The Battle Against PTSD
By Kyle Gonzales
easily startled, feeling tense or “on edge”, having
difficulty sleeping, and/or having angry outbursts”
(NIMH 3). If you are feeling any of these
symptoms, it is time to get it treated.
As time goes on and we are starting to
understand PTSD more and more, different
treatments have surfaced and all have a way to
treat PTSD. Numerous treatments such as
cognitive
therapy,
exposure
therapy,
psychotherapy, medication, and group therapy all
have their own ways of treating PTSD. The
American Psychological Association and the
Department of Veterans Affairs have a broad
amount of information on what these treatments
can do. According to Veterans Affairs:
In cognitive therapy, your
therapist helps you understand
and change how you think about
your trauma and its aftermath.
Your goal is to understand how
certain thoughts about your
trauma cause you stress and make
your symptoms worse. You will
learn to identify thoughts about
the world and yourself that are
making you feel afraid or upset.
With the help of your therapist,
you will learn to replace these
thoughts with more accurate and
less distressing thoughts. You will
also learn ways to cope with
feelings such as anger, guilt, and
fear. (USDVA 1)
Animal therapy can go along with this treatment
and the Veterans Affairs have found that dogs can
actually help an individual with the disorder. The
VA has said that dogs are able to bring out
feelings such as love, can take commands, become
a great companion, relieves stress, and has the
ability for you to get out of the house to meet new
people (USDVA 1). Dogs are the most common
but I believe other animals can help as well.
If you were interested in a different kind
of treatment other than the cognitive approach,
maybe the exposure treatment is the best option.
The VA explains the exposure option, stating, “In
exposure therapy your goal is to have less fear
about your memories. It is based on the idea that
people learn to fear thoughts, feelings, and
situations that remind them of a past traumatic
There are many psychological disorders
that we all know of, but one that has become well
known recently is post-traumatic stress disorder,
or also known as PTSD. We are starting to
become familiar with this disorder due to some of
the recent conflicts we have been involved in,
such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Numerous men and
women who have served in the armed forces
return home having this psychological disorder.
The question and challenge we face is how can
PTSD be treated? What do we need to F