PTSD means Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a mental and psychological disorder that happens to a person who has experienced or witnessed a terrible and terrifying incident.
(Are there any Workers’ Comp Benefits for PTSD?)
A PTSD patient occasionally recalls the terrible incident through flashes of the incident in their minds, and this makes the person enraged, sad, angry, or depressed.
PTSD is treated using a form of therapy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which identifies the faulty way of thoughts of the patient due to the incident and replaces them with positive emotional thoughts and behaviors by making him realize what happened wasn’t his fault. He can reframe his thoughts to make things better.
It’s a challenging process as this therapy seeks to find out how the patient feels, thinks, and reacts, trying to do some introspection and getting to know the inner nature of the patient better.
Another skill or style of this therapy entails is teaching the patient new skills. If the cause of the disorder is self-inflicted by peer influence or associations, teaching the patient a new skill or work can help change the mindset and perception to help him gradually get over it.
The patient could also be made to set goals, identify the goals and strategize ways to achieve the goals. Being mindfully occupied there can suppress depressing thoughts from taking over the patient’s mind.
The patient can also help carry out self-therapy by keeping track of his/her daily routine activities.
Writing is also a therapy that could help treat and heal a PTSD patient.
Writing down all those little things like smiling, shaking hands, and greetings, those little but not celebrated wins.
All these could be written in a journal and read from time to time. Doing this reviews and renews the patient’s mindset as he sees there’s something good to be happy about each day.
A hangout can also be suggested to a PTSD patient. A change of familiar environment from time to time can be mentally relaxing. Meeting new people with different perspectives and engaging in various discussions can bring fresh air into a gradually renewed mindset.
CBT also makes the patient aware of what happened, makes him accept the situation has occurred and begins to replace it with better thoughts and memories of positive incidences.
CBT is the most acceptable and probably the best therapy for PTSD as it can be offered online and physically, depending on the patient’s choice.
Asides from therapy sessions, there are drugs used to treat PTSD. These are antidepressant drugs, and the most recommended and effective of them are:
- Sertraline
- Paroxetine
- Fluoxetine
- Venlafaxine
Another treatment is PET – Prolonged Exposure Therapy which involves teaching and controlling the breathing techniques of the patient, recalling the incident. The narrates and describes those sad and painful events to the therapist. This is recorded, and the patient goes home to listen to the recording repeatedly until he feels better after letting out emotions.
