Most of us will experience or have experienced something extremely stressful in our lives, and sometimes the things that happen to us are so stressful that we call them traumatic. Some people even develop a condition that involves having difficulty moving past the trauma called Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD also co-occurs with other conditions like anxiety and depression quite often.
PTSD is a set of symptoms that people sometimes experience after they go through something extremely stressful or difficult, which we call a trauma or traumatic event.
There are four groups of PTSD symptoms:
Re-Experiencing Symptoms
The first group is often called the ‘re-experiencing' symptoms, because they involve re-experiencing or re-living the traumatic event in some way.
This includes experiences like having nightmares about the trauma, “flashbacks” where it feels like the trauma is happening all over again, sleep paralysis, or feeling very upset in response to reminders of the trauma.
Hyperarousal Symptoms
The next group of symptoms is called "hyperarousal" symptoms because it involves the mind and body being hyper- (or over-) activated.
People who have these symptoms often experience sudden increases in anger or feel easily startled or jumpy.
They may also have difficulties sleeping (i.e., insomnia) or feel that they need to be on guard or watchful for something bad that may happen all the time. The symptoms in this category are similar to symptoms of anxiety.
Avoidance Symptoms
The third group of symptoms are called the "avoidance" symptoms because they involve avoiding things that remind people of the trauma.
This could be places (e.g., where the trauma happened), people, or specific sensations (e.g., smells, sounds), but it could also be thinking about, or remembering the trauma.
Negative Changes in Mood and Thinking
Finally, the last group of symptoms involves changes to mood and thinking..
This may involve feeling less connected to important or close people like loved ones, feeling less interested in doing things that were previously enjoyable, feeling numb or unable to experience positive emotion, or feeling negative emotion much of the time.
It may also involve having negative, unhelpful thoughts about the trauma itself, like blaming oneself when, in reality, one didn't cause the trauma to happen. The symptoms in this category are similar to symptoms of depression.
People with PTSD may not have all of these symptoms, and it's important to speak with a licensed provider to find out if PTSD is a problem you are currently experiencing.
The good news is that there are many different types of treatments for PTSD, and several of them are highly effective.
Several frontline treatments involve changing the way you think about trauma or respond to things that remind you of it to change how you feel. These types of treatments are called Cognitive Behavioral Therapies or CBT.
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Sometimes the way that people make sense of and understand traumatic events is what prevents trauma recovery. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a type of CBT that aims to promote trauma recovery through coming to more helpful ways to understand what happened, why it happened, and what it means.
Prolonged Exposure
Sometimes the way that people avoid objectively safe things that remind them of their trauma, like sounds, smells, or memories prevents trauma recovery. Prolonged exposure is a type of CBT that helps people face these reminders and memories to understand that they are not a threat.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Lastly, some people believe that PTSD is caused by how the memory is stored in the brain. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, is different from CBTs. Like prolonged exposure, it involves remembering the traumatic event(s) while attempting to stimulate areas of the brain through things like eye movements, body tapping, and listening to tones. Similarly to how prolonged exposure works, research suggests that it is the remembering of the traumatic events, rather than the movements or tones, that helps this treatment work.
PTSD and Relationships
While there are individual treatment options for PTSD, research shows that PTSD impacts both trauma survivors and their loved ones, as does the anxiety and depression that often go along with it. We also know that strong, healthy relationships can be a helpful tool in trauma recovery, and relationship problems can get in the way of recovery.
Dr. Candice Monson (Nellie Founder and CEO) and her colleagues developed an effective couple treatment for PTSD called Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy (CBCT) that focuses on improving relationships and PTSD at the same time.
CBCT is a cognitive-behavioral therapy, which means it focuses on helping people with PTSD and their partners identify and change the thoughts and behaviors that affect the symptoms of PTSD, other areas of their life, and their relationship. Ultimately, CBCT aims to bring people in a relationship together as a team to push back against PTSD together, rather than having it drive them apart.
Studies show that CBCT is effective in reducing trauma-related symptoms (for example, avoidance, intrusive thoughts, emotional numbing, anger, loss of interest), as well as supporting enhanced communication, intimacy, closeness, and relationship satisfaction.
If you are looking for support with symptoms of PTSD at this time, we would be glad to help you get the support that you need. Visit https://www.nelliehealth.com/info-call/ to get started today.