PTSD

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) usually occurs when people have witnessed or experienced a traumatic event.

• People with PTSD experience disturbing thoughts and emotions about the incident long after it has occurred.
• Symptoms might include nightmares, flashbacks, reliving the event, fear, sadness, anger, and feeling detached from others.
• They might avoid people or situations that remind them of the traumatic event and have strong negative reactions to accidental touches, loud noises, etc.
• To be diagnosed with PTSD, you must have direct or indirect exposure to a traumatic incident. For example, direct exposure could be witnessing a violent death, while indirect exposure could be hearing about a case of child abuse. Professionals like police officers and doctors who are repeatedly exposed to trauma may suffer from second-hand PTSD.

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PTSD symptoms can be categorized into several types, including:

• Intrusion: Intrusive negative thoughts like repeated memories, disturbing dreams, and recurring flashbacks—reliving the traumatic event.
• Avoidance: Avoiding anything that reminds them of the traumatic event, avoiding discussions about it, etc.
• Altered Cognition and Mood: Negative feelings and thoughts leading to distorted beliefs about oneself and others, such as “I am bad” or “I am not good enough.” This can lead to feelings of detachment, moodiness, frustration, anger, guilt, etc.
• Change in Reactivity: Includes angry outbursts, constant irritation, cautious or reckless behavior, heightened alertness, and being easily startled.

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been proven to help reduce trauma by addressing and altering unhealthy associations and thought patterns related to traumatic events.

• CBT helps change associations with trauma, such as linking safe reminders (e.g., news stories) with negative meanings (“this is a dangerous world”) and fear responses.
• It encourages re-evaluating your thinking and assumptions to identify and alter unhelpful patterns that might trigger you.
• Unhelpful thought patterns or ‘distortions’ include overgeneralizing bad outcomes, jumping to conclusions, and expecting catastrophic results.
• The goal of CBT is to transform these distortions into healthier ways of thinking.
• To reduce avoidance and maladaptive behavior, exposure to trauma reminders or associated emotions is used. While this can be painful initially, controlled exposure helps regain a sense of control and confidence as part of the healing process.

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CBT offers several key benefits for those dealing with trauma, including:

• Learning how to live with and heal from experiencing a traumatic event.
• Gaining self-confidence and control through careful and controlled exposure to the trauma.
• Getting tools to unlearn avoidance and maladaptive behaviors and convert them into effective behaviors.
• Identifying cognitive distortions, or unhealthy thought patterns, to understand how they negatively affect your life.
• Healing from the trauma and realizing that it does not define you or your life.

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