Learn more about PTSD
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
PTSD occurs after any kind of traumatic event. This means children, adolescents, and adults alike can experience it. Children, in particular, are at risk, as they are less capable of divorcing their trauma from themselves. Childhood trauma or even birth trauma can leave lingering effects that are ingrained in their very sense of self.
That doesn’t mean that PTSD is any less severe for adolescents or adults. Everyone deserves treatment. Without it, it can feel impossible to manage the anxiety that followed your trauma and to improve your quality of life on your own.
That’s what we at Back Bay Mental Health are here for. We are an intensive outpatient program* based in Boston, MA. With our services, we can help you manage your trauma and PTSD, reduce your anxiety, and work on building up new life skills that will help you reprocess what you’ve lived through so that you can live life to its fullest.
Types of PTSD
Several disorders fall under the mood disorder umbrella. These mood disorders include:
Delayed-Onset
PTSD usually takes at least one month to set in fully, but it can also take longer. Delayed onset PTSD is categorized as PTSD that develops six months or more after the traumatic incident.
It usually occurs after a reminder incident. This can be something that is not overtly comparable to the traumatic event but reminds you enough of it that it essentially triggers PTSD. For example, if you were in a car accident early in the year and narrowly missed another car later on.
Uncomplicated
Uncomplicated simply means that your PTSD occurs after a single event or a series of events that occurred over a very short period of time. Since the focus is on a single event or time period, it can actually be easier for mental health professionals to treat.
Though your PTSD may be “uncomplicated,” that does not mean that it is necessarily easier to live with, just that the trauma-focused therapy you start with your therapist will likely be more effective.
Complex Trauma
On the other end of the spectrum is complex trauma, or cPTSD. This means that your PTSD has developed in response to multiple trauma events over a long period of time. These types of stress disorders can occur if you’ve lived through abuse, war, or long-term illness.
Comorbid
Comorbid PTSD is simply the phrase used when you have PTSD as well as other mental health issues. One of the most common comorbid conditions, for example, is substance abuse and addiction. Other common conditions that can crop up alongside PTSD include depression and anxiety disorders.
Primary vs Secondary PTSD
There is also what’s known as secondary traumatic stress. Similar conditions include vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue, or critical incident stress. Essentially, it’s entirely possible to experience similar symptoms to PTSD even if you were not involved in a traumatic event.
Causes of PTSD
PTSD can occur after any traumatic event. There is no explicit level of trauma that causes PTSD, either. Take a car accident, for example. Person A in the accident might be able to walk away without PTSD, while the person in the seat next to them does develop PTSD.
That being said, there are some stressful life events that are more likely to cause PTSD. These include:
- Serious accidents where your life or limb were at risk.
- Physical assault
- Sexual assault
- Abuse (childhood, domestic, emotional, physical, etc)
- Witnessing traumatic events
- Severe medical health problems
- Chronic pain
- War or conflict (of any kind)
- The death of a loved one
PTSD is very common for those who live through traumatic events. On average, 1 in 3 people who experience trauma will develop some type of PTSD, which is why getting help from specialized PTSD therapists is essential for your recovery.
How PTSD Affects Mental Health
There are many different symptoms of PTSD. Some you will be familiar with, like flashbacks. Others are less obvious, like difficulty concentrating. If you experience several of these symptoms and have either lived through a traumatic event or have been deeply affected by the trauma someone else has gone through, then it’s important that you seek out help from a licensed PTSD therapist in Boston. Therapy can help you learn how to reprocess the traumatic event and give you coping skills to help you manage your emotional pain.
Re-Experiencing the Trauma
One of the more known symptoms of PTSD is the re-experiencing ones. This means you re-live the experience in one of a few ways. You might:
- Have flashbacks
- Experience frequent nightmares
- Relive distressing images or sensations
Some of the symptoms are also physical. Think phantom pain, sweats, or even shaking as you relive the event or even just think about it.
Those who re-experience their trauma may struggle to process it because there are severe negative thoughts tied up with the memory. You may frequently ask yourself what you could have done to prevent it from happening or why it had to happen to you.
It is these negative thoughts, alongside the relived experience, that make those with PTSD (particularly with complex trauma) more prone to panic attacks, self-harm, and even substance use.
Numbness
Another common response to trauma is numbness or avoidance. For example, you might avoid:
- Talking about the event
- Thinking about the event
- Going to the place where the event happened
- Doing the activity you were engaging in when the event happened
- People who remind you of the event
Those who emotionally numb or distance themselves are doing so in a bid to protect themselves from the pain and fear of their trauma. In doing so, however, they may inadvertently distance themselves from activities and even people they once loved. This distance can be physical (withdrawing) or emotional (numbing).
Hyperarousal
A hyper-aroused state simply means feeling on edge. You may be hypervigilant, meaning you constantly look out for threats and run threat assessments in your head for everything, which can take its toll. Your body may also constantly be in fight-or-flight mode, which may mean you easily startle.
