The Latest PTSD Treatment
The posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become the common discussed and diagnosed disorder over the past two decades. Research has established that the increase of cases of PTSD is because several veterans have returned home from the battlefield and there are also increase cases of terrorism and natural disaster. According to Qukor, Kosh, Joan, and Barbara (2011), about 8%-9% of people usually get affected by PTSD in their lifetimes and therefore, PTSD is not a unique case of disorder. The diagnosing and treatment of PTSD has existed since 1980s and since then several clinical trials have been conducted to treat the disorder. Studies have discovered that different approaches such as pharmacological approaches and cognitive behavior approach have been applied before with much positive success (Cukor, Josh, JoAnn, Albert, & Barbara, 2011). The cognitive behavior treatment is purely based on belief in conditioning and learning. This approach has proved to be working and has been for decades now. But there are several approaches which are currently being used to treat PTSD different from old approaches. However, this research intends to discuss certain latest PTSD treatment approaches such as prolonged exposure therapy, couple based treatment, and cognitive behavior therapy being in different clinical setup.
First, PTSD is usually associated with suicide and combat exposure, terrorist attack, physical or sexual assault child sexual abuse and serious incident like natural disaster. According to Shubina (2014), several people suffer stress and other incidents which can turn to PTSD and affect an individual life for a longer time. Several cases of PTSD have also been reported among couples which are one of the several cases of PTSD which is being addressed (Shubina, 2014). It is reported that trauma occurs in daily life of many people and therefore, treatment of PTSD needs to be effective and well research. Shubina (2014) pointed that car accident, domestic violence, near death experience, child traumas, and stressful event are the major contributors to the growth of PTSD systems in people’s life. The increase cases of natural disaster has also increase the need to have effective PTSD treatment to reduce cases of suicide and others cases of disorder in the society.
Research has established that some of the best latest treatments for PTSD are prolonged exposure therapy (PET). Prolonged exposure therapy is used to treat veterans who have just returned home. According to Qukor, Megan, Francis and JoAn (2010), prolonged exposure therapy takes a person back to remember every details of what happened. It reveals the traumatic experience through flashbacks and verbalizes the detailed memories. The therapy is a sixty minutes program which takes a victim through the memories of certain thinks he or she would want to remember but to forget about. It is stated by Qukor, Megan, Francis and JoAn (2010) that taking a victim through the memories create a relief and comforts the mind and therefore, makes it possible to cure a person from such incident. It is argued that when a person remembers certain bad events and talk about them openly it makes it possible to come out of such bad condition (Cukor, Josh, JoAnn, Albert, & Barbara, 2011). Dr. Kevin noted that the prolonged exposure therapy is used especially to treatment veterans because it allows veterans to tell the tale of the attack and then listen to themselves on tap. This is because research has discovered that listen to personal voice explaining a traumatize event repeatedly is likely to neutralize the power of bubbling and do away with subconscious memory (Cukor, Megan, Francis, & JoAnn, 2010).
Emerging psychotherapy such as couples and family therapy is also one of the latest PTSD treatment methods which have proved to be effective. Trauma often affects families and marital relations negatively (Reisman, 2016). It sometimes results to increase anger and irritability, isolating behavior and can result to suicide as well. As stated by Reisman (2016) 75% of veterans have difficult in relationship and 465 of cases have been treated using couples and family therapy. A report from Veteran office at Washington DC indicates that 60% of veterans who have gone through couple and family therapy have normal life and stress has reduced as well. Reisman (2016) noted that several couple- based treatment have been developed to treat family related trauma which can result to suicide. However, some of the couple-based treatments developed are cognitive behavior conjoint therapy (CBCT) which is used to address family related problems hence help in reducing stress and uniting a family.
Several studies have also revealed that family intervention on PTSD usually focus on stress management to help reducing stress. The couple based treatment has been developed to improve communication, techniques and behavior of couples to make sure that family issue or problems are addressed extensively. Cognitive intervention is meant to address maladaptive believe or thoughts about the trauma and the kind of impact it cause the society. The couple based treatment is a situation of by couples is being taken through the problems which they have in the family. Later the recording it played for them so they can listen to their problems before advice is provided.
Though the main treatment techniques for PTSD, there are certain medications which are being used to treat symptoms of PTSD and therefore, there are several medications which are being used for the treatment of PTSD. According to Bufka, Raquel and Howard (2017), medications are general being used to address the symptoms of PTSD. Therefore, the drugs which are being used are antidepressants, which are used to treat depression and anxiety symptoms. It helps in improving concentration and sleeping and therefore, the latest treatment of PTSD involve the use of medicine to treat symptoms and make a patient stable. These medications have side effects and it is why medication has never been the first option for PTSD treatment. It is upon the doctor to figure out the best mediation for specific condition or trauma which can help in the treatment process (Bufka, Raquel, & Howard, 2017). But the main treatment of PTSD is through therapy which is divided in different method and also being applied different so that a comprehensive result could be obtained (Shubina, 2014). However, the main goal of PTSD therapy is to teach affected victims new skills which the can use to deal with the traumatize event, improve the symptoms and to restore self esteem of victims.
In conclusion, the need for effective treatment of PTSD is driving research to come up with the best options for the treatment of PTSD. Treatment methods which have been used for decades have proved to ineffective and therefore, latest methods of treating PTSD stands a better chance of solving the stress and other kind of trauma which have been affecting the community. However, the latest methods of treatment being applied are prolonged exposure therapy; couple based therapy, cognitive behavior therapy and others. These treatments help in addressing stress issues, family problems, veterans’ trauma, natural disaster and terrorism. It is also noted that treatments are applied in stages so that they can provide detail information which can be helpful in solving problem or addressing PTSD issues for a long time in life.
References
Bufka, L., Raquel, H., & Howard, K. (2017). Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. American Psychological Association , 12-38.
Cukor, J., Josh, S., JoAnn, D., Albert, R., & Barbara, R. (2011). Emerging treatments for PTSD.
Clinical Psychology Review , 12 (2), 2-24.
Cukor, J., Megan, O., Francis, L., & JoAnn, D. (2010). Evidence-based treatments for PTSD,
new directions, and special challenges. Psychiatric and Neurologic Aspects of War , 1-42.
Reisman, M. (2016). PTSD Treatment for Veterans: What’s Working, What’s New, and What’s
Next. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5047000/ , 2-35.
Shubina, I. (2014). Cognitive-behavioral therapy of patients with ptsd: literature review .
Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences , 2-42.
