What is PTSD?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a disorder in which an individual encounters traumatic shocks after terrifying events. It is a mental condition that can develop within 1 month of the traumatic event and therefore needs special attention for better mental health. People facing PTSD may experience a number of things such as shocks, flashbacks, hallucinations, severe anxiety, and in the worst-case scenario, some individuals develop suicidal tendencies.

What if you do not go for treatment!

If PTSD goes untreated for an extended period of time, then it might cause disturbance in social relations and odd relationship problems with family, colleagues, and friends go in advance. Clinical psychologists recommend diagnosing PTSD in its early stages and therefore preventing the problem from getting worse. The majority of patients with PTSD aren’t even familiar with whether they have PTSD or not. Here are some of the symptoms of PTSD, and one can get a fair idea of what's going on with them.

Symptoms

The symptoms of PTSD may vary from person to person but, generally, individuals with PTSD may experience emotional imbalance, lack of concentration, change in physical and emotional well-being, insomnia, violent behavior, loss of attention, extreme guilt, and shame. These symptoms are just a few of the manifestations of PTSD, and the symptoms go a long way in one’s life if this mental disorder is not treated in time.

Symptoms may vary

PTSD symptoms vary over time in different aspects. Generally, the more reminders of the incident, the more are the symptoms. For instance, if you have been through a car accident, then any fast-speed car coming towards you puts you back in the tragic memory. Or any post on social media or in headlines reading the news of sexual assault or harassment will definitely lead the affected to the past experience. These things only add to the pain and the trauma.
Do you need therapy?

It is your doctor who can suggest whether you need therapy or not. However, by going through these tests, you can easily find whether you have got PTSD or not.

How do Therapists Conduct a PTSD Test?

A variety of assessment tools are used to identify PTSD.

1) CAPS-5

CAPS-5 is a 30 questionnaire-based standard test to identify PTSD in a patient. In fact, this test can identify for how long a disorder is persisting in a patient. Specifically, this test identifies the underlying conditions of PTSD. This information is important for the therapist for assessing the disorder in detail. With the help of this questionnaire, the therapist gets to know the severity of PTSD symptoms and the duration of symptoms. This PTSD test lasts less than an hour in a friendly and understanding environment between the therapist and the patient.

PTSD Treatment:

PTSD can be treated in two ways: medication and Psychotherapy

1) Medications

Antidepressants are used while treating PTSD, which help in controlling PTSD symptoms such as anger, mood swings, anxiety, and unhappiness. Sleep-inducing drugs are also used to suppress insomnia and nightmares.

1) Psychotherapy (Talk Therapy)

Psychotherapy, or to put it more precisely ‘Talk Therapy’ is a more effective and long-lasting form of therapy in which a patient goes in conversation with the therapist. In psychotherapy, a therapist actually educates the patient in question about the disorder and its associated symptoms. Moreover, psychotherapy also includes cognitive-behavioral therapy or CBT. Cognitive-behavioral therapy includes Exposure Therapy and Cognitive Restructuring.

a) Exposure Therapy

In exposure therapy, the patient is trained to experience and control the fear. It generally involves talking about the traumatic event and its details. Here, the intention of the therapist is to make the patient control their fear by themselves.

b) Cognitive Restructuring

Sometimes people have different views and opinions about the event that had happened and totally perceive it differently. In cognitive restructuring, the therapist tries to explain to patients very realistically and gradually change their way of thinking about it.

BetterHelp Online Therapy

BetterHelp is an online therapy providing platform. BetterHelp Therapy reviews by previous patients will reflect a true need and imperatives of a therapy. It is affordable and very pragmatic. However, BetterHelp Therapy reviews will help you understand the whole mechanism.
BetterHelp therapy has been struggling with post-traumatic disorder for a very long time and has gathered vast experience from previous patients. Betterhelp online therapy is striving hard to make these nightmares go forever and make sure that everyone is in perfect mental shape. Our licensed therapists have experience in dealing with PTSD patients with suicidal tendencies.

Conclusion

Everyone in one’s life experiences traumatic events. Some people have the tendency to overcome these events while most of the time stuck in them. A time comes when most of the patients with PTSD cannot bear the nightmares and these traumatic events haunt them frequently. Children and adults with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are more prone to PTSD and therefore need immediate attention from a licensed therapist.