Understanding Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - Treatment

How Do I Know If I Have PTSD?

Diagnosis is based on a report of the patient's full history. This will include recent symptoms; a description of the event(at times, the event may have been forgotten, especially if it occurred during childhood); childhood, educational, and work experiences; and relationships with others. Other disorders that often accompany PTSD are depression, other anxiety disorders, and alcohol or drug abuse.

What Are the Treatments?

Various forms of psychotherapy are helpful in PTSD. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be very helpful. In addition, support groups let people with PTSD work through their feelings with others who have had similar experiences.

The goal of therapy is to encourage the patient to recall all details of the event, express grief, complete the mourning process, and get on with life. For children, this may involve play therapy.

A class of antidepressant drugs -- known as selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs (Celexa, Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft) -- help restore chemical balance to the brain and have been found to be very beneficial in the treatment of PTSD.