Treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Chicago is one of the country's largest cities and has many victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You should seek treatment immediately if you have post-traumatic stress disorder in Chicago.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is widespread among victims of war and the soldiers who fight in them. However, you can have PTSD if you face any type of traumatic event that causes significant change afterward.

It is challenging to diagnose PTSD and even harder to treat it. The following are common treatment options offered to PTSD patients:

1.     Prolonged Exposure Therapy

People with PTSD go out of their way to avoid events such as the one that caused their trauma. Avoidance only worsens the problem and can be remedied by gradual exposure to the trauma.

A therapist will typically help you come up with a list of things you have been avoiding since your traumatic experience. Together, you will seek to overcome these issues by exposing yourself to items on the list one by one.

A prolonged exposure therapy session will typically last around ninety minutes, and the sessions may amount to over 15. The duration of the treatment will depend on how well the patient handles the exposure to trauma.

2.     Cognitive Processing Therapy

The mind is significantly affected by such trauma and affects your thoughts afterward. Your thoughts make your actions, which turn into habits and, eventually, your life. So if you want PTSD to no longer affect you, you need to evaluate how it affects your mind.

Cognitive Processing Therapy sessions typically last for one and a half hours and are conducted over 12 weeks. One way in which CPT can help you overcome PTSD is to help you stop blaming yourself for the trauma and move on with your life.

3.     Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Typical cognitive behavioral therapy can help a PTSD patient recover from the disorder to some degree. However, for better results, the treatment needs to be customized to the individual PTSD case.

The therapy aims to improve your symptoms, teach you the necessary skills to manage the disorder, and develop self-esteem to overcome it or at least live with it.

PTSD therapy also seeks to change the thought patterns about the trauma that are negatively affecting your life. The therapy can be done individually or in groups, depending on what the patient needs.

4.     Stress Inoculation Training

Patients with PTSD suffer from a lot of stress and anxiety. The condition stems mainly from the fact that they are largely unable to deal with the stress caused by the trauma.

To alleviate the disorder's symptoms, therapists will try and improve how the patient deals with any type of stress. Many patients prefer this type of treatment as it doesn't necessarily include revisiting the traumatic event causing the disorder.

Stress inoculation training will include gradually being exposed to stressful situations until you can stay calm under any condition. You should be able to handle a significant amount of stress three months into your training.

Stress inoculation training is best done in a group where you receive help with your training from others like you.