Post-traumatic Stress
What it looks like in your head: frequent thoughts, memories or images about the traumatic event, flashbacks, guilt, anger or sadness, fear something might happen again, hypervigilance, difficulty feeling positive emotions, difficulty with trust
What it looks like in your body: easily startled with loud noises or touch, pain, physical activation (feeling like your power switch is constantly “on”), tension, insomnia, fatigue, difficulty relaxing, difficulty being intimate, difficulty being in crowds or gatherings
What to expect from therapy: our goal will be to change the way your experience affects your life and find freedom over the control the experience has on your life. Avoidance of the feelings or thoughts associated with the trauma often makes symptoms of PTSD worse. I use one of two approaches when treating PTSD:
What to Expect with Prolonged Exposure Therapy:
Learn various physical techniques to help you manage the uncomfortable symptoms associated with PTSD
Aims to decrease avoidance of anything that reminds you of the trauma by facing your fears
Involves talking about the details of the trauma to take away their influence over your symptoms and their control over your life
Safely confronting situations that you have been avoiding
Tracking your progress through the use of worksheets
By confronting the details about your trauma, you prevent unwanted memories at other moments of your life
Recover the ability to enjoy the activities you used to love
What to Expect with Cognitive Processing Therapy:
Learn various physical techniques to help you manage the uncomfortable symptoms associated with PTSD
Examine the way your trauma has impacted how you think about yourself and the world
Tackle the “stuck points” in your thoughts that won’t let you move on from the trauma
Learn how to decide if your thoughts are being helpful or unhelpful and how to challenge them
Writing exercises to reflect on changes in your thinking patterns
Provides the option NOT to talk about the traumatic event in detail
Recover the ability to enjoy the activities you used to love