This state of hyperarousal takes its toll. You may then:
- Feel irritable and angry at others or yourself
- Find it difficult to sleep or stay asleep
- Find it hard to concentrate or relax
Physical Symptoms
There are a range of physical symptoms you might experience as part of your PTSD:
- Stomach pain, indigestion, and aches
- Chest pains or heart palpitations
- Headaches, dizziness, spaciness
- Insomnia
- Numbness
Comorbid Symptoms
You might experience co-occurring disorders along with your PTSD. The most common ones include:
- Anxiety disorders
- Depression
- Addiction
- Mood disorders
- Adjustment disorders
- and more
Trauma and PTSD are very complex mood disorders. They affect your mental health in several ways, and while there is overlap in experiences, everyone will experience their trauma and PTSD differently.
This means that you need more than evidence-based treatment. You need a personalized treatment plan that puts you at the heart of your recovery. Some might benefit from family therapy, others from eye movement desensitization.
Effective treatment is what works for you. That’s why we here at Back Bay Mental Health will put together a treatment plan based on your symptoms, preferences, and what you personally respond to. As we’re an intensive outpatient program*, you can get comprehensive support from our team of PhD and master’s degree-holding therapists and psychiatrists.
Trauma Therapy We Offer to Treat PTSD
We offer several treatment options for those suffering from PTSD. We may use some, or potentially even all, of them depending on the treatment you respond to best and your preferences. Regardless, you are always in the driving seat of your treatment. Our goal is to connect you to therapy options that work for you.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
One of the most effective treatment options for managing traumatic stress is CBT. CBT helps you understand your thought processes so that you can identify trigger points and work to actively walk away from those negative thought cycles. With this treatment, you’ll learn many key coping skills that can help with daily functioning.
Cognitive Processing Therapy
Many who have lived through a traumatic experience struggle to process the event in question or have damaging, negative beliefs surrounding their trauma (for example, that they deserved it). If you do this, then you may be a good fit for cognitive processing therapy. This type of therapy works to untangle the negative beliefs and thoughts you have about yourself or others.
Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy is particularly useful for patients who feel numb or are avoiding any reminder of their trauma. The goal is to slowly approach your trauma-related memories and situations so that you can regain the parts of yourself you may have temporarily lost or regain the confidence needed to head out into the world. Survivors of car accidents, for example, may develop a fear of driving. Exposure therapy works to help them regain their confidence in driving after the fact.
Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy
Eye movement desensitization therapy is another way to help patients reprocess their traumatic stress. It works by using specific eye movements while focusing on the trauma memory. The goal is to reduce the vividness of the memory and the emotion attached to the memory so that you can reprocess your trauma and improve your daily life.
Narrative Exposure Therapy
Trauma is not always linear, and it can be hard to piece together in your head. This can make it difficult to contextualize your trauma and understand it, which can be a key element to healing.
Narrative exposure therapy works to help you build a timeline of your trauma. The narrative itself can help you contextualize and understand the trauma you’ve experienced from a more objective point of view rather than remaining entirely focused on the pain and terror you experienced.
Medicine
We have psychiatrists on board here to provide medicine and more advanced evidence-based treatment for those with PTSD. The medication you might be prescribed includes sertraline, paroxetine, fluoxetine, and venlafaxine. However, medicine isn’t always a good option for everyone. Moreover, you may not want to take medication to manage your symptoms.
Do You Qualify for PTSD Treatment?
There are many forms of trauma and PTSD, so don’t feel discouraged if your experiences don’t entirely check off every box in our criteria list. You’ll qualify for trauma therapy in person at our intensive outpatient program* if you experience:
- Flashbacks
- Frequent nightmares
- Emotional numbness
- Severe withdrawal or avoidance of triggers
- Hypervigilance
- Hyperarousal
- Mood swings
- Anger
- and more
You’ll receive PTSD treatment, particularly if you develop these symptoms following a trauma. This trauma might have been a single incident, as is the case of accidents. Alternatively, it may have only started after getting out of a traumatic situation, for example, domestic violence. You may not notice your PTSD while in an abusive relationship, for example, because you are not in a safe position to process the abuse. Once you are out, then you might begin to experience symptoms.
Why Choose Back Bay Mental Health
Individual Therapy
As part of your IOP* Treatment, you may have one-on-one time in person with a licensed therapist from your first appointment onward. We are here to help everyone, from children to emerging adults and those in their golden years, find relief from their past.
Group Therapy
We also offer group therapy and family therapy. We can help families in particular overcome generational trauma and its lasting effects to human development.
Benefits of Intensive Outpatient Care for PTSD
We are a private practice, meaning you don’t need to wait for treatment or to even get on a waiting list at all. With us, you have access to clinical psychology experts, group therapy, and even psychiatrists. Together we can help children, young adults, and adults alike work through their anxiety, trauma, and depression.
Regardless of whether you experience traumatic stress disorder or other forms of trauma-based conditions, we can help.
Get Started Today
We are always accepting new patients at our clinical psychology PTSD treatment centers in Boston. We use the latest evidence-based treatment and frequently review traumatic stress studies to offer the best clinical services. With us, you’ll have access to in-person specialists who can help you process your trauma and improve your well-being. We are here to help you reclaim your life from anxiety and will do so with you at the heart of your healing journey.
All that’s left is to get in touch with our team to book your first appointment at our practice in Boston, Massachusetts, today.