PTSD Help- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Courtesy of SIShannon

PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It affects as much as 8% of the general population and 17% of the military population (reference). Last week I discussed a few self-help strategies for dealing with PTSD this week I'd like to talk about the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT. It is often the first intervention that will be offered as it's easy and non-invasive and has been found to be effective for many who struggle with PTSD(reference).

Please remember that I am an author and researcher, my key role is to filter through the mountains of information available and bring the best of it to you. I do not and can not offer medical advice. If you suspect that you or a loved one is dealing with PTSD please seek professional help immediately. If you are considering suicide, or you believe a loved one is considering it, please call for help now. As I've said before, we can't let the trolls win this battle and 1 suicide is 1 too many. #22soldiers a day

What is it?

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CBT is a type of psychotherapy that involves talking to a trained professional, not a banana, who will guide you to uncover unhealthy attitudes, thought patterns and feelings(reference). These attitudes, thoughts and feelings are likely making your PTSD worse by encouraging the negative feelings that the PTSD brings on. It is possible that they aren't even related to the cause of your PTSD, they are simply feeding it with negative behaviors and emotions. By dealing with them, you are taking a step towards balance and healing.

For instance, if you suffer from low self-esteem and you have PTSD, CBT can help you understand and correct the wrong thought patterns that lead to your low self-esteem. The correction of the thought patterns that led to your low self-esteem will help you be more self-aware which can help you find healing for your PTSD. It doesn't matter if your low self-esteem didn't come from the same thing that caused your PTSD, correcting those wrong thought patterns can still help you because you are an interrelated whole made up of many interconnected parts.

How does it work?

When you engage in CBT with a professional counselor, they'll guide you to identify any false or negative patterns in your thoughts and attitudes and work with you to help you see the truth(reference). Your counselor will then work with you to correct them by helping you to craft new positive and true thoughts and feelings. Often, your counselor will assign you homework to do between sessions that involve reflection and journaling to help you further. There is an excellent article here(reference) that goes in more depth than I can.

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To build on my previous example of low self-esteem. If you believe that your work has no value your counselor will work with you to find the value in your work. Your counselor will then help you to replace your negative thoughts about your work with more positive ones and may assign you homework of reflecting on the value of what you do, and, possibly, how you can make it more valuable in your own eyes.

CBT is not meant to be ongoing(reference). You and your counselor will set goals and work towards them. Periodically you will both reassess those goals and decide together when you have met them. The counselor's goal is to teach you to do this for yourself and when you both feel you have reached that goal you can choose to end treatment or continue it if you feel you still need it.

Is it effective?

CBT has been used in the treatment of PTSD with success for a long time with good results. It has been found to lower PTSD scores effectively even when the person receiving treatment suffers from an additional mental illness. It is often used in conjunction with other treatments such as medication and other types of therapy such as hypnosis and supportive therapy. Success also depends on the involvement of the person receiving therapy, an involved patient who is actively seeking healing is more likely to find relief and stay with their counselor until they both agree they are done(3).

How do I find help?

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Finding help for PTSD can feel overwhelming. If you are a veteran you can call the helpline and get started. If you are not a veteran there are still many options available to you. Your health insurance likely offers some mental health care, Mental Health America has resources listed for finding help, and National Institute of Mental Health has some as well. If you don't have health insurance don't panic! Many providers understand and will work with you, either charging on a sliding scale or by putting you in contact with one who does. Mental Health America, linked above, has some resources and Emedicine offers some arguments about why you should get help regardless.

I urge you to get help today if you are struggling with PTSD.

It is my goal to end the stigma that comes with PTSD. I blog about PTSD once a week, searching the mountains of information out there and bringing you the best of what I find. I review a book on PTSD every other week and I publish a weekly encouraging reflection and tweet encouraging quotes for PTSD survivors daily, follow me to be encouraged. Together we can make a difference.

When I'm not blogging about PTSD or trying to encourage those of you living with it I'm an author. I write romance. I just finished my first book and I am revising and editing it. With any luck, it will be published later this year, in the meantime you can get a sample of my work on the web. Original work can be found here, and fanfiction can be found here. Let me know what you think, and tell me how you found me!

