Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Many people experience traumatic events in their lives. Some survivors of traumatic events go into to experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and continue to feel extreme anxiety and helplessness long after the trauma. Symptoms of PTSD include intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, extreme distress when reminded of the trauma, sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, hyper-alertness, and loss of interest in usual activities. There are highly effective psychotherapy programs for individuals who continue to suffer PTSD. Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) is one of the most effective treatments for PTSD. It helps sufferers by having them stop avoiding and begin approaching thoughts and feelings about the trauma. This helps individuals to change unhelpful thoughts and beliefs that they may hold about the trauma and the way they have coped. PE helps people to feel mastery over their world and their response to it. Cognitive Processing Therapy is also very helpful for PTSD.

For more information, visit :National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) - An organization with the National Institute of health dedicated to mental health research: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml