It is estimated that out of 1.
6 million troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan alone, nearly 300,000 have returned with some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
And those are the reported cases.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about 30 percent of men and women who have spent time in war zones, not just Iraq and Afghanistan, have experienced PTSD for varying lengths of time.
An even more alarming statistic is that nearly 7.
7 million Americans have the symptoms of PTSD at any given time.
Many of the PTSD sufferers have never been in an actual war zone, but PTSD has no borders.
Traumatic experiences and its devastating aftereffects can happen anywhere, sometimes in the most unlikely places, e.
g.
, in your own home or with someone you like and trust.
Signs and Symptoms of PTSD How do you know if you are experiencing PTSD? What are the common signs and symptoms? These symptoms often resemble other psychiatric diagnoses.
It is important to consult with a professional counselor, psychotherapist or physician to get an accurate diagnosis and receive appropriate treatment.
oeasily startled, jittery, or a sense of being "on guard" ofeeling detached and distant from people, numb, and unable to be affectionate osleep problems, nightmares, sexual problems, or an inability to relax odepression and loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities ofeeling irritable, easily angered, more aggressive than before, even violent odifficulties with working or socializing oflashbacks or intrusive images (sounds, smells, feelings reminiscent of the traumatic event) oreliving the event for moments or even hours oavoiding places and situations that bring back memories of the trauma osurvivor guilt: feeling guilty that others have died and you have lived Treatment Methods for PTSD omedication (e.
g.
, anti-anxiety or anti-depressants) opsychotherapy and group therapy ocombined medication and psychotherapy otouch therapy, emotional release work and body psychotherapy The most commonly recognized psychotherapy treatment is cognitive-behavioral therapy which focuses on the cognitions (thoughts in your mind) and the behaviors that result from these thoughts.
Changing the thoughts will change your behavior, or, changing your behavior can change your thoughts.
Another more recent therapeutic process is called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) which involves a method for balancing the right and left sides of your brain in such to actually lessen the emotional impact of traumatic memories.
One of the most common prescription drugs used to treat PTSD is known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), which is also used to alleviate depression.
Less commonly recognized but extremely powerful and highly effective, is a branch of healing which includes touch therapy, somatic emotional release work, and body psychotherapy.
There are many different modalities that can be extremely effective in assisting you to break through your defensive armoring and get to the root of the pain you are currently experiencing.
Some touch therapy methods, such as neuromuscular therapy, deep tissue massage, and rolfing, can be quite painful yet as the tissues release their holding patterns, emotional blockages can be released.
The emotions that are released can become intense and it is important to have access, sometimes even immediately, to a skilled psychotherapist to help you through the early stages of healing.
Some methods are more gentle, such as polarity therapy (which balances your energetic system) and trager (gentle rocking techniques).
Somatic emotional release work and body psychotherapy utilize psychotherapeutic techniques, body awareness and touch to help you understand why you are holding back and blocking the expression of your feelings and to facilitate expression and release of pent up emotions.
Body psychotherapy methods could be divided generally between "hard" and "soft" techniques.
"Hard" techniques are those that apply direct pressure on rigid muscles or on the connective tissue that is causing muscles to be tightly held.
As the pressure of the therapist's hands directly confronts the holding patterns, there may be some discomfort as the holding is released.
"Soft" techniques can be equally effective.
Rather than use forceful movement and pressure, many of them emphasize light touch, often without hand movement, that encourages greater sensing or awareness of bodily feeling.
Another comparison is hard techniques tend to emphasize outward expression of feeling, while soft techniques tend to emphasize inner sensing of feeling, or some would say, of energy flow.
However, as always, there are exceptions.
Some methods, rather than employ direct touch, emphasize body-centered awareness.
Such sessions may not feature touch at all.
Clients may work standing up, sitting, or lying down.
They are usually fully clothed.
Some body psychotherapists will work directly with muscle tension, or with breathing.
Clients may be encouraged to do specific physical actions (e.
g.
, to move their shoulders or hips, to kick, or to hold a certain posture for an extended period of time).
Meditative, mindfulness exercises, guided imagery, or some form of expressive arts (writing, dancing, drawing) may also be used.
The client may be encouraged to notice the sensations in his or her body, and describe what is being felt and in what part of the body.
Touch may be used when appropriate and agreed upon, but sexual touching is never permitted in any type of body psychotherapy.
Traumatic memories are often stored within body tissues, resulting in contracted musculature, inhibited breathing, startle response, sexual inhibitions, and even ticklishness.
Through this powerful mind/body awareness work, body psychotherapy, clients can overcome even the most lingering traumatic memories and restore their mind and body to a state resembling their pre-traumatic state.