Monday, October 5, 2009

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Options

With the increased prevalence of Post Traumatic stress Disorder (PTSD), there is an increasing urge to understand the post traumatic stress disorder treatment techniques that are widely used for this disorder. Amidst the few options that are available, it is important to check out the suitability and make the right choice of the therapeutic remedy to get rid of the disorder within the earliest possible time span.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is one of the very effective and powerful post traumatic stress disorder treatment techniques that can aid in combating PTSD. There are a couple of CBT procedures that have been used to treat PTSD namely Cognitive Psychotherapy and Exposure Therapy.

Cognitive psychotherapy entails having multiple sessions with a psychiatrist or a behavioral therapist, where in the patients speaks and pours out his memories at length. The therapist in turn aids him in learning the tactics that would help the patient to confront such memories with confidence. Exposure Therapy is the treatment regimen in which, the patient is exposed to the traumatic events by means of repetitive discussions about the traumatic event that the patient underwent and lessening the fear within him by making him feel secured and comfortable.

Eye Movement Decentralization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

This is a therapeutic regimen which lays emphasis on the distractions that constitute the eye, hands and body movements while talking about the traumatic events to the patient.

Medications

Taking medicines as a part of post traumatic stress disorder treatment has been reported to be effective when combined with behavioral therapies. The medicines that are usually prescribed for PTSD mainly constitute the SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), which are the popular anti depressants that can bring in tranquility by lessening the feeling of anxiety and worry. Sertraline and Paroxetine are the couple of FDA approved SSRIs that are being used for treating PTSD.

Other medications that are given to PTSD patients include Prazonin, Atypical and Tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline and mirtazapine. Mono AmineOxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) like phenelzine also aid in treating PTSD. Mood stabilizers such as carbamazepine are yet another class of drugs that are resorted to for the PTSD treatment.

The Challenge: Getting it Right

If you see that you have post traumatic stress disorder symptoms, you cannot afford to overlook them just because you are hesitant to discuss the same with a therapist. The best thing that you can do is to talk to the beloved one who is very close to you. This would relax you and help you seek the advice of a therapist. Taking somebody into confidence and confiding everything first is a great way of initiating post traumatic stress disorder treatment. Further to this, fix up an appointment with a reputed therapist and do your best to get the disorder treated quickly without much of agony.

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