorders.

PTSD is treatable and responds well to psychotherapy delivered by a professional therapist and medications. The following three treatment approaches are known to reduce the symptoms of PTSD:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder helps a person learn how their thoughts, feelings, beliefs and behaviors interact and influence each other. CBT helps people learn more helpful ways to behave and think.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) helps patients learn to change harmful, pessimistic evaluations and beliefs that keep a person stuck in their trauma.

Prolonged Exposure (PE)

Prolonged exposure helps people learn to gradually approach, and experience and de-escalate painful emotions and memories related to the trauma.

The Goals of PTSD Treatment

Psychotherapy for PTSD will reduce the severity of your symptoms and aims to eliminate them completely. Therapy also helps you learn how to manage and reduce anxiety, defuse stress triggers, and develop much better coping skills.

If you know someone who is struggling with PTSD, seek help from an experienced psychiatric nurse practitioner who can help you understand what’s going on and how to move forward again.

Damaris Aragon, ARNP, BC provides a full spectrum of mental health care to people in Spokane, Washington and surrounding areas. She focuses on providing personalized care that adheres to current evidence-based standards. Reach out to Damaris through her contact page or calling 509-342-6592.