feel good

Author:Aya Rosen

Our troops are returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and many of them are experiencing PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). This is an awful mental health condition that can be extremely difficult to overcome. According to a new study, many of these veterans are also being prescribed opioid painkillers to help them cope with their PTSD. This type of painkiller can be very harmful and addictive giving our veterans even more to cope with.

What is happening, unfortunately, is that if a veteran is diagnosed with any sort of mental illness, like PTSD or anxiety disorders, alcohol or drug abuse, or even depression, their doctors are more than likely going to put them on to oxycodone or hydrocodone, which are extremely powerful opioid painkillers. There has been a tremendous increase in the usage of these painkillers to treat any pain suffered by our veterans. The pharmaceutical companies, or Big Pharma as they are known, are no doubt ecstatic about this as if serves to line their pockets. But, my concern is what the long term effect is going to be on these patients?

With an increase in the prescriptions for these opioid drugs comes the chance of misuse or abuse. We’ve just recently, very sadly, lost a national treasure in Whitney Houston, most likely from the abuse of drugs such as these. It seems to be a plague among celebrities as they have easy access to these drugs because of their fame. Opioid drugs are the most common drugs found whenever someone dies of a drug overdose or negative interaction of these drugs with alcohol. These deaths are mostly unintentional which is why more attention needs to be paid to the prescription of these drugs in all cases.

Watch this video where Dr. Peter Selby, Clinical Director of CAMH’s Addictions Program, talks about opioids use and dependence.

I don’t think the dangers of these drugs are explained thoroughly enough to PTSD victims or any patient for that matter who is being given these drugs.

I hope that anyone who is suffering with PTSD, or has a loved one who is, will do their own research and learn all they can about these drugs before they become addicted and suffer the worst consequence of accidentally overdosing and losing their life as a result.

Yoga

Author:Maxxmara

Post traumatic stress disorder treatment primarily consists of psychotherapy and or medication, or both. We are all different, so there is not one magical treatment that works for everybody. Your mental health care provider should be someone who has experience treating post traumatic stress disorder. Along with your mental health care provider you will find what treatment works for you and your symptoms.

In some cases, the patient is continuing to experience the trauma such as being in an abusive relationship so both the situation and the PTSD need to be attended to at the same time. In others the traumatic experience is over and the residual effects are what you need to deal with.

Check out the video below where a patient with PTSD from the effects of the war in Iraq speaks about his treatment;

Sometimes therapists make patients revisit their traumatic experiences in order to help them learn to deal with their PTSD. In this video a therapist is using a virtual traumatic scenario instead of the traditional Talk therapy to help a soldier deal with his PTSD;

Children are also victims of PTSD for example if they have been abused in any way or if they have experienced trauma by witnessing a nasty divorce of their parents just to name a few examples. Others are shown in the video and it’s important to be aware of these so that we can help the children in our lives whenever possible. Warning: This video is difficult to watch because of the fact that it is innocent children involved but also due to the graphic nature of some of the pictures.

Many people falsely believe that post traumatic stress disorder arises out of your experience being in or around war only. There are many other life situations from which you might get this disorder as a consequence. Some examples would be rape, psychological or physical abuse, death of a loved one, divorce and many more. The earlier it is recognized and diagnosed the better off you will be as treatment can begin immediately.

From this video below you will learn some of the symptoms to look out for with this condition.

Post traumatic stress disorder requires you to have a good support system in order to move on. This could be friends, family, co-workers, and healthcare workers. As with any type of stress, there can be good, positive methods of handling this situation and there are also bad or negative ways to handle it which, in the long run, hurt you overall.

Get your Post Traumatic Stress Disorder solutions at Amazon today.