Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
A person who has posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of exposure to a traumatic event will notice unfavorable changes in their mood, conduct, and thinking about other people as well as oneself. When someone encounters actual or threatened violence, actual or threatened death, sexual abuse, or watches any of these things happening to others, it is considered a traumatic incident.
Automobile accidents, physical or sexual assaults, fires, or surviving a tornado are a few examples of traumas. The weeks or months after such traumatic events are typically characterized by sadness, uncertainty, processing, and challenging emotions. But for some people, getting over a traumatic event takes considerably longer or is more complex, necessitating outside assistance. These are the people who experience PTSD.
People who have PTSD may behave and feel in many ways as though their terrible experience is still in progress. They can have nightmares, problems falling asleep, and always be on high alert. Most PTSD sufferers alter their lives to avoid being reminded of their trauma; they might stop driving after an accident, for instance. These adjustments might assist in reducing or managing anxiety in the short term. But in the end, they make the person feel constrained and helpless, and their anxiousness grows.
PTSD symptoms can range greatly; however some may include:
- persistent, bothersome flashbacks to the trauma
- constant nightmares with the trauma
- Feeling “jumpy” or easily startled in the present, or flashbacks where the event seems to be happening again
- Aggression or irritation
- inability to fall or keep asleep
- difficulty paying attention
- Unprotected sex, using drugs and alcohol, and other risky conduct
- Exaggerated guilt placed on oneself or others (other than the perpetrator) for the trauma that occurred
- an increase in unfavorable feelings like fear, wrath, guilt, or melancholy
- having trouble feeling good feelings
- feeling alone and cut off from others.
We at Connected Care Behavioral Health LLC specialize and provide evidence-based care to PTSD patients of all ages. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) are two exposure-based therapies used to treat PTSD. Our experts have received training in PE and CPT to manage PTSD. Through PE and CPT, people with PTSD eventually learn to confront their trauma memories and its reminders, giving them their lives back from PTSD. They can also challenge ingrained beliefs about the world, other people, and themselves. Regardless of the type of trauma a person has encountered, treatment is very successful, and people make healing rather rapidly. Please call us at 443-219-9236 if you or someone you know could benefit from our expert PTSD treatment services.