PTSD- Symptoms

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For the past few weeks I've been talking about PTSD, some of the myths that surround it, what it is and some of the reasons the trolls pick us to haunt. Today I'd like to haul those trolls out from hiding and show you what they might look like. The fact of PTSD is that it is rampant in our military members returning from overseas. Yes, others get it also, it has many causes as I have discussed in my previous post but my focus is primarily on the military members. We are losing 22 soldiers a day to suicide, many of which can be prevented with proper recognition and treatment of their PTSD. Even 1 suicide is too many.

Today I will look at the symptoms of PTSD. At the end of this post, there will be a link to self-assessment tools that you can use or refer a loved one to for reference. Please remember that I am a writer and researcher, my key role is to filter through the mountains of information available and bring the best of it to you. I do not and can not offer medical advice if you suspect that you or a loved one is dealing with PTSD please seek professional help immediately. If you are considering suicide, or you believe a loved one is considering it, please call for help now. As I've said before, we can't let the trolls win this battle and 1 suicide is 1 too many.

Just as the causes of PTSD are as individual as the people dealing with it so are the symptoms. They can vary from relatively quiet ones such as withdrawal, avoidance, and anxiety to very loud ones such as outbursts of anger, being easily startled, and self-destructive behavior. WebMD separates the symptoms into five categories as follows, Reliving the event, Avoidance, Numbness, Feeling keyed up, and Other. Let's take a closer at each of these symptoms, what they mean and what they might look like when your boots hit the ground.

Reliving the Event

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Reliving the event can occur in a few different ways. Many of us are familiar with the images of a vet barricaded behind the couch, but the reality is that it is rarely so cut and dry or obvious. PTSD can be relived in a variety of ways including flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and anxiety attacks. When these occur they have the ability to transport the person experiencing them back to the events and cause them to recall the fear and stress they felt at the time. Sometimes these flashbacks are caused by triggers and sometimes they just happen as the individual tries to work through the pain they are experiencing.

Triggers for flashbacks can be almost anything that brings the individual back to the event or series of events that was traumatic and are very unique. Don't let anyone tell you that your triggers aren't real or valid, if it triggers you then it is a trigger. One of my husbands triggers is fireworks which sound like artillery to him. We go to great lengths to avoid fireworks at all times, but he has found ways to deal with them when they are unavoidable because truthfully you will not always be able to avoid every trigger you have.

Avoidance

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Avoidance is another common symptom of PTSD. The person who is suffering will avoid activities, places and thoughts that remind them of the trauma (Helpguide). They will forget the details of their trauma or avoid talking about it and they will avoid media, such as television, movies, and books, that deal with it. Avoidance is a coping skill that allows the sufferer to bypass both situations that may have triggers for them and rehash the trauma itself. If they don't think or talk about the event then they don't have to admit to themselves that something is wrong.

Numbness

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Numbness is a byproduct of PTSD and the previous two symptoms. It can result from withdrawal, and avoidance because those both lead to isolation and feelings of abandonment. Sufferers can feel detached from events that are occurring around them, they can feel as if they have no future, and they may lose interest in activities they previously enjoyed. All these complications can lead them to feeling disconnected from those around them and result in indifference.

Anxiety

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It should come as no surprise that anxiety is a symptom of PTSD. The individual suffering from PTSD will have anxiety simply from fear of more trauma and the symptoms I have listed here so far, but there is more. Someone suffering from PTSD may have trouble with sleeping, concentration and relaxation. This may or may not be separate from the anxiety brought on by the other symptoms. They may also struggle with inappropriate outbursts, hyper-vigilance, and be easily startled.

Other

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Finally, there are the symptoms that don't fit neatly into one category, aren't there always? Someone suffering with PTSD can have physical complaints that don't make any sense such as body aches and pains. Many sufferers have depression, feelings of guilt and shame because of the stigma that they believe comes with PTSD. Self-medication is a common way of covering up the symptoms and substance abuse is common amongst those dealing with PTSD.

The symptoms of PTSD are many and vary from one individual to the next. The type and severity of symptoms do not indicate the level of suffering someone is going through, it simply tells us they are suffering. If there is one symptom or all of them they still need treatment because there is help out there. If you or a loved one is trying to cope with this on your own please reach out to get help, you don't have to pull the trolls out alone. The sooner you get treatment the sooner you can begin healing. PTSD changes everyone who deals with it, the individual who has it, their family and their friends and it can cause other health problems as well. I will touch on these aspects in a future post but for now hear the message, you are not alone.

