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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition suffered by people that have experienced life-threatening events which may include; military combat, serious accidents, natural disaster and sexual or physical abuse. This has social, psychological and biological consequences, which ranges from nightmares, self-destructive tendencies, feeling alienated, flashbacks and other symptoms of PTSD

Today there are several effective therapeutic and medical methods of treating PTSD, some of which are;

Psychotherapy

Using psychotherapy in treating PSTD involves the patient learning new skills to enable him to manage symptoms he often experiences and in turn develop means through which he copes with it. Psychotherapy is an enlightenment program, which teaches the patient, and his family about the disorder and the best way they can all work together with the patient to help him see through the fears associated with the trauma.

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Psychotherapy has two approaches, which are;

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Research shows CBT as one of the most effective ways of counselling PTSD patients. CBT which is a form of psychotherapy originally designed to treat people with depression is a process that involves learning to recognize patterns that lead to the troubling feeling, emotions, and behaviours, and equipping patient with the mental strength to alter their thoughts when faced with the urge to.

Exposure Therapy

Prolong exposure therapy has been found to be an effective means of addressing PTSD symptoms, and other anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy involves a patient talking about the traumatic experience repeatedly with a therapist and in doing so you will learn to gain control of your thoughts, feelings and perspective about the trauma.

The goal here is to get you faced with the stressful memories, and in doing so repeatedly, patients seem to feel less and less fear of the disturbing memories. There are various ways this can be achieved, methods like “desensitization” which is focusing on less upsetting memories before talking of worse experiences; and remembering lots of terrible experiences all at once which is called “Flooding”.

Medication

PTSD patients are usually administered drugs that act on neurotransmitters related to anxiety and fear circuitry of the brain, including norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine and other. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) which are antidepressant, help patients feel less sad and worried. SSRI are known to have the strongest evidence for reducing PTSD symptoms, minor exceptions may occur for patients based on their individual medical histories of side effect. SSRIs are the only medication approved by the FDA to treat patients with PTSD.

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Potential Cure for PTSD

A new study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry which is based on a study carried out on older mice could have paved the way for a more effective way of treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Using mice that researchers had conditioned to feel fear and then attempting to revert it. The study shows that scientist discovered that blocking a single gene in mice could turn off the chronic fear response associated with events that trigger such response.

Fear, which is easily reversible in young animals through a process called “extinction. If often difficult in older animals. And researchers found out that by blocking a gene in older mice while practising extinction, the mice permanently lost the fear response.

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