PTSD

Have you experienced a traumatic event? Are you suffering from lingering fear and anxiety? Do you feel like you no longer have any control over how you think, feel, and behave?

Posttraumatic stress disorder - also known as PTSD - is a mental health challenge that may occur in individuals who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a terrorist act, an act of war, a serious accident, rape, or any other violent personal assault.

It is believed that PTSD affects nearly four percent of the U.S. adult population. While it is usually linked with veterans who’ve experienced combat, PTSD occurs in all people regardless of age, race, nationality, or culture. In fact, women are twice as likely to experience PTSD than men.

What are the Symptoms of PTSD?

People with PTSD often experience intense thoughts and feelings related to their traumatic experiences. These can last for a long time after the initial event. Many people with PTSD also relive the event through flashbacks and nightmares.

People with PTSD often feel intense emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, and detachment from friends, family, and community members. They often avoid people and situations that remind them of the traumatic event. Ordinary sounds or incidents such as a door banging or accidental touch in a crowd may cause a strong and uncontrollable reaction.

How Can Treatment Help?

There are a variety of treatments that can be used to treat PTSD. However, there are three specific techniques that are consistently gaining research-based evidence of their effectiveness in successfully treating PTSD.

• Cognitive Processing Therapy – This modality focuses on how a person perceives a traumatic event and processes it. A therapist can help their client work through stuck points, which are certain thoughts related to the trauma that prevents the person from recovering. 
• EMDR – EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. This technique uses bilateral sensory input such as side-to-side eye movements to stimulate the brain to process difficult thoughts, memories, and emotions.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – CBT is a form of talk therapy that focuses on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are related to one another. The goal of a CBT therapist is to help a client with PTSD return to a place of hope with a greater sense of being in control of their thoughts and behaviors.
• Medications - Medication classes, such as SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) or Alpha-blockers can mitigate moderate-severe PTSD symptoms to assist with therapy and to improve quality of life.

If you or a loved one suffer from PTSD and would like to explore treatment options, please reach out to me. I have personally seen amazing transformation through a combination of therapy and medications. 

Depression

Are you feeling hopeless, isolated, and not your usual self?

Do these thoughts often enter your mind?

• I am worthless and can’t do anything about it.
• I feel guilty for just wanting to eat, sleep and be alone.
• I hate who I am these days.
• I can’t stop crying, which makes me want to stay away from others.
• I feel gut-wrenching pain, but no one understands.
• My life and the world around me are dark. I hate it, but I can’t change it.

If you have had any variation of these thoughts and don’t feel like your usual self, chances are you may be suffering from depression.

I want you to know that you are not alone and there are people who can help. Many of my clients find relief in realizing that their struggle does not own them and that there are many options available to once again have hope for their lives.

I understand the social stigmas that come with the label of being depressed and thus aim to help clients sort out their environmental, biological, and circumstantial factors while offering support and care through a very dark time in their lives.

If you are hoping to finally lighten this load and feel like yourself again, contact me today for a free consultation.

Anxiety

Is anxiety taking over your life? Does it feel like you can’t control it no matter how hard you try? Have you already tried therapy and/or medications but found it ineffective?

Often, these are the symptoms of anxiety:

• Nervousness, restlessness, or being tense
• Feelings of danger, panic, or dread
• Rapid breathing or hyperventilation
• Increased or heavy sweating
• Trembling or muscle twitching
• Weakness or lethargy
• Difficulty focusing or thinking clearly about anything other than the thing you’re worried about
• Insomnia
• Obsessions about certain ideas; a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Anxiety surrounding a particular life event or experience that has occurred in the past; a sign of post-traumatic stress disorder

If this sounds like you, I can help. 

Therapy can help to uncover the underlying causes of your worries and fears, learn how to relax, look at situations in a new, less frightening way, and develop better coping mechanisms and problem-solving skills.

Medications can ease the burden of anxiety so that you can learn to be aware of your triggers, cope with symptoms, and build alternative perspective around your worries. 

If you suffer from an anxiety disorder, I invite you to contact me today for a free consultation.