Post Traumatic Disorder

CASE 4 STUDY:

As Joanne and her boyfriend become more affectionate and intimate with one another, Joanne has started to have flashbacks about an uncle who touched her sexually when she was only eight years old. She is distancing herself from her boyfriend. Although she has been sexual with other men, she says she can’t stand to let herself be sexual with someone she loves and trusts. She startles easily and reports a general increase in anxiety. She says that she thought she had gotten over it.

Joanne is suffering from Post Traumatic Disorder. The recommended treatment required for Post Traumatic Disorder would be Cognitive Behaviorial Therapy.

Through this kind of therapy Joanne is going to have her negative thoughts and flashbacks replaced with healthier ones, that she would spawn with her therapist. Some Cognitive Behavioral therapies are more oriented towards cognitive interventions while some are more behaviorally oriented. In cognitive oriented therapies, the objective is to identify and monitor thoughts, assumptions, beliefs and behaviors that are related and accompanied to replacing negative emotions and to identify those which are dysfunctional, inaccurate, or simply unhelpful