PTSD
« Previous EntriesResearch Shows that Hope Correlates with Outcome
Thursday, April 12th, 2012Issues discussed become critical in chronic disorders like PTSD symptoms resulting from childhood abuse. Self esteem, already severely damaged by abuse experiences, has been worn down further over many years of dysfunction, often to the point of despair. Hope and purpose are crucial to health, and psychotherapy research has shown […]
Unresolved Issues
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012Unresolved issues at various stages of life influence the patterns of symptoms, perceptions, and unmet needs that must be taken into account to offer an optimal therapeutic environment for healing in each case. The descriptive diagnostic categories we use today based on symptom lists do not help us to make the […]
The Case of Tommy Continued
Thursday, February 16th, 2012In Tommy’s case the developmental stages at which the traumatic episodes occurred defined the particular ways in which PTSD anxiety manifested itself, both the specific triggers that set off panic attacks and the character and consequences of PTSD anxiety in his life. While developmental factors are not always so crucial and […]
The Case of Tommy Continued
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012At age 18 months when Tommy had his heart surgery, most children have attained secure object constancy but their notions of cause and effect are still primitive and magical. They cannot distinguish clearly between fantasy and reality. It is the stage of omnipotent wishes and fears. If toddlers want something and […]
The Case of Tommy Continued
Thursday, January 26th, 2012After hearing his story, I immediately suspected that Tommy had been misdiagnosed and that his underlying problem was Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The ages of his hospitalizations were key to his specific PTSD symptoms. At age 8 months when Tommy was first hospitalized, most babies have bonded to their mothers or […]
Developmental Issues
Thursday, January 5th, 2012In the last century, psychoanalysts and researchers into cognitive development made major contributions to our understanding of the child’s inner life at various developmental stages. I am fortunate to have received training and supervision from child analysts in the clinical application of these developmental principles. A working knowledge of child […]
Psychological Integration
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011Less emphasized than catharsis in early psychoanalytic theory is the “working through” process native to all forms of psychotherapy that accomplishes the second step of psychological healing: the cognitive retraining required for integration of recovered memories into a mature and effective coping strategy for dealing with present and future stressful […]
Cronic Overarousal of the Sympathetic Nervous System
Thursday, October 20th, 2011By measuring levels of stress hormones secreted into the blood by sympathetic stimulation of the adrenal glands (chiefly epinephrine and cortisol), it has been possible to document the chronic overarousal of the sympathetic nervous system in PTSD and correlate it by brain imaging techniques with the reactivation of intrinsic traumatic […]
Neurobiological Treatment
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011The basic intervention strategy in the Physical dimension involves psychopharmacologic management of PTSD by minimizing symptoms through blocking or reducing the overactivity of the amygdala, the nucleus of brain cells that mediates the fight or flight reaction in response to a perceived threat. The classes of anxiolytic (antianxiety) agents prescribed […]
Abuse and Mental Illness
Thursday, December 9th, 2010In the presence of pre-existing neuropsychiatric disorders, abuse experiences can have a devastating impact. With additional complications that diminish the child’s capacity to cope. A child with a genetic predisposition to Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia, for example, is already supersensitive to stress, especially in relationship to others, and therefore will […]
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