In the field of mental health, the phrase trauma-informed care refers to a set of standards practitioners follow when treating individuals who have experienced trauma. Trauma-informed care reduces the risk of causing inadvertent harm to or retraumatizing people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Understanding the basics of trauma-informed care can help you make the most out of your PTSD therapy.

One treatment for my posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) I am interested in is called emotional freedom technique (EFT). It’s a relatively new treatment – developed in the mid-90s – for various psychological issues and disorders. From what I have read about it, EFT for the treatment of PTSD symptoms seems to be gaining some momentum as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practice.

As someone who has posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), I am often on the lookout for alternative therapies for my PTSD recovery. I recently started reading up on the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies that are suggested for PTSD (Alternative Approaches to Mental Health Treatment). Even though I will not abandon the conventional PTSD therapies that are currently working for me (psychiatric care and medication), I think that using alternative therapies as additions to my treatment can be beneficial in my PTSD recovery.

Are you are interested in taking a closer look at how eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy works for recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? If so, I recommend a book I read recently, Every Moment of a Fall, A Memoir of Recovery Through EMDR Therapy, by Carol E. Miller. The book gives a first-hand account of what EMDR therapy is like and how it helps with PTSD recovery (see also PTSD Treatment: My Experience With EMDR Therapy). 

You hear more about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) now than ever before. However, have you heard these 10 things you should know about PTSD? 

My experience with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy started when eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) was suggested to me as treatment for my posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and I thought the process sounded like some crazy science fiction stuff from a movie set far into the future. I was supposed to watch some lights going back and forth while holding vibrating tactile devices and listening to ambient sounds, both of which alternated from right to left? What? And that was going to somehow, magically maybe, move my traumatic memories to some other part of my brain where they wouldn't be so intrusive and emotion-provoking? That sounds as crazy as I was feeling at the time, but I was desperate for relief from my PTSD symptoms and willing to try anything so I tried the PTSD treatment of EMDR therapy.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a posttraumatic stress disorder treatment. Treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be as varied as the types of trauma that causes it, and what works for one person may not be what works for another. In my experience with PTSD recovery, I found relief from my symptoms with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. EMDR is a powerful and effective PTSD therapy that helps the brain to reprocess past traumas differently, relieving the PTSD sufferer from often debilitating symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares and panic attacks.

Making the decision to take psychiatric medication to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be difficult. Even though PTSD is most commonly (and successfully) treated with a combination of therapy and medication, some of us are reluctant to take psychiatric medication as part of our recovery. There are many valid reasons for and against using medication as treatment for PTSD, and careful consideration and education are needed to weed through them. Talking to your psychiatrist openly and honestly is important in making the decision whether or not to use psychiatric medications as part of your PTSD recovery.

I have received enormous benefit to my PTSD recovery from the use of inner child exercises. Inner child exercises help heal the wounded child who lived for so many years within my body.  It was that damaged child who suffered the abuse that led to my posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When I was first presented the concept of inner child work, I thought it sounded silly. But in a time of great desperation, I tried it, with the most remarkable results. My PTSD recovery is greatly benefitted by using inner child exercises. Here's how they work.

Follow-through and healing after posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms arrive is tough as illustrated by a client who recently told me about his plans to begin learning transcendental meditation to reduce his anxiety and he blurted in exasperation, "I know what I have to do to heal! The problem is that even though I know what to do I can't seem to get myself to do it." This is a common refrain in recovery (and one I often said myself). Knowing what to do but not following through on doing it is one of the biggest problems in how to heal after PTSD symptoms settle in.