What
helps with PTSD: Each person is different, has different reactions,
different beliefs, different beliefs about themselves, about whether
they are bad or good, whether they can be helped. There is no one size
fits all PTSD treatment.
Do people need individual treatment or
groups? Groups are good in that other vets won't let you blame yourself
for things that you may be blaming yourself for.
There are various form of psychotherapy:
DBT: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy designed for suicidal people with
"Borderline Personality Disorder" and very effective for people who
can't tolerate their own feelings of pain.
ACT: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in which you accept that you have problems and commit to work on change.
CBT: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: several kinds, some of which have
huge drop out rates and should be preceded by DBT. There is a version
for Trauma Related Guilt developed by Edward Kubaney.
EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing which helps some people completely and rapidly and does not help others.
TIR: Traumatic Incident Reduction, a short term very effective therapy
which is not commonly used because it cannot be done in 50 minute hours.
It takes as long as it takes.
EFT: Susan Johnson's Emotionally Focused Therapy a couples therapy for PTSD couples.
Sand Tray therapy where you set up the event and see things you didn't notice at the time...
Other types of help:
EFT: the tapping kind based on meridians in the body. Works for some people.
Yoga: a way to learn to modulate arousal.
Meditation: ditto.
Twelve Step programs: don't be fooled by the unethical research which
says AA works no better than anything else, because the studies are
always of court ordered people who do not have the one requirement for
membership, the DESIRE to stop drinking. If you have that desire to
stop, the 12 step program for your problem will help, whether it is
alcohol, drugs, food, sex, gambling, etc. If you understand the symptoms
of PTSD and know you are not going crazy when they come back, it helps.
I wrote a pamphlet you can read at patiencpress.com, "An Explanation of
PTSD for 12 Steppers: When I get sober I feel crazy." I also have a 12
Step Format for vets and one for Trauma Survivors. All free at my site.
Somatic therapies:
Pat Ogden's Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Babette Rothschild's Somatic Trauma Therapy
Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing
There are many more. Each of these can be googled.
More tomorrow
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