HOW TO TREAT TRAUMA AND STRESS

October 18, 2022

HOW TO TREAT TRAUMA AND STRESS

I want to address the concern that frequently arises after I diagnose someone with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in this blog post: Can PTSD be treated? Yes, it is the answer. Post completed.

No, I'm joking! I'm joking when I say that this concludes the post. Without joking, yes, depending on how you define a cure, PTSD may be treated. In reality, the answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no, but first, let's define PTSD.

DESCRIBE PTSD

A response to a stressful incident is PTSD. A traumatic event can be any situation in which your life or safety was in danger (or even if you felt that your life was in danger), you saw someone else's life in danger or end, or you were somehow violated. The majority of the time, after suffering a trauma, a person endures distress for a few weeks to a month before noticing a natural recovery. Their life gradually returns to normal, and the terrifying occurrence fades into the background of their memories. They suffer a combination of the following symptoms in each of the following categories as this reaction develops into PTSD:

RE-EXPERIENCING:

Nightmares
Flashbacks
Intrusive thoughts or memories
Feeling very upset or experiencing physical sensations when you are confronted with the memory
Feeling pain or discomfort in your body when confronted with a reminder of the trauma

AVOIDANCE:

Trying to not do, see, or experience anything related to the trauma or that has a remote chance of reminding you of it
Not going certain places or seeing people who remind you of what happened
Not doing what you used to enjoy
Being distant from loved ones
Avoiding crowded places
Not talking about what happened
Trying very hard not to think about what happened

HYPERVIGILANCE:

Feeling on guard or on edge all the time
Irritability
Lashing out at loved ones
Not being able to relax
Being easily startled
Inability to sleep

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, and I strongly advise against diagnosing loved ones or yourself with PTSD if you are not a mental health expert. PTSD is essentially a group of symptoms that last longer than a month after a traumatic experience. Therefore, the goal of PTSD treatment, which includes EMDR and Prolonged Exposure therapy, is to lessen these symptoms to the point that they no longer interfere with your life. They don't remove the memory; rather, they alter your relationship with it to make it seem more normal.

HOW DIFFERENT ARE TRAUMA MEMORIES?

Recollections of trauma are distinct from other memories. Remember how the memories within the girl's head are portrayed in the movie "Inside Out"? They are like a giant bubble with the scene inside of it. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Similar to this is how I picture trauma memories, however the trauma memory bubble also contains all the thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations that were there at the time of the recollection. Trauma memories are distinct from ordinary memories in that everything mentioned above becomes ingrained in the memory.

Consider the scenario where a car travelling at 60 miles per hour rear-ended you when you were stopped in traffic due to road construction on Highway 94 just outside of Minneapolis. Now, everytime you are stuck in traffic on Highway 94, you might feel your heart rate increasing, your back muscles beginning to tighten up, your anxiety heightening, and you begin to fear that you are about to be hit once more.