Written by Hulet Smith, OT
With the potential to shift your worldview, sense of self, and relationships, the effects of trauma can feel earth-shattering. Often affecting military veterans and far more common than you might think, around 70 percent of people experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetimes, and more than 8 million Americans 18 and over develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), from these experiences.
Manifesting as a range of symptoms that include hyperarousal, intrusive memories, and avoidance behaviors, PTSD also causes negative alterations in mood and cognition. Adversely affecting our younger population as well, up to 43 percent of children and teens experience at least one trauma, with up to 15 percent developing PTSD, or Complex PTSD (cPTSD).
As a disorder that develops from experiencing a scary, shocking, or dangerous event, anyone can develop PTSD at any age. About 6 out of every 100 people will experience PTSD at some point in their lives, with women at a higher risk than men. Combat veterans and people who have experienced or witnessed physical or sexual assault, abuse, an accident or disaster, and other serious events may feel a range of reactions following trauma. If the adverse reactions do not resolve over time, this can result in a PTSD diagnosis.
While not precisely curable, the symptoms of PTSD can be managed more effectively with time and effort, just like most other mental health conditions. While many people with PTSD require professional therapy and psychotropic medications to recover from intense and disabling psychological distress, others make significant healing strides by practicing self-soothing methods to cope with PTSD without medication.
While medications and various forms of psychotherapy are often used to treat this complex and debilitating mental health condition, self-soothing techniques have also been found to be helpful and may negate the need for medications in some cases. We highly recommend discussing your treatment plan with your healthcare provider before pursuing alternative treatments.
Generally appearing soon after a trauma event, PTSD symptoms usually begin within 3 months and can last for many years, especially when this condition is left untreated. Occasionally, the symptoms of PTSD don’t emerge until years afterward. Long after the trauma, stress signals from PTSD can affect how you think, feel, and behave.
There is a wide variety of psychological approaches utilized to treat PTSD that are often accompanied by psychotropic drugs, such as anti-anxiety medicines and antidepressants.
The 5 current types of therapy recognized by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration as being an evidence-based treatment for PTSD include:
Specific support groups for living with PTSD are also helpful, providing encouragement, like-minded camaraderie, and beneficial tips. However, you don’t need to wait for a medical appointment or join a support group to start feeling better. There are plenty of self-soothing practices for PTSD you can do right now to reduce anxiety and fear, cope better with symptoms, and take back control of your life.
Long acknowledged for its benefits in mastering the mind and coping with stress, mindfulness practices like yoga can help people better manage conditions like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Characterized as paying attention to the present, mindfulness modalities can help you focus on how you currently feel rather than lingering on how you felt in the past. Backed by clinical studies, mindfulness meditation has been shown to improve mental health outcomes, significantly reducing anxiety, depression, and stress.
Along with various breathing exercises proven to help minimize stress, grounding is another self-soothing skill that helps those with PTSD to calm themselves. Available in a variety of methods, grounding helps people to become more mindful, getting them more in touch with the world around them rather than being stuck in their heads.
Boosting the feel-good chemicals in the brain, exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever, distracting you during PTSD episodes while it also helps to prevent them. Because trauma memory is largely stored in the body, keeping the body active is a great way to alleviate stress and trauma. The most important aspect of incorporating exercise as a self-soothing tool for PTSD is to find an activity you enjoy so you will stick with it. Some studies show that engaging with greater amounts of exercise will yield the best mental and physical health benefits.
Just like regular exercise, getting good, restful sleep regularly enables your body and mind to function at their best, helping to better combat the symptoms of trauma and PTSD. Almost everyone who has PTSD is also affected by sleep disorders such as insomnia and nightmares. Although there are many prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs for sleep available, using more traditional, non-invasive approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and good sleep hygiene practices can help much more effectively over time.
As a relatively new development in the treatment of PTSD and other related conditions, specialized electrotherapy modalities are quickly gaining in popularity as effective treatment protocols for this disorder. These treatments include
Currently only FDA-approved for treating treatment-resistant Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), early studies show promising, if not yet proven results for its use in PTSD treatment. It is relatively safe with very few side effects, presenting a non-addictive, painless, and non-invasive treatment option that’s worth a try. Electrotherapy can be performed in clinical settings and with devices intended for use at home.
Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) such as art therapy or aromatherapy gives people with PTSD a way to externalize their emotions and find relaxation by providing the body and mind with sensory input outside of their traumatic experience. When it is adequately stimulated, the brain’s innate neuroplasticity enables it to repair or re-channel its pathways.
Creating or viewing art stimulates both of the brain’s hemispheres, arousing the motor cortex even when there is no movement involved. Combining art therapy with cognitive processing therapy has been demonstrated to reduce depression and PTSD symptoms, while it also helps participants to recover blocked memories and gain insights and realizations crucial for their healing process.
The essential oils used in aromatherapy can help people with PTSD, easing symptoms and often offering quick results through inhalation. Alleviating fear, panic, anxiety, stress, and depression, essential oils can also help reduce nightmares, rage, and sleep disturbances. Some studies show aromatherapy massage to be one of the most effective treatments for calming PTSD symptomology.
No matter how well we navigate our way through life and how strong and psychologically skilled we are, life can hit us all with shocking, unexpected, or traumatic events. Whether you’re struggling with PTSD or cPTSD learning self-soothing techniques can help. Empowering you with the skills you need to avoid or de-intensify meltdowns and panic attacks, the art of self-soothing helps you cope with PTSD without medication.
Thanks for taking the time to learn more about PTSD and the plethora of treatment options available! For more helpful articles on this topic or for information specific to caregivers, veterans, special needs families, seniors, and more, visit us at Caregiver University!
Co-founder/CEO of Rehabmart, Pediatric Occupational Therapist, husband, and father. Passionate about connecting special needs kids with superb nutrition, sensory integration, and complementary health strategies. Excited about Rehabmart's mission to become the premier online educational platform which empowers caregivers by spotlighting innovative devices and interventions to achieve optimal patient response and recovery.
