Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (known as “PTSD”) defines the overwhelming symptoms and feelings that are associated with a traumatic event that has occurred. Women with PTSD typically have experienced a violent episode, rape, abuse from a family or friend, or even witnessed a traumatic event that goes on to affect them for the rest of their life. Many will not get the necessary help they need to recover from the trauma they have experienced.
The majority of our patients at New Directions for Women have experienced PTSD and struggle with the feelings they are having due to the trauma they went through. Women are far more likely to experience PTSD than men and account for about 85% of PTSD cases. They can struggle with finding ways to cope, often resulting in substance abuse and addiction.
Symptoms of PTSD
Women who experience PTSD from a violent episode, rape, attack, or another traumatic event will experience many symptoms that affect their daily lives. We see many women at our facility who use substances to cope with the unbearable symptoms that they are enduring every day.
Typical Symptoms of PTSD
- You relive the event through nightmares or flashbacks. You may have a racing heart or sweat profusely.
- Feel jittery, nervous, or tense. This may cause difficulty sleeping or concentrating on everyday activities like work, school, or other hobbies.
- Have negative thoughts and feelings that interfere with your daily life.
- Feel anger, guilt, or shame; or have more negative thoughts about yourself.
- You might feel empty or numb. It might be hard to show interest or happiness in activities you used to enjoy.
- You avoid situations that remind you of the event. For example, if you were in a car crash, you might avoid being in a car or at the location of the crash.
There are many symptoms associated with PTSD that can be broken up into different categories including avoidance, intrusive memories, negative changes in thinking, and changes in physical and emotional responses. Five out of ten women will or have experienced significant trauma in their life. Although women will experience different forms of trauma than men, the symptoms are generally the same. There are some symptoms of PTSD that are more common among women.
Avoidance
Avoiding the situation can enable someone to not have to deal with the traumatic situation. It feels better to not think about or discuss traumatic events that have happened.
Some symptoms of avoidance may be:
- Avoiding places, activities, or people that remind you of the event that happened
- Trying to not think or talk about the traumatic event
Intrusive Memories
Intrusive memories are common because the person is constantly thinking about the event that happened and reliving those moments in their memories. A woman who has experienced violence or rape may have memories of their assaulter that constantly haunt them. Some common symptoms of intrusive thoughts are:
- Severe emotional distress or reactions to something that reminds you of the event
- Upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event
- Reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again (flashbacks)
- Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event
Negative Changes in Thinking
Traumatic events can cause many changes in our brain, thinking, and cognitive awareness. Some of the symptoms can include:
- Feeling numb emotionally
- Having a hard time experiencing positive emotions
- Lack of interest in activities you once enjoyed
- Feeling detached from family and friends
- Difficulty maintaining close relationships
- Negative thoughts about yourself, other people, or the world
- Memory problems, including not remembering important aspects of the traumatic event
- Hopelessness about the future
Increased Arousal
Increased arousal and response may be present due to the traumatic event. Some other symptoms can include:
- Difficulty with sleep
- Excessive emotions
- Difficulty showing emotions or affection
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
- Easily startled or jumpy
- Increased blood pressure or heart rate
- Muscle tension
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
PTSD Health Affects
If left untreated, PTSD can cause many ill effects on our minds and body. If left untreated or cared for, PTSD can cause:
- Suicidal thoughts or actions
- Eating disorders
- Alcoholism
- Heart disease
- Depression
- Abuse of drugs or addiction
- Musculoskeletal conditions
- Chronic pain or other disorders
Risk Factors for PTSD
PTSD started to be diagnosed in war veterans due to the trauma they endured during combat fighting and war. Although the initial diagnosis was with war veterans, PTSD can happen to anyone, including children. Women are much more likely to develop PTSD than men and account for 85% of people diagnosed with PTSD.
“About 50% of women and 60% of men will experience emotional trauma sometime in their lives. But not everyone develops PTSD.” Women are also more likely to develop anxiety, depression, or other mental health disorders due to their PTSD. They often turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with the stress they are feeling constantly.
