Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after an individual has experienced or witnessed an accident, assault, or other life threatening or distressing event.
The symptoms of PTSD include some of the following:
- Persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic event in intrusive memories
- Mental images, dreams and nightmares
- Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring
- Psychological distress to reminders of the incident
- Hyper-sensitivity and physiological hyper-arousal to reminders of the incident
- Sleep difficulties, being easily startled, irritable, angry and highly anxious
It is not unusual for the person to feel emotionally flat or to be unable to experience a whole range of normal emotions. being in a ‘bubble’ and not being able to connect with others in the normal way.
This has been likened to People suffering from PTSD often misunderstand their normal reactions of distress to the incident and often try to ‘not think’ or to ‘forget’ the incident. This happens more frequently to soldiers returning from tour
They avoid talking about the trauma or exposing themselves to situations that might ‘remind’ them. Often the person may try too hard to keep themselves safe by performing various safety rituals. These ‘coping’ strategies only help to make a bad situation worse.
In order to combat PTSD, it is crucial to allow memories to enter ones mind and spend some time thinking about them in order for the necessary processing to take place. This reprocessing is done using CBT techniques that allow the client to confront and restructure unhelpful thought processes whilst reducing inhibiting safety behaviours and rituals.
The aim of therapy is to help the client to arrive at an updated, accurate version of the incident experienced and to cope better with related residual fears, phobias and anxieties.