PTSD and the TRUTH of Healing

PTSD the Truth and the Healing Process of it All

When someone is exposed to a particularly horrifying event, or an exceptionally threatening Event they are at risk of developing PTSD.  While PTSD is a natural reaction to trauma in some people, in others Post Traumatic Stress does not develop.  In the 3% of the population that DOES have PTSD at any one time (1.9-8.8% of the population has a risk of PTSD in their lifetime), physical ailments often manifest with the extreme and repeated strain that comes with prolonged stress.  Poor physical health, psychiatric co-morbidity, increased suicide risk and the considerable economic burden for the care takers of the suffers of this horrible reaction to trauma that literally destroys the lives of those who suffer with it.

But there is hope!  Many PTSD sufferers have found relief in psychotherapies, medications and self-help, but most found relief with a combination of 2 or more of these programs.  Some of the therapies that have been found to help patients make headway into healing and complete recovery are:

Exposure Therapy:

Following a written or verbal narrative patients are encouraged to recount the traumatic event, feel the fear and still KNOW that they are safe. 

Cognitive Therapy:

Identify cognitive modifications the led to an over estimation of the current risk.

Modifying beliefs and behavior during trauma and the patients’ interpretation of those behaviors, including guilt and shame.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR):

Standardized trauma processing procedure using bilateral physical stimulation and hypnosis to integrate the targeted event as an adaptive, contextualized memory.

I have created a self help curriculum for all interested, I will be putting my website together and launching my first web series in the next 4 months! Some medications may be needed for anxiety and depression prevention, and it should be noted that the most patients found greater relief when combining treatment with medication and therapy with self-help.

I know I have dropped a ton of information on you and not a lot of personal experience, so if you are still with me here goes:

I was abused as a kid, so I overcame what is currently being called Complex PTSD, but I also was sexually assaulted when I was a young teenager by someone close to me.  When I had to go to court and really be presented with all the facts of the situation, I was overwhelmed all over again.  I have put in years of training my brain to simply survive in the world, to trust people and to function at an age appropriate level.  I had many diagnoses over the years, anxiety, depression and more, but I am standing here today to tell you that a medication free, fun and trust filled life where love is first and fear is last is possible!  Good physical and mental health are not goals so unattainable that survival must come before them, but in fact the very beginning to survival and learning to thrive beyond any and all traumas in our lives.  Maybe being an optimist would help, but I prefer to be a realist.  The work is harrowing, the pain is real and the life that you have waiting to be created by you is right there and the brush is within reach, so the choice is quite simple: are you going to paint the first stroke, or watch your canvas age?  It is up to you, and every step you take will determine the strokes you put onto your canvas.  Don’t worry though, because you can always reset your mind, start a new painting and create the life you always desired!  Take the first step today and start researching how you can begin to heal!

Take it from me, there is a better way to live and you are only 1 decision away from scrapping your old life full of victim-hood, pain, regret, self-hatred, self-blame and shame and choosing to live an empowered, whole, complete and love filled life where fear cant stop you and anger doesn’t destroy everything you touch!