What Is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after a person has been exposed to a traumatic event. This often includes shocking, scary, or dangerous events, like a serious car accident, physical or sexual assault, natural disasters, serious injuries, military combat, or other forms of violence and traumatic experiences.
People react to traumatic events in different ways, and not everyone with such an event will develop PTSD. Those with PTSD have intense, prolonged responses to trauma that they do not recover from quickly. Getting support from a treatment center can help them alleviate PTSD symptoms and stabilize their mental health.
Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Long-Term Trauma
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) is a type of post-traumatic stress disorder that results from ongoing trauma. Unlike a single traumatic incident, complex trauma stems from ongoing stressful life events like chronic physical or emotional abuse, neglect, or domestic violence.
Even something like growing up in poverty and worrying about having food on the table can lead to developmental trauma and C-PTSD in some cases. Those with C-PTSD have additional symptoms beyond what those with PTSD experience.
How Trauma Affects the Brain and Results in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Traumatic events like natural disasters, military combat, or abuse, whether short-term or long-term, affect the chemistry of the brain. When someone experiences stress, their brain produces cortisol and norepinephrine. In a single traumatic event, the brain is flooded with these chemicals, and in long-term trauma, your brain has elevated levels of cortisol and norepinephrine for years at a time.
Both of these experiences can lead to long-term changes in how you physically experience stress in your brain. These changes are a big part of what causes PTSD or C-PTSD.
PTSD Symptoms
A PTSD diagnosis requires a person to have symptoms in four different categories. They must last a least a month and cause significant distress or affect daily functioning. The categories are:
- Re-experiencing: Having nightmares, intrusive memories, intrusive thoughts, or flashbacks about the distressing events. After such an event, these thoughts can lead to significant emotional distress and sometimes lead to physical reactions such as sweating, racing heart, or panic.
- Avoidance: You might avoid people or places that remind you of the traumatic event. These trauma triggers could include staying away from certain areas of town, not watching the news, or even cutting off contact with loved ones involved in the event.
- Negative Changes in Thinking and Mood: It’s common to have mood disorders like depression and anxiety or to experience emotional numbness or memory loss about the event. This can lead to feelings of detachment or isolation. You may also experience guilt or shame related to the event or blame yourself for what happened.
- Changes in Arousal and Reactivity: You may notice changes in your physical or emotional reactions, such as being hypervigilant, easily startled, feeling tense, or having difficulty sleeping. You may also struggle with concentration and memory.
PTSD symptoms may vary in intensity over time, and they often significantly affect an individual’s ability to live a healthy life.
Symptoms of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)
Those with C-PTSD have mental health symptoms that go beyond the list above. For example, they often:
- Struggle with emotional regulation
- Have episodes where they disassociate and are mentally disconnected from their surroundings
- Feel despair and helplessness
- Are socially isolated and distrust other people
- Are fixated on the person that they feel is responsible for the traumatic events
Mental health conditions like C-PTSD can be very hard to overcome, but high-quality PTSD treatment can make all the difference.
Get The Care You Need and Deserve
Woburn Addiction Treatment is a leader in the addiction treatment field, with proven success in facilitating long-term recovery. Our team of top clinical & medical experts specializes in treating addiction coupled with mental illness, ensuring that each person receives individualized care. Call us – we’re available 24/day, 7 days/week.
The Connection Between Substance Abuse and PTSD
Studies show that the same stressful life experiences that can cause PTSD are also risk factors for mental health conditions and substance abuse. These conditions include major depression, antisocial behavior, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders.
Substance abuse and mental health conditions often negatively affect each other, with each feeding into the other in a cycle that’s hard to break. Unfortunately, substance use and other co-occurring disorders can actually make PTSD symptoms worse over time.
The good news is that integrated PTSD treatment can combine trauma-informed therapy and evidence-based care for substance abuse. This gives you a much better chance of establishing lifelong recovery.
Finding Effective Treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Finding a reputable PTSD treatment center is the first step in recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder. The right center can offer behavioral health interventions and evidence-based therapies to help you overcome distressing symptoms.
What can you expect in PTSD treatment? Your treatment plan may include the following levels of care.
Medical Detox for Co-Occurring Substance Use and Mental Health Conditions
If you have co-occurring disorders where addiction and other mental health conditions are present together, the first stage of treatment may be medical detox. To ensure you get proper treatment, they’ll create medical records for you based on comprehensive assessments.
During this process, you’ll have 24/7 supervision for withdrawal symptoms as well as individual and group therapy addressing posttraumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions.
Residential Behavioral Health Treatment Programs
When you get residential treatment for PTSD treatment, you’ll live at the facility and be able to fully focus on your recovery without daily life distractions.
