How Is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treated In Therapy?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental disorder that is usually very painful and disabling; Therefore, it is very important to go to therapy to find a solution as soon as possible, without letting the problem become too entrenched. Now… how is this achieved?
In this article we will see How Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is treated in a psychotherapy center like ours.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychopathological alteration linked to trauma. This means that it arises after experiencing a traumatic event usually related to some catastrophe or violent or death-related experience, such as a car accident or an attempted murder.
What makes PTSD a psychopathological phenomenon is the consequences it leaves on the person, which have to do with reliving the memories associated with the trauma over and over again and maintaining an almost constant state of stress. This psychological alteration can last for many years if it is not treated in psychotherapy.
Symptoms
Let’s look in more detail at the symptoms that characterize PTSD.
1. Tendency to relive the traumatic experience through flashbacks
It is common for people with post-traumatic stress to suffer flashbacks about what happened to them (or what they think happened to them) during the event that caused the trauma At times like this, the person’s attention is focused on very vivid memories that come accompanied by a great emotional charge, normally generating anxiety or anguish.
2. Avoidance of places that could trigger flashbacks
As a consequence of the discomfort caused by flashbacks, the person begins to try to predict when they will occur, and this predisposes them to avoid certain situations.
3. Nightmares
Nightmares are very common in people with PTSD and many times they do not even have a direct relationship with the content of traumatic memories.
4. Irritability and frustration explosions
Because PTSD leads the person to spend a lot of time under stress, they become more sensitive to anything that causes discomfort. Therefore, you are more likely to experience outbursts of anger, and to be irritable in your social relationships.
5. Emotional fatigue
As a consequence of all of the above, the person with PTSD spends a lot of time in a state of physical and mental exhaustion.
6. Dissociative symptoms
It is very common for people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to suffer dissociative symptoms. Specifically, two: derealization and depersonalization, in which the person feels emotionally disconnected from their environment or from their own body, respectively.
This is the treatment of PTSD in a psychology center
These are some of the therapeutic strategies and resources used to treat PTSD.
1. Exhibition technique
This is a therapeutic resource widely used in anxiety disorders in general. It consists of “training” the patient to get used to what causes anguish or anxiety, without trying to get away from it physically or mentally. By following the guidelines given by the psychotherapist, you are able to make your body adapt to this type of situation, so that in the case of PTSD you lose respect for the trauma, you stop mythologizing it and assuming that it is a wall against which you will crash emotionally..
Cognitive restructuring is one of the most used components of cognitive-behavioral therapy, as it has a wide variety of applications and is useful in the treatment of many disorders.
It consists of helping the patient detect maladaptive thought patterns that reinforce the existence of psychopathology, and to get rid of the beliefs to which this problematic way of interpreting reality usually gives way. For example, it is common among people who have developed post-traumatic stress to assume that they are predestined to suffer and to try to avoid situations that can trigger flashbacks.
3. Image Rewriting Therapy
Rewriting images is a resource that helps treat post-traumatic stress and its associated conditions, such as post-traumatic nightmares. It consists of recreating in the imagination the experience that gave rise to the trauma, reinterpreting it in a way that is easier to accept and process.
4. Application of emotional management guidelines
In psychotherapy, the normal thing is not to limit ourselves to treating the specific problem for which the person has come to the consultation: it also It is intended to enhance those habits that favor a greater ability to manage emotions in general
These measures to be adopted vary greatly depending on the characteristics of each patient, but some examples are relaxation and Mindfulness techniques, establishing routines to sleep well, guidelines for managing conflicts and expressing frustrations, etc..
Are you looking for professional support for post-traumatic stress?
If you think you have developed the typical symptoms of PTSD and are looking for psychotherapeutic support, contact our team of professionals. In Psychologists Majadahonda We serve both in person and through online therapy by video call, and we have many years of experience addressing this type of psychopathology. Our contact details are available here.
