Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
I will try my best to educate you on the condition i have been diagnosed with.
Okay, in brief-a very simple description with out technical jargon. sensory information (through sight, sound, sense, smell or touch) comes in to the brain . If there has been a traumatic experience, your brain will have stored all the information it could have done to ensure that you respond fast in future to such stimulation. This means it is stored in your amygdala (which will then activate your fight, flight, fear or flop reaction). The reactions in the amygdala are activated as life preserving responses. These occur faster than you can engage in thought and they are very useful responses, unless it begins to respond to things that trigger information which is stuck as a potential threat, but has actually passed. Normal memories of events (sad, happy, everyday) get processed in to the hippocampus, where we can retrieve them or pull them out at will. However, because the traumatic experiences have felt potentially life threatening, the brain has not allowed them to be processed in the normal way as they have needed to remain in the amygdala (so the fight, flight, freeze, flop reactions can be triggered to save you). This is why sensory triggers cause flashbacks and why we have intrusions. In order to process experiences from the amygdala to the hippocampus, the brain has to be 'calmed' and the individual needs to have rehearsed remaining in a calm zone (the 'window of tolerance'). Then events need to be helped to be processed by a trained therapist (facilitator) using various techniques. The brain can be calmed and experiences processed through EMDR, and trauma focussed CBT. This is why other forms of therapy may be less effective with PTSD. Thank you for this information Carly
It traumatised as a child it's more complex/ chronic.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091208132237
The scientific explanation can be found here.
http://www.affective-science.org/pubs/2011/suvak-barrett-2011.pdf
How the brain deals with it.
http://www.psycheducation.org/emotion/amygdala.htm
PTSD Guidleines •“You should not usually be offered treatments on their own that have not been designed or properly tested for people who have experienced trauma. •These include relaxation therapy, hypnotherapy, supportive therapy, nondirective therapy, systemic psychotherapy and psychodynamic therapy.” •“You should normally see your doctor between 8 and 12 times (at least once a week). •Each meeting should usually last for 1 hour, but when you talk about what happened to you, the meeting should usually last for about an hour and half. •The same doctor should see you for all of your meetings.” “Usually, it is important that you receive most of your treatment on your own with the healthcare professional. But your healthcare professional may suggest that members of your family or carers are involved in your treatment if he or she thinks it may help. This should be agreed with you before it happens.” “Healthcare professionals should tell you (and a member of your family if appropriate) that only psychological treatments that are designed for PTSD should be used to treat PTSD. There is little evidence at the moment to show that other treatments (such as play therapy, art therapy and family therapy) can help young people with PTSD.” “When PTSD sufferers request other forms of psychological treatment (for example, supportive therapy/non-directive therapy, hypnotherapy, psychodynamic therapy or systemic psychotherapy), they should be informed that there is as yet no convincing evidence for a clinically important effect of these treatments on PTSD.”
Nice guidelines fo PTSD
http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG026fullguideline.pdf
http://www.gserve.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG026NICEguideline.pdf
Okay, in brief-a very simple description with out technical jargon. sensory information (through sight, sound, sense, smell or touch) comes in to the brain . If there has been a traumatic experience, your brain will have stored all the information it could have done to ensure that you respond fast in future to such stimulation. This means it is stored in your amygdala (which will then activate your fight, flight, fear or flop reaction). The reactions in the amygdala are activated as life preserving responses. These occur faster than you can engage in thought and they are very useful responses, unless it begins to respond to things that trigger information which is stuck as a potential threat, but has actually passed. Normal memories of events (sad, happy, everyday) get processed in to the hippocampus, where we can retrieve them or pull them out at will. However, because the traumatic experiences have felt potentially life threatening, the brain has not allowed them to be processed in the normal way as they have needed to remain in the amygdala (so the fight, flight, freeze, flop reactions can be triggered to save you). This is why sensory triggers cause flashbacks and why we have intrusions. In order to process experiences from the amygdala to the hippocampus, the brain has to be 'calmed' and the individual needs to have rehearsed remaining in a calm zone (the 'window of tolerance'). Then events need to be helped to be processed by a trained therapist (facilitator) using various techniques. The brain can be calmed and experiences processed through EMDR, and trauma focussed CBT. This is why other forms of therapy may be less effective with PTSD. Thank you for this information Carly
It traumatised as a child it's more complex/ chronic.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091208132237
The scientific explanation can be found here.
http://www.affective-science.org/pubs/2011/suvak-barrett-2011.pdf
How the brain deals with it.
http://www.psycheducation.org/emotion/amygdala.htm
PTSD Guidleines •“You should not usually be offered treatments on their own that have not been designed or properly tested for people who have experienced trauma. •These include relaxation therapy, hypnotherapy, supportive therapy, nondirective therapy, systemic psychotherapy and psychodynamic therapy.” •“You should normally see your doctor between 8 and 12 times (at least once a week). •Each meeting should usually last for 1 hour, but when you talk about what happened to you, the meeting should usually last for about an hour and half. •The same doctor should see you for all of your meetings.” “Usually, it is important that you receive most of your treatment on your own with the healthcare professional. But your healthcare professional may suggest that members of your family or carers are involved in your treatment if he or she thinks it may help. This should be agreed with you before it happens.” “Healthcare professionals should tell you (and a member of your family if appropriate) that only psychological treatments that are designed for PTSD should be used to treat PTSD. There is little evidence at the moment to show that other treatments (such as play therapy, art therapy and family therapy) can help young people with PTSD.” “When PTSD sufferers request other forms of psychological treatment (for example, supportive therapy/non-directive therapy, hypnotherapy, psychodynamic therapy or systemic psychotherapy), they should be informed that there is as yet no convincing evidence for a clinically important effect of these treatments on PTSD.”
Nice guidelines fo PTSD
http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG026fullguideline.pdf
http://www.gserve.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG026NICEguideline.pdf
