PTSD:
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Therapy

PTSD, traumatic stress

PTSD

Treatment

Dallas, Plano, Richardson, DFW

by Steve Reed, LPC, LMSW, LMFT

Below you will find information about what PTSD is, its symptoms, and how best to successfully treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  This information is provided by psychotherapist Steve B. Reed, LPC, LMSW, LMFT.  Steve has been working with anxiety issues for decades.  He is an expert in the field and has:

  • Provided training at the Ohio State University Medical School on his treatment approach to anxiety, panic attacks and phobias
  • Taught professional seminars in Texas, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Ohio, Arizona, California and Georgia to therapists wanting to learn his anxiety disorder methods
  • Presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America on Anxiety treatment
  • Given keynote lectures at conferences in Canada and Germany on this topic
  • Presented professional seminars in Central America and Europe
  • Written the Quick REMAP Self-Help Book: Rapid Relief Treatments for Traumatic and High-Stress Events

Please note that Steve is no longer providing treatment for PTSD and Trauma. 

To schedule an appointment for anxiety relief therapy, phobia treatment, or help with stress:

Contact Steve through his counseling office at 972-997-9955.

What is PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? 


Causes of post-traumatic stress disorder:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder results when a person has been exposed to an overwhelmingly stressful event that is experienced as traumatic by the individual.

Characteristics of PTSD include:

  1. Exposure to an event in which the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with the threat of death, serious injury, or a threat to their physical well-being.
  2. The person’s response would also involve intense fear, helplessness, or horror.
  3. The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced (flashbacks, intrusive memories, nightmares, etc.)
  4. The person persistently avoiding anything that they associate with the trauma.
  5. Persistent hyper-vigilance, sleep difficulties, irritability, difficulty concentrating or
    other signs of increased arousal.
  6. The disturbance causes impairment or distress in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. (Source: Diagnostic Criteria from the DSM IV)

Although this is the formal definition of PTSD, it is my experience that individuals can and do develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder from events of a lesser magnitude.  Anything that sufficiently overwhelms an individual to the extent that the intensity does not fade would be considered traumatic.  If we used a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 equals no distress and 10 equals the worst distress, anything that bothers you in the 7 to 10 range would be traumatic.  That level of intensity does not typically dissipate without effective therapeutic intervention.  (See the “Highly Useful” therapies below.) 

PTSD -  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

If several of the following symptoms are present more than once per month after a trauma, the Anxiety Disorder Association of America recommends that you seek professional help by consulting a mental health professional.  Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder could include: 

  • Recurrent and uncontrollable thoughts, memories or dreams about the trauma
  • Acting or feeling as if the trauma is happening in the present
  • Intense emotional or physiological reactions to reminders of the trauma
  • Going to extreme lengths to avoid reminders of the trauma
  • Inability to feel emotionally close to others
  • Inability to remember important details about the trauma
  • Difficulty falling or staying asleep
  • Greater irritability than before the trauma
  • Extreme wariness (e.g., avoiding crowded places)
  • Being easily startled 

Other symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can include—Headache, fatigue, heart-pounding, sweats (especially at night), diarrhea, abdominal pain, muscular aches and pains, easy startle, and frequent urination. (Source: Brian B. Doyle, M.D., Georgetown Medical School)

PTSD is a treatable anxiety disorder.  Although many people have post-traumatic stress syndrome, there is no need to suffer from post-traumatic stress in silence.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment

Therapy for PTSD

  1. Quick REMAP & the REMAP process

    Highly Useful

Below are case examples of treatment results with Quick REMAP.  The first set of slides illustrates the treatment of war trauma survivors.  The second set of slides shows the results of treating a domestic violence trauma survivor.

Also, See REMAP Research with Trauma Survivors  This is a link to the REMAP Pilot Study with eight trauma survivors and the treatment results.

  1. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and  Reprocessing)

    Highly Useful

  2. Thought Field Therapy (TFT) Useful
  3. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Useful
  4. NLP (Trauma & Phobia Technique)Sometimes Useful

  5. Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) / Prolonged Exposure Therapy

    Sometimes Useful

  6. Cognitive Therapy

    Most useful after treatment with the therapies above or in combination with them

psychotherapist-counselor Steve Reed

Scheduling an Appointment

Steve is available for in-office appointments at his Richardson, Texas office that is centrally located on a line between north Dallas and southern Collin counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.

Call 972-997-9955 today for help with anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, depression, and stress relief. 

Please note that Steve has retired from PTSD and trauma work.

For evaluation and treatment

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