
PTSD can affect your life and make it difficult to maintain normal routines. Finding the right treatment is the only way to ease the painful symptoms and heal. Liz Chelak recommends the best therapy for your mental well-being so you can get back to a healthy lifestyle. She realizes the effects of trauma, anxiety, and stress on your health and recommends the most effective treatment options that restore your mental as well as physical well-being. She uses therapies and techniques that work best for your symptoms and help you thrive.
Dealing with trauma is not easy. As it is an emotional response to a horrifying, terrible, and painful event, it can alter the way you behave or understand yourself as well as the way you interact with others. Traumatic stress disorder. Timely treatment and therapy can get you on the road to recovery. Post-traumatic stress disorder develops in response to a traumatic event. When trauma is left untreated, it progresses into PTSD.
Begin personalized therapy, online or in-person, in West Palm Beach, and Boca Raton, FL.
What is PTSD?
PTSD is a mental health condition that develops after an individual experiences or witnesses a traumatic or life-threatening event. Painful or unpleasant memories, flashbacks, low self-esteem, and insomnia are some of the PTSD symptoms that can affect your quality of life and health.
Traumatic events may include the following:
- Wars
- Severe accidents such as car or plane crashes
- Natural disasters like fires or floods
- Sexual abuse or violence
You may also experience PTSD after witnessing trauma that has happened to someone else, such as by being a healthcare worker or first responder. Sometimes, the shock of what happened is so much that it affects your ability to function normally. Your condition is diagnosed as PTSD if you have symptoms for longer than a month, and they are severe enough to affect your routine functioning.
After an accurate diagnosis of the condition, a mental health professional will recommend an effective therapy plan to help with PTSD symptoms.
Trauma therapy can benefit you in the following ways:
- It reduces or improves symptoms resulting from a traumatic experience
- It leads to personal growth and healing
- It helps in better management of your nervous system, such as heart palpitations, shaking, etc.
- It pulls you out from the past and makes you focus on the present
- It helps you overcome addictions
- It reduces the risk of self-harm
- It enables you to recognize generational trauma
- It teaches you better coping skills and responses
- It enhances feelings of self-esteem and self-worth
Evidence-based PTSD treatments are effective and aid in better healing, which results in long-term well-being.
Top 8 Treatments for PTSD
PTSD can make you experience intense emotions, and distressing thoughts that are usually related to the event you have witnessed or been through. As it can result from a wide range of events, treatment options for PTSD can also vary from person to person and the symptoms they are experiencing.
While most treatments are therapy-based, your mental health professional may recommend medication if they feel the need for it.
Discussed here are the proven treatments for PTSD that help you deal with the intense feelings and emotions related to trauma most effectively.
CBT is one of the most common treatments for PTSD. It helps people with coping skills and patterns of thinking. It is a type of psychotherapy that makes people identify and change negative thoughts and behaviors that can contribute to mental health issues.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
It is the most recommended PTSD treatment that helps people with coping skills and patterns of thinking. As you learn to identify and change negative thoughts and behaviors that lead to mental health issues, you can look forward to healing from within.
It is a type of psychotherapy that takes place over a series of sessions during which the therapist talks to the patients and guides them toward inner peace. As they analyze and work through their emotions, they can eliminate trauma-related thoughts. CBT is beneficial for treating PTSD as well as depression, anxiety, relationship challenges, and stress management.
2.Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy works by intentionally exposing a patient to memories or reminders of the traumatic event to help patients overcome their fears and anxiety. As they learn to face the stressors associated with their trauma in controlled settings, they can cope with them better and get rid of the negative thoughts that come with it.
It is most effective for people who are living with traumatic memories or feel that they cannot get rid of the traumatic triggers from their lives. Some therapists may use virtual reality technology for this therapy.
3.Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing
EMDR therapy is another commonly used PTSD treatment for processing traumatic memories and other distressing experiences. The therapist helps the patient imagine a traumatic event while using different stimuli such as eye movements, sounds, or a flashing light. The goal of this therapy is to make you think about something positive while you remember your trauma.
It heals your trauma and relieve PTSD symptoms. It takes about three months of weekly sessions for EMDR to work effectively.
4.Meditation
Meditation is an effective tool for managing PTSD, especially for people who don’t want to talk about their trauma or want to try and handle their PTSD on their own. It helps you focus and control your thoughts, which plays a significant role in coping with intrusive thoughts of distressing experiences.
With meditation, you can create a sense of calm and control and break negative thoughts and cycles. Some types of meditation that work for PTSD include transcendental meditation, mindfulness, and progressive muscle relaxation.
5.dual Diagnosis Treatment
Dual-diagnosis treatment for PTSD is a specialized form of care that helps people struggling with substance abuse. It combines psychotherapy with addiction treatment to ensure an individual can manage both mental health and substance use issues effectively.
Treatment for PTSD and substance abuse disorders can include trauma-informed care, psychotherapy, identifying and managing triggers, developing coping mechanisms, pharmacotherapy, and interventions.
For more information about our counselors or to schedule an appointment for your therapy, call our office by number:
(561) 363-79946.Medications
For some people, medications are a significant part of treatment when combined with therapy to manage the symptoms of PTSD. Your therapist may recommend medications to ease your symptoms, such as antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications.
Medications prevent you from thinking about and reacting to what happened, including having nightmares and flashbacks. Several types of drugs can affect the chemistry in your brain related to fear and anxiety. Healthcare professionals usually start with medications that work on the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine. They can also help you have a more positive outlook on life and feel normal again.
7.Psychodynamic Therapy
It is a treatment that helps patients understand the psychological meaning of their symptoms and how they can relate to their traumatic event. It relies on the therapist talking with the patients to make them uncover and understand their feelings and work through their emotions.
PDT enables patients to identify defense mechanisms, process traumatic memories, gain insight, and develop more effective coping strategies so they can deal with their symptoms in a much better way and learn to master their internal experiences.
8.Group Therapy
Group therapy is effective for people who want to share their experiences and learn from others. In this type of therapy, people with PTSD meet with a therapist and other people who also have PTSD.
Group therapy offers social support and emotional expression. It also normalizes symptoms when people realize they are not the only ones going through them. They can share psychological resources and feedback that can play a significant role in their healing.
Untreated PTSD can affect your quality of life and lead to other long-term problems such as depression, substance abuse, or work and relationship challenges. PTSD can be treated, and it is worth the time and effort it may take.
Trauma-focused therapy is built on the understanding of how traumatic experiences affect an individual’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. It aims to help children, adolescents, and adult survivors health from the effects of trauma successfully.
Begin personalized therapy, online or in-person, in West Palm Beach, and Boca Raton, FL.
If you or a loved one is dealing with PTSD, call the Trauma Therapy Center for the best support and care. Liz Chelak works with you to develop practical strategies for managing stress and processing trauma. Liz addresses your unique mental health needs and focuses on strengthening your emotional well-being so you can deal with the challenges of trauma and move toward healing. The right treatment, including these effective options, can help you get back to living the life you deserve.