Factors that increase your risk of PTSD
- A lack of social support from family or friends
- Working a job that may expose you to traumatic events (the military or emergency medicine)
- Having a close family member, such as a parent, with a mental health problem, like PTSD or depression
- Having other mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety, or a substance abuse problem
- Previous experience with trauma, like childhood abuse
Women with Trauma and PTSD
“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) resulting from aggravated assault, rape, or noncrime trauma affects over 4 million women in the United States, according to retrospective studies.”
After a traumatic event, both men and women experience symptoms that are related to PTSD due to their trauma. Women are more likely than men to have been assaulted in the past or to have sustained an injury by a relative or someone they know, but less likely to have used substances at the time of the assault or to require emergency surgery.
“However, epidemiological studies have yielded higher rates of PTSD in women than in men in general populations, and there are also a number of gender differences in clinical presentation after trauma.”
PTSD and Addiction
Women who have experienced PTSD will turn to alcohol or drugs to cope with the intense feelings and symptoms they are having daily. They may not receive the help they need to treat their addiction problem. Many times, PTSD and addiction go hand in hand and must be treated together. Our staff at New Directions for Women specialize in treating these disorders and have experience working with women who have an addiction and co-occurring PTSD.
Treatment for PTSD
The negative effects that PTSD causes can be debilitating to a woman’s life and future. They may experience constant graphic memories, feeling nervous or tense, anger or guilt, or feeling empty and numb. These feelings can severely disturb the person’s life, causing them to suffer daily.
The main goals of treatment are:
- Improve your symptoms and allow you to live a happier life
- Teach you coping strategies to help with your PTSD
- Restore your self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence
Types of Treatment
Prolonged Exposure Therapy
Many women wait too long to get the treatment they need for their PTSD and trauma. Prolonged exposure therapy may be able to help cope with the feelings around a previous traumatic event. With individual sessions that consist of around 90 minutes each, our therapists can help the person work through the feelings and confront them to heal.
Holistic Care
It’s important to understand the connection between our bodies, minds, and our spirit during our holistic spiritual care. Our healing treatments, including our bio sound lounge, mindfulness meditation, and acupuncture services, are available to provide a calming atmosphere for our patients to heal during their recovery. These services help to build internal comfort during the quiet time we are not processing our trauma.
Services for Children and Families
We offer services for the entire family, including children up to the age of 12. Our program understands the need for a mother to stay with her children while she is going through the recovery process, along with needing additional support from her family. We have individual and family therapy options available to our patients.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR therapy has been known to help women recover much more quickly from PTSD and trauma than from traditional counseling or talk therapy. It uses bilateral stimulation to change the meaning of painful events which allows the person to recover from their trauma.
PTSD can cause a lot of problems such as insomnia, lowered self-esteem, and painful or unpleasant emotions dealing with the past.
Treatment is used for these goals:
- Improve your symptoms
- Teach you skills to deal with it
- Restore your self-esteem
Prolonged Exposure Therapy
If you have been avoiding the event and the thoughts around it, prolonged exposure therapy may be able to help. With sessions that consist of around 90 minutes each, the therapist can help the person work through the feelings and confront them to heal.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Through EMDR you don’t necessarily talk about the trauma that you experienced, but the feelings that surround it. EMDR therapy has been proven to be successful for women and helps them heal much more quickly than traditional talk therapy. It uses bilateral stimulation to change the meaning of painful events which allows the person to recover from their trauma.
“the goal is to be able to think about something positive while you remember your trauma. It takes about 3 months of weekly sessions.”
Children’s Services
New Directions for Women Treat the entire family and the special needs of children. Fetal alcohol syndrome can cause a multitude of problems and health concerns such as learning disabilities, developmental delays, and other disorders.
Our program includes services for mommy and me bonding, family, and individual, and plays therapy. Family involvement is essential in treating this disease and it is an integral component of the recovery program.
Treatment at New Directions for Women
At New Directions for Women, we meet and treat every individual and are committed to serving ALL women. This means we treat all backgrounds, situations, and ages. We know the importance of including family members during recovery, which is why we offer children’s services, family counseling, and family 12-step principles.
Our program has been proven to be effective because it allows women to recover with other women. Women have different needs than men, and addiction treatment modalities should reflect the needs of the women in our program. The reason for these differences is biological and sociological.
Contact our caring intake coordinators for more information about our rehab for women in Costa Mesa. We are happy to verify your insurance benefits and answer any questions about treatment.
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