PTSD or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, is a serious potentially debilitating condition that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a natural disaster, serious accident, terrorist incident, sudden death of a loved one, war, violent personal assault such as rape, or other life-threatening events.
Many people who go through traumatic events have difficulty adjusting and coping for a while, but they don’t have PTSD. With time and good self-care, they usually get better. But if the symptoms get worse or last for months or even years and interfere with your functioning, you may have PTSD.
PTSD symptoms usually start soon after the traumatic event. But for some people, they may not happen until months or years after the trauma. Symptoms may come and go over many years. So, you should keep track of your symptoms and talk to someone you trust about them.
Counseling is advised for individuals experiencing the following symptoms:
- Behavioral: agitation, irritability, hostility, hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior, or social isolation
- Mood: inability to feel pleasure, guilt, or loneliness
- Psychological: flashback, fear, severe anxiety, or mistrust
- Sleep: insomnia or nightmares
- Also common: emotional detachment or unwanted thoughts
How does PTSD Counseling work?
Typically, the individual will persistently try to avoid all thoughts, emotions and discussion of the traumatic event and may even experience amnesia in association with their stressor. However, the trauma never fully goes away, leaving the individual to repeatedly experience the events through intrusive flashbacks and nightmares. In PTSD Counseling, we teach that PTSD knows no discrimination, leaving men, women and children of all ethnicities, heritages and backgrounds susceptible to developing the condition.
It’s common for alcohol and drug abuse to co-occur with PTSD as a form of self-diagnosis. Substance abuse prolongs PTSD Counseling and treatment, as drug and alcohol abuse increases anxiety rate. Therefore, the abuse must first be treated before any real healing for the stress disorder can occur and resolving these issues can bring a marked improvement in the individual’s health both mentally and physically.
If you would like to set up an appointment for PTSD Counseling fill out our contact form and we will get back to you shortly.