Archives for June 2013

Tips on coping with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

June 6, 2013 by 2 Comments

1: Reach out to others for support

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can make you feel disconnected from others. You may be tempted to withdraw from social activities and your loved ones. But it’s important to stay connected to life and the people who care about you. Support from other people is vital to your recovery from PTSD, so ask your close friends and family members for their help during this tough time.

Also consider joining a support group for survivors of the same type of trauma you experienced. Support groups for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can help you feel less isolated and alone. They also provide invaluable information on how to cope with symptoms and work towards recovery. If you can’t find a support group in your area, look for an online group.

2: Avoid alcohol and drugs

When you’re struggling with difficult emotions and traumatic memories, you may be tempted to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs. But while alcohol or drugs may temporarily make you feel better, they make post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) worse in the long run. Substance use worsens many symptoms of PTSD, including emotional numbing, social isolation, anger, and depression. It also interferes with treatment and can add to problems at home and in your relationships.

3: Challenge your sense of helplessness

Overcoming your sense of helplessness is key to overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma leaves you feeling powerless and vulnerable. It’s important to remind yourself that you have strengths and coping skills that can get you through tough times.

4: Spend time in nature

Research suggests that pursuing outdoor activities like hiking, camping, mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and skiing may help people cope with PTSD symptoms and transition back into civilian life.

The relaxation, seclusion, and peace that come with being in the natural world provide the soothing experience for people with PTSD.  Focusing on strenuous outdoor activities can also help challenge your sense of helplessness and help your nervous system become “unstuck” and move on from the traumatic event.

5: Individual Therapy

Therapy is the most effective way to overcome symptoms of PTSD.  Rather than avoiding the trauma and any reminder of it, therapy will encourage you to recall and process the emotions and sensations you felt during the original event and to see these memories from a different perspective. In addition to offering an outlet for emotions, therapy for PTSD will also help restore your sense of control, increase self-esteem and reduce the powerful hold the memory of the trauma has on your life.

In treatment for PTSD, you will:

  • Explore your thoughts and feelings about the trauma
  • Work through feelings of guilt, self-blame, and mistrust
  • Learn how to cope with and control intrusive memories
  • Address problems PTSD has caused in your life relationships

Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy (EMDR) is known to be one of the most effective ways to resolve PTSD symptoms.  EMDR involves the combination of cognitive therapy with the bilateral stimulation of the brain. This treatment allows the brain to “unfreeze” the brain’s information processing system, which is interrupted in times of extreme stress.   Dr. Elyashkevich received extensive training and certification in EMDR.

If you would like help with overcoming symptoms of PTSD, please call me, Dr. Maya, on (818) 809-9519 for a free 10-minute phone consultation.

Filed Under: Anxiety Tips, PTSD Tagged With: , , , , ,

What is PTSD?

June 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment

What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop following a traumatic event that threatens your safety or makes you feel helpless. The event(s) may involve actual or threatened death or serious injury or threat to the physical integrity of self or others.  The person experiences intense fear, helplessness or horror.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can affect those who personally experience the catastrophe, those who witness it, and those who pick up the pieces afterwards, including emergency workers and law enforcement officers. It can even occur in the friends or family members of those who went through the actual trauma.

PTSD develops differently from person to person. While the symptoms of PTSD most commonly develop in the hours or days following the traumatic event, it can sometimes take weeks, months, or even years before they appear.

Traumatic events that can lead to PTSD include:

  • War
  • Natural disasters
  • Car or plane crashes
  • Terrorist attacks
  • Sudden death of a loved one
  • Rape
  • Kidnapping
  • Assault
  • Sexual or physical abuse
  • Childhood neglect
 

The difference between PTSD and a normal response to trauma:

The traumatic events that lead to post-traumatic stress disorder are usually so overwhelming and frightening that they would upset anyone. Following a traumatic event, almost everyone experiences at least some of the symptoms of PTSD. It’s very common to have bad dreams, feel fearful, and find it difficult to stop thinking about what happened. These are normal reactions to abnormal events.

For most people, however, these symptoms are short-lived. They may last for several days or weeks, but they gradually disappear. But if you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the symptoms don’t decrease. The symptoms persist for over one month.

While everyone experiences PTSD differently, there are three main types of symptoms:

  1. Re-experiencing the traumatic event
  2. Avoiding reminders of the trauma
  3. Increased anxiety and emotional arousal

 

Symptoms of PTSD: Re-experiencing the traumatic event:

  • Intrusive, upsetting memories of the event
  • Flashbacks (acting or feeling like the event is happening again)
  • Nightmares (either of the event or of other frightening things)
  • Feelings of intense distress when reminded of the trauma
  • Intense physical reactions to reminders of the event (e.g. pounding heart, rapid breathing, nausea, muscle tension, sweating)

Symptoms of PTSD: Avoidance and numbing:

  • Avoiding activities, places, thoughts, or feelings that remind you of the trauma
  • Inability to remember important aspects of the trauma
  • Loss of interest in activities and life in general
  • Feeling detached from others and emotionally numb
  • Sense of a limited future (you don’t expect to live a normal life span, get married, have a career)

Symptoms of PTSD: Increased anxiety and emotional arousal:

  • Difficulty falling or staying asleep
  • Irritability or outbursts of anger
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Hypervigilance (on constant “red alert”)
  • Feeling jumpy and easily startled

Other common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD):

  • Anger and irritability
  • Guilt, shame, or self-blame
  • Substance abuse
  • Feelings of mistrust and betrayal
  • Depression and hopelessness
  • Suicidal thoughts and feelings
  • Feeling alienated and alone
  • Physical aches and pains

If you would like help with overcoming symptoms of PTSD, please call me, Dr. Maya, on (818) 809-9519 for a free 10-minute phone consultation.

Filed Under: Anxiety Tips