Living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be much like a prison as the condition can affect almost every aspect of your life. If you want to break free, there are solutions and we discuss those here.
Unfortunately, trauma is fairly common among Americans — approximately 60% of men and 50% of women experience at least one trauma during their lives. For many, the event(s) can have a long-lasting effect, leading to a psychological disorder known as post-traumatic stress disorder, which is commonly known as PTSD. In fact, about 8 million people in the United States have PTSD at any given time throughout each year.
At the Institute for Advanced Psychiatry, Dr. Diana Ghelber and our team understand the effects that PTSD can have on those who suffer from the disorder, often greatly limiting their abilities to function normally. Thankfully, we offer several effective approaches that can help you move on from your trauma to lead a happy and productive life.
Here’s a look at what PTSD is and how we can help you find relief.
PTSD has long been associated with veterans of war, even earning the name “shell shock.” While soldiers are certainly more likely to experience trauma than civilians, PTSD can develop in anyone who’s experienced or witnessed trauma, regardless of their age, gender, or race.
While trauma may mean different things to different people, the most common causes of PTSD include:
Of course, not everyone develops PTSD after a trauma, but for those who do, we typically look for symptoms that fall into the following four categories:
The severity of PTSD can range from a mild nuisance to a debilitating condition that forces the person to retreat entirely.
After an extensive physical exam and psychological evaluation to determine whether you’re suffering from PTSD, and to what degree, our goal is to help release you from your trauma, which we can do with one or more of the following:
Also called talk therapy, this type of psychotherapy gives you the opportunity to process the trauma with us as we discuss the event, the effects it had on your life, and how you can move forward by reframing it.
If your PTSD is severe, we can explore whether medications may help you with some of the more severe symptoms, such as anxiety and depression.
This therapy uses the drug ketamine to offset treatment-resistant conditions like depression. We administer the therapy in our office and many of our patients experience near-immediate relief from their PTSD symptoms.
If PTSD has a hold on your life, please contact our office in Fort Worth, Texas, to set up an appointment.
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