Counseling for PTSD ⋆ Chana Pfeifer, LCSW in Long Island, NY

Traumatic events can have a resonating and painful impact on your life, and the effects can span over months and even years following the event. Reacting to a traumatic or threatening circumstance can be a normal response. If high levels of stress are not resolved, further problems can arise. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious harm, or sexual assault/violence. Even if you did not directly experience the trauma, you can develop PTSD from witnessing the event or its aftermath.

PTSD can have a highly disruptive effect on survivors’ mental health, daily functioning, and relationships.

Symptoms can be classified by a few main categories:

Re-experiencing

Flashbacks or intensely vivid memories/re-living of the event
Nightmares
Intrusive memories, thoughts, feelings
Significant emotional/physiological reactions to event-related stimuli

Heightened arousal

Insomnia
Hyper vigilance (overly aware of one’s surroundings and possible threats or danger)
Sensitive startle response, jumpy
Easy to anger

Avoidance

Avoiding memories, thoughts, feelings, people, situations that can be possible reminders of the trauma
Loss of interest in certain activities
Feeling emotionally numb

Changes in cognition

Distortion of self-perception (lowered self-esteem, excessive guilt, shame, anger)
Feeling detached or isolated from others
Gaps in memory, trouble remembering the event or memories surrounding it
Negative beliefs about others & the world

Dissociation

De-personalization (feeling detached from one’s mind or body, perceiving oneself as unreal)
De-realization (feeling isolated from others or the world, feeling as if the world is not real)

Following a trauma, it is often difficult to talk about the event including emotions and thoughts surrounding it. Years can pass and you still may feel a strong, visceral response to the memories.

These thoughts and feelings should not continue being repressed, as this can cause chronic damage to your mental, emotional, and physical well-being over time.

Some common routes of therapy to treat PTSD include talk therapy, variations of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), cognitive processing, prolonged exposure, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).

During therapy, you can work on resolving cognitive distortions and learning healthy coping skills and techniques for symptom relief. A therapist can help you re-associate negative feelings and beliefs so you can regain control of stress and fear responses. You can also address possible co-occurring issues such as anxiety, depression, or substance abuse.

Therapy can provide a grounded, secure space in which you can begin to heal from your traumatic experience(s) without feeling judgement or criticism.

A holistic approach to PTSD treatment will enhance your sense of well-being, solidify your inner fortitude and help you to regain positive self-confidence.