Posts Tagged Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Rape, and Sexual Abuse

Posted by in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder on August 24, 2009

The estimated risk for rape survivors developing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is 49%. The risk for those beaten or experiencing physical assault is 31.9%, whilst the risk for others who experienced sexual assault is 23.7%. Given these figures, it is no wonder women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, as they are statistically significantly more likely to experience sexual assault.

Post traumatic stress disorder is characterized by intense fear, a sense of helplessness, or horror. It can affect all areas of a person’s life, their emotions, mental wellbeing, and physical health. And symptoms are generally worse in situations, like rape and abuse, where the trauma was deliberately initiated against those involved.

A person with post traumatic stress disorder may re-live the traumatic events, having flashbacks or other reminders and images that intrude on their waking hours, or in dreams and nightmares. These reminders may also trigger physical symptoms, such as heart palpitations or chills. Or emotional problems, like anxiety, depression, and dread.

People with post traumatic stress disorder may avoid any reminders of the trauma, whether that is people associated with the experience, or places, or even thoughts of the trauma. They can distance themselves from family and friends, and withdraw from everyday activities and things they used to enjoy.

Relationship problems are common for survivors of rape and sexual abuse. Some survivors avoid intimacy, others avoid sex, and some avoid both, and create patterns in their lives where those coping mechanisms are maintained. But sufferers of PTSD who did not experience any sexual abuse can also have problems in their relationships, or in social situations.

Another characteristic of post traumatic stress disorder is being on guard all the time, and suddenly feeling anger or irritability. There can be problems with sleeping and concentrating, and sufferers may be startled easily. Self destructive behaviours, such as gambling, risky sex, drug use, alcohol abuse, or other problems like dangerous driving, may be present. Depression, disassociation, or other mental health problems can develop.

Not all of these characteristics may be present in PTSD, and the degree to which one experiences them may vary also. And PTSD may not develop until months or years after the trauma. Particularly in relation to abuse in childhood, symptoms of PTSD can pass, then reappear later in life. This can make it difficult to recognize when PTSD is occurring, as survivors may not associate their current feeling and behaviours with pas events.

Each time symptoms appear, however, they provide an opportunity for healing. Post traumatic stress disorder can be treated, using a combination of medication and psychotherapy.

Whilst medications were not thought to help in the treatment of PTSD in the past, they have been found to be beneficial now, probably due to newer ones being available. The SSRI’s (selective serotonin uptake inhibitors) zoloft and paxil are both approved by the FDA for treating PTSD. And newer antidepressants like effexor and serzone are also beneficial, and tend to be used when the patient does not tolerate paxil and zoloft, or those medications aren’t effective.

There are 3 types of psychotherapy that can be used to treat PTSD. These are exposure management, cognitive therapy, and anxiety management. A combination of all 3 may be used, or one individually. Each person is different in what they will respond to.

In exposure therapy, patients confront, in a safe therapeutic environment, the situations, people, and memories associated with the trauma. People with PTSD usually avoid this very thing, but by working through the trauma in this way, exposure therapy is actually very effective at healing PTSD.

Cognitive therapy helps in the process of understanding how our thoughts affect our feelings, and provides ways of shifting negative thinking. Negative thinking can perpetuate a mental prison where joy and interconnectedness is no longer felt. Changing those dynamics can provide a new framework with which to process the trauma, and allow healing to occur.

In anxiety management, skills are learnt that help one cope better with the symptoms and triggers of post traumatic stress disorder. They can help reduce the intensity of the symptoms, though they need to be practised to be effective. Anxiety management techniques can be very helpful in controlling anxiety whilst doing exposure therapy. Some techniques used include relaxation, breathing techniques, assertiveness training, and positive thinking and self talk.

References:

1. ptsdalliance.org/about_what.html

2. ptsd.factsforhealth.org/whatmeds.html

3. nimh.nih.gov/publicat/anxiety.cfm

For more articles on anxiety and depression, click here.

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Caused by Trauma – Touch Therapy and Body Psychotherapy Can Help You

Posted by in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder on August 24, 2009

It is estimated that out of 1.6 million troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan alone, nearly 300,000 have returned with some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
And those are the reported cases.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about 30 percent of men and women who have spent time in war zones, not just Iraq and Afghanistan, have experienced PTSD for varying lengths of time.

An even more alarming statistic is that nearly 7.7 million Americans have the symptoms of PTSD at any given time. Many of the PTSD sufferers have never been in an actual war zone, but PTSD has no borders. Traumatic experiences and its devastating aftereffects can happen anywhere, sometimes in the most unlikely places, e.g., in your own home or with someone you like and trust.

Signs and Symptoms of PTSD

How do you know if you are experiencing PTSD? What are the common signs and symptoms? These symptoms often resemble other psychiatric diagnoses. It is important to consult with a professional counselor, psychotherapist or physician to get an accurate diagnosis and receive appropriate treatment.

