Most people experience traumatic events and most individuals recover well given time and positive social supports. For some individuals, the traumatic event is on going and they struggle to move on from the experience. 

 

Symptoms of PTSD:

• For a diagnosis symptoms are present for more than one month and significantly distress the person interfering with work, study and relationships. 

• Re-experiencing the event through images, flashbacks or nightmares related to the event, Feeling as though the event is recurring even when it is not. 

• Avoiding people, places, thoughts, activities related to the event. Feeling emotionally flat, losing interest in activities usually enjoyed and feeling disconnected from friends and family. 

• Persistent negative thoughts about self, others and the world. Having distorted views about the causes and consequences of the event. 

• Feeling irritable, angry, over alert, having difficulties concentration and either struggling to fall asleep or staying asleep. 

 

Treatment for PTSD:

• Cognitive Therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD) aims to adjust the excessively negative judgements, unhelpful thoughts and problematic behaviours the individual has developed. 

• Prolonged Exposure (PE) is when the individual is supported to gradually face the memories from the trauma and assisting the individual to change the way they think and feel about the traumatic event. Individuals are supported to develop healthy coping skills through education, breathing techniques, exposure to triggering situations and cognitive processing. 

• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is when the therapist guides the individual through images, thoughts and bodily reaction linked with the traumatic event while using eye movements or bilateral stimulation. The premise is the person is able to process the event and integrate it back into long term memory. 

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) the individual is asked to identify several unhelpful thoughts and beliefs and replace them with more realistic thoughts and beliefs. This is an adaptation from cognitive approaches.