Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is a mental health condition, which is usually triggered by an unfortunate event experienced or witnessed by the affected patient in the past. The symptoms of this condition are flashbacks, nightmares and extreme anxiety. The patient also thinks about the event in an uncontrolled manner.
PTSD is a serious mental health condition that can damage the affected person's personality to a great extent. Therefore, the person should be given proper treatment at the earliest. There are various treatment methods for PTSD that can help you in changing how you think about a traumatic event. The treatment options that can be used have been mentioned below:
Counselling:
There are different forms of counselling for treating PTSD which include:
- Cognitive therapy: It is a therapy where you learn how to change your thought patterns regarding the trauma and allow you to eliminate unnecessary fears.
- Exposure therapy: It involves talking about the trauma over and over again until the fear departs.
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: It is a process where you are made to focus on several forms of distractions like sounds and hand movements while you think about the trauma. A good therapist is very important to bring positive changes in your life by means of counseling therapy. You require a therapist who will listen to whatever you have to say and guide you through everything to make you feel better.
SSRI medicine:
SSRI or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor is a form of antidepressant medicine, which helps you with your sadness and tension. There are certain medicines that are really effective and can be prescribed by your doctor depending on the condition.
Other forms of treatment:
There are several other types of medicines and procedures that can be used for treating PTSD. They include the following:
- There are other counselling forms, which include group therapy, brief psychodynamic psychotherapy and family therapy.
- There are other medicines as well for the treatment of PTSD. They include tricyclic antidepressants and atypical antidepressants.
- Monoamine oxidase inhibitors like isocarboxazid can also be used for curing PTSD.
- Certain mood stabilizers can be taken along with the medicines such as carbamazepine and lithium.
- Several antipsychotics, which include risperidone can be used to tackle symptoms such as flashbacks and sleeplessness.
- Another medicine known as prazosin is also used for dealing with nightmares and sleep disorders caused by PTSD. All kinds of medicines for the treatment of PTSD should be taken only after being prescribed by a doctor.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a serious mental health condition in which a patient suffers from continuous negative thoughts regarding a traumatic event which has happened in the past. This condition may give rise to other health problems, and immediate treatment is recommended. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a psychiatrist.
