Other Treatment Options for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
When a person is suffering from PTSD, and if medication has not helped, it will be necessary for psychotherapy to be used to correct the disorder. Psychotherapy to treat PTSD is multi-faceted and involves not only the individual, but also family members and/or friends who might have direct involvement with the individual on an everyday basis.
The first level of therapy will involve helping the individual manage and cope with their symptoms. Certain methods will be used to help the individual get around the feelings they are suffering from and focus on living their life day-to-day.
The second level of therapy will involve working and teaching family members and friends of the individual about PTSD so that they can be there to assist with helping their loved one or friend cope.
There are a variety of methods that could be followed to work with an individual through psychotherapy, the most common are:
- Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: This helps an individual focus on positive thoughts and change thought patterns when they feel fear, tension, or panic coming on. This also involves the ability to recognize which thoughts could lead to a stressful situation.
- Exposure Therapy: This is a type of cognitive-behavior therapy which will expose the individual to experiences or situations that they fear or an object or idea that will cause stress. This is commonly used when dealing with phobias and phobic behavior and has much success in treating PTSD. When this controlled therapy is effective, the person will gradually become more comfortable with the situation or object they are afraid of.
- Psycho-Dynamic Therapy: This is a type of therapy that will focus on the values of a person who is experiencing PTSD. Through the examination of the trauma that has occurred in a person’s life there will be outlets presented to help the person work through their issues.
- Family Therapy: This involves the family members or friends of the person suffering from PTSD. PTSD can be incredibly hard and traumatic on a person, their family members can be affected and they will need to understand how to help their loved one.
- Group Therapy: This therapy puts people who have shared experiences or who have struggled with PTSD together to share thoughts, feelings and fears with each other. The fact that a person will feel less “alone” in their PTSD suffering will help them cope.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): This is a complex form of psychotherapy that is also used to treat people who suffer from phobias. This therapy is designed to alleviate distress associated with traumatic events.
