PTSD
Psychiatry, Therapy Services & TMS Therapy Providers located in Rio Rancho, Los Lunas and Albuquerque, NM
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can cause long-term anxiety, depression, and distressing flashbacks of the trauma that triggered your condition. Guadalupe Psychiatric and Mental Health Services in Los Lunas, Albuquerque, and Rio Rancho, New Mexico, has a team of caring mental health professionals who understand how devastating PTSD can be. Whether you develop PTSD symptoms soon after the trauma or they appear after many years, you can get the help you need at Guadalupe Psychiatric and Mental Health Services. Call your nearest office today or go online to schedule a PTSD assessment.
PTSD affects people involved in or witnessing a traumatic or life-threatening event. Terrifying or disturbing experiences trigger PTSD, such as:
War is the most well-known cause of PTSD, often affecting armed forces personnel involved in conflicts. PTSD can equally develop in journalists, aid workers, and residents in a war zone.
PTSD symptoms fit into four groups:
Intrusive thoughts include flashbacks, the most common and distinctive PTSD symptom. A flashback is a memory of the trauma so vivid you feel you’re reliving the event. Flashbacks happen any time, usually triggered by a sound or smell that transports you back.
You might have images of the event recurring in your mind and suffer from frequent nightmares.
Negative thoughts include anxiety, hopelessness, self-loathing, and survivor’s guilt — the feeling you should have suffered more or died. Depression is common in people with PTSD and may lead to thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
People with PTSD have problems like being on edge, unable to relax, quickly getting angry, and sometimes jumping at the slightest noise or when someone touches them. You might become overwhelmed by your feelings and turn to alcohol, drugs, or risky behaviors to relieve them.
Avoidance behaviors include not wanting to talk about the traumatic event and going to great lengths to avoid places, people, and anything that reminds you of your trauma.
The Guadalupe Psychiatric and Mental Health Services team uses medication and psychotherapy to help people overcome PTSD. Drugs change the brain’s chemical makeup, encouraging the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine to regulate your mood.
Psychotherapy gives you a safe space to explore your trauma and work through its effects. You can also use techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to reduce the severity of arousal symptoms and anxiety.
If your PTSD doesn’t improve with these treatments, Guadalupe Psychiatric and Mental Health Services also offers transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). This innovative, noninvasive therapy uses magnetic energy to improve communication between the cells in your brain that regulate mood.
Call Guadalupe Psychiatric and Mental Health Services today or book an appointment online to learn how the team can relieve the effects of PTSD.