Patients in residential care receive 24-hour care and support from professionals, offering an intensive and safe therapy environment. This program includes individual therapy and group therapy sessions. You’ll work on understanding the traumatic events you’ve experienced and work on coping skills to use when vivid memories or intrusive thoughts bother you.
Residential care for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can also address co-occurring disorders, whether that’s substance use or another mental health concern like borderline personality disorder or a depression association with PTSD.
Medication Management for PTSD
It’s common to combine specific medications with evidence-based therapies in treatment to help you manage symptoms from experiencing trauma. Common treatment options include Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) along with behavioral health interventions from experienced professionals.
Combining medication with other therapies can help reduce the vivid memories of natural disasters, military combat, or other symptoms of traumatic events. That reduces anxiety and improves your well-being, making it easier to find relief and reclaim your life from the past.
Outpatient Treatment: Therapy and Coping Skills
Outpatient treatment can provide significant support for your mental health issues as well as any co-occurring substance abuse disorders. There are different programs with differing levels of intensity. They all provide behavioral health treatment in the form of group and individual therapy, provide educational programs, and help you learn coping skills.
A partial hospitalization program (PHP) for PTSD treatment is a full-day program where you go home at night and on weekends. You get care five days a week, often eight hours a day. Along with individual and group therapy, you can get family therapy and work on your coping mechanisms both in treatment and outside the sessions.
An intensive outpatient treatment program or IOP program is a good choice for those who need regular support but have a degree of stability in their daily lives. You get PTSD treatment in a few sessions per week. Each session is around three hours long.
There is usually a choice between morning and evening hours, providing flexibility and making it easier to fit treatment into a busy lifestyle.
Standard outpatient care offers the most flexibility and is a good choice for those who have made progress in managing their symptoms but still need a little bit of ongoing support. Patients typically attend therapy sessions once or twice per week.
Therapeutic Approaches Offered at Woburn Addiction Treatment
When you seek treatment from Woburn Addiction Treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, we provide individualized treatment plans in a safe environment. Our approach uses evidence-based therapies for PTSD treatment, such as:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is at the foundation of nearly all addiction and trauma treatment programs. CBT is a form of talk therapy that helps patients identify, challenge, and change negative thinking patterns or behaviors that are causing problems. When it comes to treating mental health issues like PTSD, CBT can help individuals reframe their thoughts about their trauma, let go of guilt and shame, and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.
PTSD treatment centers also use this in the healing process for people who are dealing with self-harm and eating disorders as a result of traumatic experiences.
Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PET)
Prolonged exposure therapy (PET) is considered an effective way to treat PTSD. This approach combines psycho-education, breathing retraining, in vivo exposure (thinking about events that trigger symptoms), and imaginal exposure (recalling the trauma).
During PET at a PTSD treatment center, the therapist helps the patient practice breathing and relaxation skills to try and regulate their response to experiencing trauma both during and after treatment sessions. PET can significantly reduce a person’s PTSD symptoms and risk of relapse.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
Another treatment option for PTSD and substance use disorder is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR).
During EMDR sessions, a therapist facilitates bilateral stimulation to induce eye movements while the patient recalls a traumatic event. The bilateral stimulation is thought to help the brain reprocess the traumatic memories and associated emotions, which can help reduce the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Holistic Approach and Alternative Therapies
Other therapies, like holistic therapies such as art therapy, yoga, meditation, massage, and music, can also be used to help people recover during PTSD treatment. All of these therapies can be tailored to meet a patient’s individual needs.
Holistic therapies are meant to help individuals become more mindful, learn relaxation techniques, and find healthy outlets to express their emotions. Studies have found that practices like deep breathing, yoga, and meditation are coping mechanisms that can benefit patients who struggle with PTSD.
Addiction and PTSD Treatment
At Woburn Addiction Treatment, we understand the intricate relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders, and we are committed to providing comprehensive and tailored treatment options for individuals facing these dual-diagnosis challenges.
Our integrated approach recognizes the connection between behavioral health and addiction, aiming to address both aspects to achieve optimal recovery outcomes.
Get Started With Our PTSD Treatment Center Today
At Woburn Addiction Treatment Center, we offer specialized treatment for individuals grappling with the complex challenges of co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder. Our evidence-based treatment options address both disorders simultaneously to help individuals achieve lasting recovery.
The compassionate team at our treatment center is dedicated to nurturing long-term recovery, offering a supportive environment where individuals can rediscover hope and embark on a transformative recovery journey toward renewed well-being.
You don’t have to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction alone. If you or a family member needs help to cope with trauma, reach out today for help and to learn more about PTSD treatment centers in Massachusetts. Call (781) 622-9190 or complete our online contact form to start your healing and recovery.
