Sometimes people who have experienced or witnessed deep traumatic events may find themselves having significant emotional distress even years afterwards. This condition, originally observed in war veterans is referred to as post traumatic stress disorder. Various methods including medication and psychotherapy sometimes in combination have been used to treat the condition. Below are some of the therapy techniques used to manage post traumatic stress disorder.

Cognitive behavioural therapy

Post traumatic stress disorder cognitive behavioral therapy is by far the most effective technique of managing the disorder. The treatment focuses on identifying distortions on thought, perceptions and behaviour and how they are related to traumatic events. This is usually achieved in weekly sessions lasting from 12 to 16 weeks that can be done either singly or in a group. Specific post traumatic stress disorder cognitive behavioural therapy techniques include;

• Cognitive processing therapy- Often, traumatic events cause a change in personal beliefs and thought patterns. This technique aims at identifying this kinks then, evaluating whether they are in fact supported by evidence. It helps patients move past this stuck points of misconceptions that are preventing recovery.
• Prolonged exposure therapy- Sometimes people resort to avoidance of all reminders of traumatic events in order to protect themselves. While this may prove effective in the short term it usually delays recovery. This technique, with the aid  of imaginary exposures and recall enables patients to repeatedly confront traumatic memories and develop better means to handle them.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing- In this technique, people are instructed to concentrate on a back and forth movement or a sound while thinking about a traumatic event. The resulting elevation in emotion and intellectual process is thought to be responsible for relief experienced.

Stress inoculation training

These techniques teache the patient some coping methods to deal with stress related to traumatic events. It aims at helping users react differently in such situations