Therapists can help people with PTSD to construct ways of coping with the hyperarousal and painful flashbacks that come over them when they are around reminders of the trauma. The trusting relationship between patient and therapist is crucial in establishing this necessary feeling of safety. Medications can help in this process also. It can profoundly affect their basic assumption that the world is a safe and predictable place, leaving them feeling alienated and distrustful, or else anxiously clinging to those closest to them. Group therapy helps people with PTSD to regain trust and a sense of community, andto regain their ability to relate in healthy ways to other people in a controlled setting.
Most PTSD treatment is done on an outpatient basis.
Occasionally too, inpatient treatment can be very useful in helping a PTSD patient to get past a particularly painful period of their therapy. The recognition of PTSD as a major health problem in this country is quite recent. Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are working hard to disseminate this understanding, and an increasing number of mental healthprofessionals are receiving specialized training to help them reach out to people with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in their communities. Copyright 1988 American Psychiatric Association Produced by the APA Joint Commission on Public Affairs and the Division of Public Affairs. This document contains the text of a pamphlet developed for educational purposes and does not necessarily reflect opinion or policy of the American Psychiatric Association.