Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a condition that occurs following a physical or emotional trauma that is severe beyond the normal amount of physical or emotional stress experienced by most people across most of life's stressors.

The condition is characterized by recurring symptoms of hyper-arousal (sweating, racing heart, nausea, light headedness, etc.), recurrent and intrusive memories of the trauma (in dreams or in wakefullness) that are often triggered by unconscious associations that remind the person of the event (startle from a loud noise of a car back firing that sounds like a gun, loud hum of an airplane that was associated with a plane crash, smell of sweat or a person's breath that was associated with the body odor of a rapist, etc.).

This condition untreated becomes internalized as depression and may lead to suicide.
Post Traumatic Stress Disoder is a common sequence following events that may include the following:

• Rape
• Motor Vehicle Accident
• War or battlefield exposure
• Exposure to violence or abuse
• Observation of a casualty or tragedy totally unexpected

How can Dr. Kohn help you?

Dr. Kohn uses a variety of evaluation forms and both Assessment and Treatment Tools in his Practice. He uses a Holistic view of the patient and the problem. Dr. Kohn uses a Biological-Psychological-Social framework to assess your symptoms because he knows that the proper diagnosis leads to proper treatment.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment:
Often a combination of psychotherapy and SSRI class of medication is very helpful. The SSRI class of medication includes Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro. New research suggests that Prazosin, a centrally acting anti-hypertensive medication, may prove helpful in the treatment of the "over arousal" of the "Limbic system" that characterizes this condition during the day as well as during sleep.