Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CBT)

In the span of a year, 3.6 percent of American adults ( 5.2 million ) will be affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder ). PTSD is a mental health problem that people have the chance to develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event such as; combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault ( “PTSD: National Center for PTSD” ). PTSD wasn’t added to the manual for mental disorders until 1980 by the American Psychiatric Association ( “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder's Effect on U.S. Veterans Explored on CBS Radio News." ). “PTSD was also known as “Shell Shock” during both World Wars and the Vietnam War”(“Post-traumatic Stress Disorder's Effect on U.S. Veterans Explored …show more content…
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a form of psychotherapy, is the most effective treatment for PTSD. There are many different forms of Cognitive Behavioral therapy such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure, PE, (“PTSD: National Center for PTSD”). Cognitive Processing Therapy is where the patient learns how the traumatic event changes his or her thoughts and feelings and finds new ways to deal with those thoughts and feelings(“PTSD: National Center for PTSD”). Prolonged exposure is where the patient and therapist talk about the event that caused the patient to develop PTSD until the patient no longer gets upset about the event that took place ( “PTSD: National Center for PTSD” ). Another kind of therapy is called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) this kind of treatment involves focusing on sounds and hand movements while you talk about the trauma(“PTSD: National Center for PTSD”). This type of treatment helps your brain work through the traumatic memories and disassociate the negative feelings from them(“PTSD: National Center for PTSD”).Some of these medications include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)(“PTSD: National Center for PTSD”). These are a type of antidepressants that target the serotonin transmitters( “PTSD: National Center for PTSD” ). Fluoxetine, Sertraline, Paroxetine, and Citalopram are a few examples of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Serotonin - norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs ) are another type of drugs that are used to “treat depression and other common PTSD symptoms”(“PTSD: National Center for PTSD”). SNRIs like SSRIs are used to treat depression. SNRIs include Venlafaxine, Duloxetine, Desvenlafaxine and many more. Many doctors will give their patients antipsychotics such as Benzodiazepines even though these types