“How does psychotherapy treat PTSD?”

different treatment modes and find the best one for u

There is more than one way to treat PTSD. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a technique designed specifically to treat PTSD symptoms, but CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and other talk therapy techniques can also be very effective. Medication can also be helpful to address your symptoms, especially if they are severe and incapacitating, but this should be used in conjunction with therapy.

In my practice, we work on learning ways to cope with trauma and to be able to process the trauma that occurred. We teach tools to cope with negative feelings and reminders of the trauma. However, there are other practices in town that do EMDR and trauma focused CBT that might be a good fit as well.

To understand the impact of psychotherapy on PTSD, one can turn to the theory of Classical Conditioning. The pairing of a unconditioned stimulus (like a bell sound) with a conditioned stimulus (like food) can produce an autonomic (involuntary) response (such as salivating in dogs) as was discovered by Pavlov in the 19th century. In PTSD a person has experienced a traumatic event (unconditioned stimulus) and there was an unconditioned response (such as fear, hypervigilance, avoidance, fight/flight and panic as is often seen as symptoms of PTSD. The unconditioned stimulus in this case is a trauma which is any event that can potentially cause loss of life or loss of bodily integrity. Emotional trauma can also be a strong UCS as such experiences can cause physical symptoms and problems and functional issues in their own right. The conditioned stimulus in most persons with PTSD are the reminders (the smell's, sights, persons, sounds, experiences) that in any way trigger the unconditioned response as they are tied in with the initial trauma.

Therapy seeks to remove the control of the conditioned stimuli (trigger events or experiences) over the conditioned responses (symptoms of PTSD) by helping the individual disconnect the memories, smells, sights, persons or experiences that are tied to the trauma response and thus give the individual back control over their bodies and responses to the triggers.

Such therapies began with Systematic desensitization which works to get a person into a relaxed state while imaging the triggers of the traumatic memories and working to change the person's autonomic responses to them.

Later, researchers found that one could access these triggers or conditioned responses through the use of eye movements. And in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) which works to help reduce the conditioned response and the symptoms of PTSD so one can function without interference of them. This is similar to Accelerated Resolution Therapy or ART which also uses eye movement to help the person to reduce the conditioned responses or symptoms.

As PTSD can cause anxiety, depressed mood and and poor attention span, I once was testing a middle aged person for memory loss as she had signs of this that I suspected were connected with anxiety. She came to me complaining about memory loss and underwent ART while I was testing her. Her memory scores came out well within normal limits and she reported a marked improvement in memory functioning.

Most people with PTSD complain of high levels of vigilance and anxiety as well as panic attacks and phobias. By decreasing the influence of triggers to traumatic responses, they are able to gain more control over their lives and in so doing begin to see their traumatic events as no longer a defining moment or life ruining experience but as something that just happened and taught them new things and made them feel more effective.

Other therapies have involved the use of hypnosis as well as cognitive behavior methods that work with the person to "redefine" their traumatic experiences and therefore the power they have over them.

All of these are powerful tools in helping persons to overcome their traumatic experiences.

Trauma is the natural response in which the body, soul, and spirit have a classically conditioned response that has become frozen. Much like a glitching computer in which there is a metaphorical virus that the internal world is trying to compartmentalize through avoidance strategies. While avoidance may temporarily work, over time, it will shrink your life and you'll become a slave to the ever-encroaching fear that continues to paralyze you in multiple settings and relationships. Psychotherapy, is the empirically supported process of helping you learn how to counter condition that trauma response so your soul, spirit, and body learn a more adaptive response to the trauma triggers. By addressing the trauma in slow measured ways through therapy, you are able to work through the process at your pace in a safe relationship with your therapist so you are able to feel like yourself again and expand instead of shrink your life. In studying psychology for over 20-years, I know the pain of being a trauma survivor so I've dedicated my life to helping streamline the process of trauma recovery. Combining over a decade of Research and experience as a psychotherapist, I've innovated the Restoring-Self-Cohesion as a streamlined model to help trauma survivors learn how to restore their internal world so they start to feel like themselves again, and start to embark on the adventures and life purpose they were created to fulfill! Our team of therapists at www.CrawfordClinics.com is here you on rebuild and enjoy life again! You're worth the investment and we are honored to help you and your relationships get there!

This is a great question and important to understand. Important to understand for all people in general to be fair. The idea of psychotherapy is building a relationship with a professional who is there to help you. They are experts in the field and therefore it will be more effective to turn to this supportively trained professional to help you versus a friend or a family member that may have bias or there could be potential other unknown consequences that may arise. So when working with a professional to help build a healthy relationship to focus on your inner struggles and memory and motives to think and be aware of when your buttons are triggered, it is important to build an arsenal of positive, healthy coping skills and relationships to help you when you are triggered. The idea behind challenges in life, especially when triggered and experiencing PTSD symptoms and emotions, will happen. It would be difficult and nearly impossible to control them. So the triggers are inevitable essentially. It is more so about how you manage and respond in a caretaking manner when you are experiencing those symptoms. Having a therapeutic relationship weekly that is ongoing with a mental health professional, provides you the consistent tools to help you stabilize, maintain progress, not slip too far down a dark tunnel. Another aspect is that ongoing care for yourself, holds yourself accountable to be thoughtful of yourself.

See this link for a some insight into your question:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6224348/