Prolonged exposure therapy
Prolonged exposure therapy also addresses the tendency to adopt unhealthy and negative thoughts in the aftermath of a traumatic event.
For example, as a result of trauma, you may have developed a fear response that is out of proportion to the dangers you face.
Prolonged exposure therapy helps change your fear response, by starting with educating you about PTSD symptoms. Your therapist will equip you with skills to calm down and cope when you face something frightening.
Once you’ve learned self-calming techniques, you and your therapist will create a hierarchy of fears.
The goal will be to overcome all your fears, starting from the slightly scary ones to the most intense fear, possibly those related to the trauma you experienced. Your therapist will ensure that you have completely overcome each fear before you progress to the next one.
Over several months of treatment, you and your therapist will work together to help you face your fears, allowing you to practice new coping skills.
You’ll learn that your thoughts and memories related to the trauma are not actually harmful and do not need to be avoided.
Neurological therapies
Many of the long-term effects of PTSD are neurological. This makes treatment that focuses on the brain and nervous system very important and particularly effective at restoring functions and reducing symptoms.