Trauma and Post traumatic stress disorder

Hypnotherapy notes There is much debate in terms of when trauma becomes PTSD and how soon to intervene. The bottom line that if the results of trauma are affecting a person's life in a significant way intervention should be considered whether a formal diagnosis of maladaptive trauma response or PTSD has been made or not. Maladaptive trauma response or PTSD are both anxiety conditions and may or may not present with associated depression. Depressive symptoms may well lift as soon as the trauma response has been addressed. The main therapeutic intervention is EMDR with hypnotherapy being used prior to EMDR treatment to prepare the client for the EMDR process. A minimum of three sessions are required - two hypnotherapy sessions followed by one or more EMDR sessions. In advanced cases one EMDR session per week over a five week period may be required. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a powerful and relatively new form of hypnotherapy that is challenging everything we believe or have assumed about emotions and the nature of change. Where years ago it was accepted that psychotherapy often took a long time, depending on the nature of the problem (and even then outcomes were less than wonderful), therapists and clients are finding that problems that were resistant to years of psychotherapy are being resolved in a very short amount of time. Sometimes, within a few sessions. For smaller-scale traumas software based self-help EMDR may assist. Software in the form of EMDR Lite and EMDR Pro is available from our sister site NeuroInnovations.com. More...

Trauma can be described as an abrupt shift in physical experience that elicits similar shifts in mental experience. In other words, a sudden and unexpected threat to the physical body will result in a sudden shift in mental processing. This shift tends to be of a dissociative nature and is seen as an adaptive response that protects the person from the physical trauma, distancing them from pain and fear.

Unfortunately, in some cases, this response may also prevent the natural processing of the event by dissociating the memories so effectively that they remain out of conscious awareness.

Traumatic events that do not pose a physical threat to the body are referred to as stress responses. However, they can also result in dissociative experiences similar to those encountered in physical trauma resulting in the same maladaptive response.

Responses to trauma can generally be expressed in two ways:

Normal Acute Stress Reactions

These are immediate and brief responses to intense stressors that typically last from a few hours and up to 4 weeks. The core symptoms are anxiety and depression.

Anxiety is the result of experiencing a threatening situation and depression is the result of a loss. Quite often both symptoms will appear at the same time, as the threatening situation will often involve some kind of loss (e.g. a road accident in which a companion is killed).

Other symptoms will include:

• Numbness
• Feelings of being dazed
• Insomnia
• Restlessness
• Lack of concentration
• Sweating
• Palpitations
• Tremor
• Anger

Coping strategies are also part of the acute stress reaction and include avoidance and denial.

Avoidance

This is the most frequent coping strategy and is characterised by the patient avoiding talking or thinking about the event. The patient will not confront anything that reminds them of the event.

Denial

Experienced as a belief that the event hasn't happened or as an amnesia for the event itself.

Both avoidance and denial will recede as the anxiety and depression are worked through. This allows for the appropriate processing of the event (reintegration of the dissociated memories) that will lead to an adaptive resolution.

Unfortunately if the coping strategies and defence mechanisms are maintained for too long a period they may become maladaptive and prevent the working through of the traumatic material. This can then result in a condition known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be characterised as an intense, prolonged (sometimes delayed) and abnormal response to stressful and traumatic situations.

PTSD tends to be the result of natural disaster (earthquakes, flooding etc.) and man-made disasters (major fires, war, accidents, rape, abuse, assault etc.). It is thought that personal predisposition plays an important role in the development of PTSD. Epidemiological studies have shown that not everyone exposed to a particular stressor will develop PTSD.

It has been estimated that approximately 1.0% to 2.6% of the population suffer from PTSD.

Symptoms include:

Hyperarousal

• Persistent anxiety
• Irritability
• Insomnia
• Poor concentration

Intrusions

• Difficulty in recalling stressful events at will
• Intensive intrusive imagery (flashbacks)
• Recurring distressing dreams

Avoidance

• Avoidance of reminders of the event
• Detachment
• Inability to feel emotion (numbness)
• Diminished interest in activity

Dissociative symptoms (depersonalisation and derealisation) also play an important role in the symptomology.

PTSD can occur at any age and the duration of symptomology is variable with most cases resolving within a few months but some persisting for years. The disorder may begin very soon after the precipitating event but can manifest itself several months and, in some cases, several years later.

Patients suffering from PTSD may develop maladaptive coping strategies that can include persistent aggressive behaviour, excessive use of alcohol or drugs, deliberate self-harm, and suicide.

Diagnostic and statistical manual criteria (DSM)

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder