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Eat a healthy diet, exercise, and try to get enough sleep. When you're stressed, you're more open to illness. Eating a well-balanced diet and getting enough sleep can help you stay well. Regular exercise can relieve depression and stress. Try relaxation methods. These can include full-body relaxation or breathing exercises, meditation, stretching, yoga, listening to quiet music, and spending time in nature settings. Join a support group. Being in a group with other people who have PTSD may help reduce isolation.
It can also help rebuild your trust in others. Stay away from negative coping actions. These include using drugs or alcohol, workaholism, violent behavior, and angry intimidation of others. These may seem to help by giving quick relief. But they worsen the illness and make recovery more difficult.
Get involved. The primary treatment is psychotherapy, but can also include medication. Combining these treatments can help improve your symptoms by:. Several types of psychotherapy, also called talk therapy, may be used to treat children and adults with PTSD. Some types of psychotherapy used in PTSD treatment include:.
Your therapist can help you develop stress management skills to help you better handle stressful situations and cope with stress in your life. All these approaches can help you gain control of lasting fear after a traumatic event. You and your mental health professional can discuss what type of therapy or combination of therapies may best meet your needs. You may try individual therapy, group therapy or both.
Group therapy can offer a way to connect with others going through similar experiences. You and your doctor can work together to figure out the best medication, with the fewest side effects, for your symptoms and situation.
You may see an improvement in your mood and other symptoms within a few weeks. Tell your doctor about any side effects or problems with medications. You may need to try more than one or a combination of medications, or your doctor may need to adjust your dosage or medication schedule before finding the right fit for you.
If stress and other problems caused by a traumatic event affect your life, see your doctor or mental health professional. You can also take these actions as you continue with treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder:.
The person you love may seem like a different person than you knew before the trauma — angry and irritable, for example, or withdrawn and depressed. PTSD can significantly strain the emotional and mental health of loved ones and friends. Not everyone who goes through something traumatic will develop this condition, but for those who do the symptoms can be debilitating and long-lasting. PTSD causes recurring memories and flashbacks, nightmares, lack of interest of activities, avoidance of any reminders of trauma, isolation and detachment, and significant impairment in normal activities and functioning.
Not everyone who goes through trauma will develop PTSD, but some groups who have higher rates include veterans of combat service in the military, first responders, victims of sexual assault, and women. Treatment for PTSD is essential—this is not a condition that will resolve on its own.
People with PTSD require professional support, especially therapy, to see improvements. The main focus of treatment for PTSD is therapy, but medications are often a helpful component of an overall plan. Patients with PTSD benefit from specialized types of therapy, including trauma-focused behavioral therapies and exposure therapies.
These force the patient to face traumatic memories but also give them practical tools to use to cope with these memories. In addition to therapy, some patients with PTSD may get some relief from medication. Medication alone is not adequate treatment for PTSD, but it can be a useful supplement. The most common types of medications used for PTSD are antidepressants. These drugs help improve mood, decrease anxiety, and make it easier to concentrate and even sleep. Anti-anxiety medications may also be used but less often.
A newer drug called prazosin may help minimize or stop nightmares. These treatment measures, along with positive interactions with friends , support groups, healthy lifestyle choices, good medical care, and other factors can help most people living with PTSD feel better. It takes a commitment to the treatment process, which can be difficult because of the necessity of facing frightening memories, but ongoing professional support can lead to recovery.
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