Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD) is a significant mental health problem. We’ve found that it develops in some people who experience or witness a major life-threatening even. Events leading to PTSD include war-time combat, a natural disaster, a major car accident, or sexual assault.

We also find that being in one of these traumatic stress situations does not automatically lead to PTSD. We see that most people will have some difficulty going about their every-day lives in the first few weeks after the event. If you’re not feeling better after a few weeks or months, you might want to consider exploring therapy for PTSD.

Based on our practice, we’ve seen a pattern to therapy. While we can’t predict the course of treatment for each individual case, we think you can expect to meet with a therapist twice weekly for roughly four months. In many cases, we’ve found that most patients can then continue treatment less frequently. It’s also the point at which we would consider other treatments, including medication—especially if the PTSD has not lessened.

Many people attend PTSD support groups. These groups can be tremendously helpful, but they don’t replace treatment. We encourage people to join support groups, while they continue therapy.

The ability to be with people who have been through similar experiences is helpful. We think it will help those having difficult trusting others.

Sometimes, we’ve found that medication may be indicated to help in the treatment of PTSD. In these cases, we’ll refer you to a psychiatrist, who can prescribe medications which will handle stress. You’ll be meeting with the psychiatrist frequently as you start on the course of medications, and you may need to try several before finding the right one.

Most of the medications which address the stress in PTSD are either SNRIs (selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) or SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). We have fond that medications do not address the underlying causes of PTSD—only therapy can do that.

The best thing you can do to help yourself manage PTSD. We work as a team to help you through the worst parts of it, so it becomes manageable. Through therapy, we’ll help you develop appropriate coping methods to allow you to handle those triggers which happen between sessions.

Some people find that a service dog helps with PTSD, and this might be an option for you as part of your therapy (and then life).

Finding ways to change your way of life can also help. If you start exercising, for example, you may find that physical tension decreases, and the time you spend out running, swimming, or working out may give you another safe place, at least for some time each day.

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