HELP FOR POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

When you experience something traumatic — such as combat, an assault, a terrorist attack or a serious accident — you are often left feeling powerless and scared. That’s when posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) starts taking over your life.

Some signs that you may have PTSD include the following:

• Avoiding activities you used to enjoy
• Avoiding situations that remind you of the attack or trauma
• Reliving the event through bad memories, flashbacks or nightmares
• Feeling anxious or hyper-alert
• Difficulty concentrating
• Feeling depressed and hopeless
• Feeling irritable and having emotional outbursts
• Having nightmares and/or difficulty sleeping
• Thinking that your family would be better off without you
• Withdrawing from loved ones

At the Road Home Program, we’ll listen to your story and work with you to find the best treatment possible to fit your individual needs. Your treatment options may include:

• Counseling: Cognitive Processing Therapy (CBT) is a form of focused talk therapy that has been proven effective in helping people recover from PTSD. Through this type of counseling, you’ll learn how your trauma affects the way you think and feel. CPT teaches you how to evaluate and change upsetting thoughts you have had since your trauma. By finding new ways to handle troubling thoughts, you can change how you think and feel; learn skills to help you deal with the problems in your life; and find a better balance between who you were before and who you are after the trauma.
• Integrative Health: We believe in the mind-body connection and seek to promote general health and wellness through a regimen of physical fitness, mindfulness-based stress reduction training and wellness practices.
• Group Therapy: The challenges of reintegration can make you feel isolated and alone. Support and encouragement from fellow military families help you realize you are not alone. This can be a very therapeutic and healing experience. Group members share practical tips and resources for dealing with common problems. It feels good to trade coping strategies with one another, soak up information and be in the position to help other people with your own challenges, fears, stories and successes.

Treatment can help you learn to understand and cope with the challenges you’re facing. The goal is for you to feel better about yourself, your life and your relationships.

The Road Home Program can help you begin to heal and:

• Explore your thoughts and feelings about what you’ve been through
• Work through feelings of guilt, blame and mistrust
• Learn how to cope with and control your memories
• Address the challenges PTSD has caused in your personal and professional life
• Meet other veterans who have been through similar experiences
• Find support from fellow veterans and dedicated health care professionals

When you ignore the symptoms of PTSD, it can begin taking over all aspects of your life. You may face some of the following challenges:

• Difficulty holding down a job
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Feelings of loneliness and isolation
• Fear in leaving the house
• Strained relationships with friends and loved ones
• Thoughts of hurting yourself or others

PTSD can have a devastating effect on your family. When you’re suffering with PTSD, your loved ones are suffering too. In fact, they may be experiencing similar symptoms to yours.

When suffering with PTSD, you may take out your emotions on your loved ones. You may:

• Withdraw from your parents, spouse and/or children
• Isolate yourself socially
• Fight with friends and family
• Become violent with the people who you love the most

The National Center for PTSD

Military OneSource