What is it?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (post-traumatic syndrome, “Vietnam syndrome,” “Afghan syndrome”, etc.) is a severe mental condition, a kind of anxiety disorder (neurosis) arising from single or repetitive traumatic situation.
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What are the symptoms?
Symptoms
By the criteria of DSM-IV, PTSD has the following signs:
A. The individual was under the influence of the traumatic event, and:
- The individual was a party, witness or confronted with an event (events) that involve death or impending death, serious injury physical integrity of other people (or their own).
- The response of an individual includes intense fear, helplessness or horror.
Note: In children the reaction may be replaced by disorganized behavior.
B. traumatic event is constantly repeated in experiences, namely:
- Recurrent and intrusive traumatic event playback, images, thoughts, causing severe emotional distress.
NOTE: Young children can permanently play games in which themes of injury can appear constantly.
- Repetitive heavy dreams about the event.
Note: Children may experience horrifying night dreams, nightmares.
- Feeling as if the traumatic event over and over again reminded (namely, the feeling of “coming to life” experience, illusions, hallucinations and dissociative episodes – effects of flashback, including those that appear in a state of intoxication).
Note: Children may have recurring behavior specific to the injury.
- Intensive difficult experiences that were caused by external or internal situation, reminiscent of the traumatic event.
- Physiological reactivity in situations that outwardly or inwardly symbolize aspects of the traumatic event.
C. Permanent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, emotional reactions and blocking (which there was no before injury). Determined by the presence of three (or more) of the following symptomatic factors:
- Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings or conversations associated with the trauma.
- Efforts to avoid actions, places or people that remind of the trauma.
- Inability to recall important aspects of the trauma (psychogenic amnesia).
- Noticeably reduced interest in participating in previously important activities.
- Feelings of detachment and estrangement from other people.
- Feeling lack of prospects in the future (eg, lack of expectations in career, marriage, birth of children, lives in general).
D. Reduced expression of affect (eg. Persistent symptoms of increasing arousal (not observed injury). Defined by the presence of at least two of the following symptoms.
- The difficulty with falling asleep or poor sleep (eg, early awakening).
- Irritability or outbursts of anger.
- The difficulty focusing.
- An increased level of alertness, state of constant expectation of danger.
- Exaggerated startle response.
E. Duration of flow disturbance (symptoms in criteria B, C and D) is more than 1 month.
F. The disorder causes clinically severe emotional condition or disorder in social, occupational or other major spheres of life.eg, inability to sense love).
The following psychological manifestations are also associated with emotional trauma:
- Irritability
- Foolish or self-destructive behavior
- Increased alertness
- exaggerated reactions to external stimuli
- Difficulty with concentration
- Sleep disorders
- Dissociation, denial, numbing, detachment,
- Abuse of alcohol and other psychoactive drugs, as an attempt to protect against intolerable feelings.
The causes of this illness
- Military action
- Natural disasters (earthquake, etc.)
- Crash accident
- Physical violence
- The threat of death
- The death of a loved one
- Any extreme event which had traumatic impact on the psyche of the subject
What the patient should know about early detection and treatment of PTSD:
(1) The current status of the patient is a task for a skilled psychotherapist, not to do myself, or the hope “that all will pass away itself”.
(2) Long-term stress resulting from a traumatic event – Psychotherapy helps complete the event and take the patient out of the stressogenic environment; time to build relationships; help the patient in making decisions, planning actions.
(3) The manifestation of unbearable conditions: overflow of feelings and images – Psychotherapy helps to lower threshold of sensitivity to the usual transfer of memories and experiences
(4) Sticking in uncontrolled state or a state of avoidance – Psychotherapy helps the patient to re-experience trauma and its consequences, and to establish control over memories and recall easily transfer arbitrary. During treatment the patient receives assistance in structuring and full expression of emotions; the increasing trust in the relationship with the patient in the study of trauma goes deeper level until its final elimination as “injury.”
(5) The ability to perceive and maintain traumatic memories – Psychotherapy promotes patient’s association processing and related emotions related to the image of “I” and images of others.
(6) The capacity for independent thought and processing of sense – Sign completion and success of psychotherapy.
What is the prognosis for the treatment or inadequate treatment?
- Growing of physical and psychological pain
- Depression
- Psychosis
- Alcoholism
- Drug abuse, substance abuse
- Anti-social behavior
- Suicidal behavior and suicide.
What is our clinic can help and how to treat
An innovative integrated approach to treatment
- Psychotherapeutic effects,
- Drug effects on impaired vascular system of the brain and body as a whole,
- Hardware neurodynamics effects on the central and autonomic nervous system.
Psychotherapeutic treatment of PTSD impacts focused on how to teach the patient skills to overcome psychotrauma. Rather than avoid traumatic events and any memories of her treatment of PTSD, by contrast, focuses on active recall and working through the emotions and feelings that were experienced at the time of traumatic events.
Integrated treatment of PTSD is not only to provide freedom of emotions, which had been closed and kept inside, but it is based on the normalization of blood supply to the brain to help the victim to recover a sense of total control over his own psycho-emotional state and reduce the intensity of exposure of traumatic events through harmonization of bioelectric activity of the central nervous system, displacement of the problem intangible marks.
Psychotherapeutic treatment of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) includes the following steps:
- Study the thoughts and feelings of the victim in relation to traumatic events;
- Replacement of guilt, self-blame and mistrust on self-establish stance;
- Training management and control techniques for intrusive, unwanted memories;
- Solving problems that triggered PTSD in the life of the victim and his \ her relationship.
- Reprogramming cognitive-behavioral patterns.
The therapies used for the treatment of PTSD in our clinic:
– Warning
– Psychological briefing
– Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for PTSD
– Exposition therapy
– Cognitive-Behavioral therapy
– Therapy-release of trauma
– Author technique “paradise after the injury”
– Desensibilization and study eye movements (DPRO)
– Somatic Therapy injury (for Peter Levine)
– Management stress
– Overcoming Anxiety
– Family therapy and others.
Result of integrated approach in the treatment of PTSD is 100% result in the achievement of experts determined by the patient and within 1-2 goals and in some cases three courses of therapy:
Benefits of treatment in the clinic through innovative integrated approach:
-medicinal treatment aimed at restoring brain
-neurodynamic correction or stimulation of the brain
-prevention of aggravation and recurrence of the manifestations of PTSD
– get rid of traumatic memories
– ensuring full reintegration into family, social and professional life
– receiving traumatic experience is perceived as the possibility of positive change