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Treatment Options for PTSD

Treatment Options for PTSD. Ms. Carmelitano. Biomedical Treatment. Biomedical treatments are used when PTSD is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain Antidepressants and Tranquilizers are typically perscribed Valium and Xanax are popular tranquilizers

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Treatment Options for PTSD

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  1. Treatment Options for PTSD Ms. Carmelitano

  2. Biomedical Treatment • Biomedical treatments are used when PTSD is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain • Antidepressants and Tranquilizers are typically perscribed • Valium and Xanax are popular tranquilizers • They help regulate the neurotransmitter: GABA which regulates anxiety levels • inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, it sends a signal to other cells that subdues them.

  3. Biomedical Treatment • Antidepressants: prescribed because many people with PTSD also suffer from depression • Marshall (1994) • Improvements in depression contribute to improvement in PTSD – regardless of how the PTSD is treated itself

  4. Cognitive Treatment • CBT: • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy • CBT works with PSTD when the flashbacks are related to cognitive processing • FOA (1986) Exposure therapy and psycho-education • Give the patient information about PTSD and then expose the sufferer to the traumatic event by asking them to describe it over and over again • The goal is to make the patient understand that the trauma is over, and it is safe to talk about it • People suffering from PTSD try to avoid the reminders of the trauma, this will help them overcome this block

  5. Foa Goals of Treating PTSD • 1. Create a safe environment that shows that the trauma cannot hurt them • 2. Show that remembering the trauma is not equivalent to experiencing it again. • 3. Show that anxiety is alleviated over time • 4. Acknowledge that experiencing PTSD symptoms does not lead to loss of control.

  6. Keane 1992 – critic of CBT • Argues that patients may become initially worse in the initial stages of therapy. • Therapists may also become upset when hearing about the patients experiences

  7. The Virtual Iraq • Albert Rizzo • Used virtual reality to allow soldiers to re-experience the horrors of war • Therapists can manipulate the variables making them relevant to each individual • Flooding • Over-exposure to stressful events • This is done to show the patient that stress-reactions will fade out due to habituation • This tendency to have decreased responsiveness to something you are repeatedly exposed to • Power of the cues that trigger the flashbacks will diminish

  8. Traumatology • A field of psychology developed to help those suffering from a traumatic event • Crisis intervention is put in place with the goal of preventing PTSD • Psychologists will go to witnesses of a traumatic event, and begin the “healing” process right away • However the majority of people that experience a traumatic event never experience PTSD, so its usefulness is up for debate

  9. Mayou et al (2000) • Argues that crisis intervention may do more harm than good • People are best served by the social support of their family when they experience a traumatic event • Strangers forcing a witness to immediately re-live the event may intrusive • It may cause them to lay more concrete memories (through creating a narrative)

  10. Testimonial Psychotherapy • A means of helping patients overcome PTSD through deactivating the “networks of fear.” • It is based on the idea that collective traumatization is not as significant as individual traumatization • Meaning, when a person does not feel they have experienced the event alone, they are less likely to develop PTSD

  11. Testimonial Psychotherapy • Participants are asked to make an oral history to collect, study , and disseminate the survivors memories • An oral history is a shared history that is recorded through speech rather than written down • This is meant to give meaning and purpose to the experience and the survivor (remember Stuker et al 1995) • This allows the survivor to give meaning to the event and to their survival

  12. Weine (1998) • Procedure: • Participants: Bosnian refugees diagnosed with the PTSD symptom scale • Testimonials were conducted in Bosnian and translated into English and then back *back translation) • Victims of the Bosnian genocide worked together to discuss the events they witnessed, and the meaning it had to them as an individual and to them as a group • Findings: • The rate of PTSD decreased from 100% to 75% of the participants • After two months it had decreased to 70% • After 6 months it had decreased to 53%

  13. Friedman and Schnurr (1996) • Aim: Analyze the role of group therapy in treating PTSD • Procedure: • Took a sample of 325 veterans of the Vietnam War and placed them into one of three groups: • Psycho educational groups which taught: anger management, social anxiety management, conflict resolution • Individual trauma-focused therapy which involved exposure to traumatic memories, cognitive restructuring and teaching coping skills • Control group: did not engage in discussion about the trauma • Findings: • 27% of those in the individual therapy reported relief from symptoms • 17% of those in the group therapy reported relief from the symptoms • Both did better than those in the control

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