• easily startled, jittery, or a sense of being “on guard”
• feeling detached and distant from people, numb, and unable to be affectionate
• sleep problems, nightmares, sexual problems, or an inability to relax
• depression and loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities
• feeling irritable, easily angered, more aggressive than before, even violent
• difficulties with working or socializing
• flashbacks or intrusive images (sounds, smells, feelings reminiscent of the traumatic event)
• reliving the event for moments or even hours
• avoiding places and situations that bring back memories of the trauma
• survivor guilt: feeling guilty that others have died and you have lived

Treatment Methods for PTSD

• medication (e.g., anti-anxiety or anti-depressants)
• psychotherapy and group therapy
• combined medication and psychotherapy
• touch therapy, emotional release work and body psychotherapy

The most commonly recognized psychotherapy treatment is cognitive-behavioral therapy which focuses on the cognitions (thoughts in your mind) and the behaviors that result from these thoughts. Changing the thoughts will change your behavior, or, changing your behavior can change your thoughts. Another more recent therapeutic process is called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) which involves a method for balancing the right and left sides of your brain in such to actually lessen the emotional impact of traumatic memories. One of the most common prescription drugs used to treat PTSD is known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), which is also used to alleviate depression.

Less commonly recognized but extremely powerful and highly effective, is a branch of healing which includes touch therapy, somatic emotional release work, and body psychotherapy. There are many different modalities that can be extremely effective in assisting you to break through your defensive armoring and get to the root of the pain you are currently experiencing.

Some touch therapy methods, such as neuromuscular therapy, deep tissue massage, and rolfing, can be quite painful yet as the tissues release their holding patterns, emotional blockages can be released. The emotions that are released can become intense and it is important to have access, sometimes even immediately, to a skilled psychotherapist to help you through the early stages of healing. Some methods are more gentle, such as polarity therapy (which balances your energetic system) and trager (gentle rocking techniques).

Somatic emotional release work and body psychotherapy utilize psychotherapeutic techniques, body awareness and touch to help you understand why you are holding back and blocking the expression of your feelings and to facilitate expression and release of pent up emotions.

Body psychotherapy methods could be divided generally between “hard” and “soft” techniques. “Hard” techniques are those that apply direct pressure on rigid muscles or on the connective tissue that is causing muscles to be tightly held. As the pressure of the therapist’s hands directly confronts the holding patterns, there may be some discomfort as the holding is released. “Soft” techniques can be equally effective. Rather than use forceful movement and pressure, many of them emphasize light touch, often without hand movement, that encourages greater sensing or awareness of bodily feeling. Another comparison is hard techniques tend to emphasize outward expression of feeling, while soft techniques tend to emphasize inner sensing of feeling, or some would say, of energy flow. However, as always, there are exceptions. Some methods, rather than employ direct touch, emphasize body-centered awareness. Such sessions may not feature touch at all.

Clients may work standing up, sitting, or lying down. They are usually fully clothed. Some body psychotherapists will work directly with muscle tension, or with breathing. Clients may be encouraged to do specific physical actions (e.g., to move their shoulders or hips, to kick, or to hold a certain posture for an extended period of time). Meditative, mindfulness exercises, guided imagery, or some form of expressive arts (writing, dancing, drawing) may also be used. The client may be encouraged to notice the sensations in his or her body, and describe what is being felt and in what part of the body. Touch may be used when appropriate and agreed upon, but sexual touching is never permitted in any type of body psychotherapy.

Traumatic memories are often stored within body tissues, resulting in contracted musculature, inhibited breathing, startle response, sexual inhibitions, and even ticklishness. Through this powerful mind/body awareness work, body psychotherapy, clients can overcome even the most lingering traumatic memories and restore their mind and body to a state resembling their pre-traumatic state.

Dr. Erica Goodstone has helped thousands of men, women, couples, and groups to develop greater awareness of the issues in their relationships and their lives, to overcome and alleviate stressors and discords, and revitalize their relationships and their own mind-body-spirit connection. Dr. Goodstone is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Marriage Therapist and Board Certified Sex Therapist. Former professor of health and physical education for over two decades, Dr. Goodstone taught courses in health education and alternative approaches, stress management, yoga (including relaxation, breathing, meditation, guided imagery, chanting, hatha yoga postures, and yogic nutrition), as well as many different physical activity and dance courses. In addition, she has trained in various body therapy methods and somatic body psychotherapy (combining talk with touch). Her main methods are The Rubenfeld Synergy Method, Polarity Therapy, and Somatoemotional Release. Dr. Goodstone can be contacted through her web sites at http://www.DrEricaWellness.com and http://www.sexualreawakening.com

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