This is a link to a self-assessment tool, another one here, that can help you decide if you or a loved one are suffering. My journey began with a self-assessment that not only suggested my husband was dealing with it but also opened my eyes to the fact that my Mother was also. I suggested it to her and she immediately began getting help. Knowledge is power and when it comes to PTSD knowledge is the weapon that will burn those trolls up.

As I've said previously, I am not a medical professional, if you think you have PTSD please reach out to someone who can help you. If you are considering suicide, or you think a loved one is please call for help immediately. You can call the Suicide hotline or the Samaritans crisis hotline. Both numbers will help you find the help you need and are free and confidential.  

PTSD or Pissed, Ticked, and Strong...Daily

As the caregiver for someone with PTSD all my days are busy, some more than others but it's important that I continue to care for myself so that I can care for him. He's my best friend, my biggest fan and ally and the one who cheers me on no matter what and he's a veteran with PTSD. I don't want him to end up a statistic in the annals of 22 Soldiers a Day, I need him next to me. This is the journey of one woman caring for her man as we walk through the carnage that PTSD has brought into our lives. Come join me Tuesday mornings as I share our struggles, our tears, and our victories and know that you are not alone.

I share not to receive accolades for my work but to let you know that you are not alone in yours. Come walk with me and let me show you my struggles. Show me yours and we will know, we are not alone. 

It's bedtime. We've shut the lights out and I am drifting off to sleep. I need it today, it's been a long day for me.

Up at 5:30, I make the bed, get dressed, make three smoothies, pack a lunch, make breakfast and have my tea in there somewhere, all by 6:30. This requires no small amount of multitasking but I know the morning will be calmer if it's done by the time he gets downstairs from shaving and getting dressed. After he's at work I come up to my office, I have a few hours to get my work done, writing a blog post, research, edit the chapter I will post that day and then it's off to the hair salon to get my roots done as I have a portrait appointment this weekend and I don't want roots in my author pics. Home from the salon I pick up the girls and we head to the gym for our workout, it's what helps me stay sane, knowing I'm feeling better. When we return, it's throw dinner in the oven, get cleaned up and then pick him up from work because when I need the car we have an elaborate dance called the one car shuffle, the only dance he knows. Home again with him, hoping dinner is done because we have a chiropractor appointment in ½ an hour and then he has his acupuncture for his back pain.

Dinners not done, I give him a protein bar and we'll eat when we get home, at 7.

So at 9 I'm falling asleep, I know I have to do it all over again tomorrow, minus the car shuffle, the salon and the gym. Tomorrow I'll just take a walk.

He's sighing next to me, tossing and turning, finally he sits up and grabs his tablet flipping it open.

“What's wrong?” I turn and face him, I'm hoping my frustration doesn't show, I need to sleep.

“I can't settle down, my minds racing.” His frustration shows in his voice and the shake of his head.

I scramble, what can I do to help him settle down because I know that if I don't help him settle down I won't be able to either. “Do you want to try a melatonin?” Sometimes they help.

“Yeah, but they're downstairs.”

Oh, I'm one step ahead of him. “Nah, I've got some in my bedside table.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Here.” I hand him one and watch him chew it. He puts the tablet away and we snuggle and chat for a few. I love his company.

I discuss a character I'm developing in my head and tell him he can stop listening if he feels himself drifting off from boredom. I'm simply trying to help him focus his mind enough to relax. I stroke his back lightly and his head, he loves that. Finally he is drifting off to sleep and so am I. It's 9:45.

I know I will be up at 2 AM, thinking, creating, it's what happens in my manic mind when a story is being born. I will lay in bed for a couple of hours and talk with my characters, get to know them and their struggles. I know it's coming and I know I need more sleep, 5:30 will arrive quickly tomorrow. But I've taken care of him, my first priority. He’s calm and tomorrow he'll be ready to face the day, well rested. Another success.

Thank you God for the strength to take care of my amazing husband.

One of the things I think people want to know the most is that they are not alone in their PTSD journey. The rages, the fear, the depression, there are others out there dealing with it too, and successfully. Come join me on my journey, share yours, we can hold each other up when the going is tough and cheer each other when it's not.