Treatment | PTSDLaurence Hirshberg2015-02-02T21:38:09-05:00
You have options for PTSD treatment. We will help you find the approach that is best for you.
In individual therapy at the NeuroDevelopment Center, you can build a strong, supportive, and truly collaborative relationship with one of our psychologists. We will help you understand your difficulties and implement solutions that work for you – solutions that last decades beyond the end of treatment. We won’t just listen, nod our heads, and sympathize. We will help you with the very hard work of change and growth. Working along with you, we can call upon our decades of experience and a very broad range of treatment strategies for trauma informed PTSD treatment, including:
Especially for children and adolescents, but also sometimes for adults, PTSD treatment may involve the family. Its critically important that other family members understand how trauma has impacted their family member. We can also help family members learn and implement some practical strategies for supporting or helping the family member with PTSD. In family therapy at the NeuroDevelopment Center, you will learn how best to help your child or other family member move beyond the trauma.
Heart rate variability biofeedback
There is a growing body of research showing the heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback is an effective PTSD treatment. Your heart beat is a great “stress-o-meter”. When you are stressed or “revved up” or in a negative emotional state, and your nervous system arousal is high, your heart beats in lockstep. The amount of time between heart beats changes very little. Heart rate variability is low. Studies have shown that HRV is low in people with PTSD. When you are calm and stable, and nervous system arousal is lower, the beat to beat interval becomes more flexible. HRV biofeedback training provides an easy and very concrete way to learn how to reshape these heart rate rhythms for increased calm and stability. A simple sensor on your ear or finger picks up your heart beat. The computer analyzes the interval between heart beats. During HRV biofeedback sessions we will help you learn to relax your muscles and your mind, and learn to slow and regulate your breathing. Once you learn the techniques in sessions in our office, you can also use inexpensive software at home to build your ability to recognize when you are bothered and rapidly regain your calm. (The image on the right shows a session in progress, with the more regular signal on the right half of the top section showing increased HRV.)
Neurofeedback, also called EEG biofeedback or neurotherapy, is a research proven way to help you improve your brain function through intensive brain training exercises. Early research has shown that neurofeedback is a very effective PTSD treatment. This experience has been confirmed in many neurofeedback treatment centers, including the NeuroDevelopment Center. Neurofeedback has consistently helped our clients feel calmer and less hypervigilant. It has helped them to let the past be in the past. And move ahead.
Learn more.
Its difficult to learn when you feel in danger. So kids with PTSD can be a handful at school. They are easily triggered. Studies have shown that trauma degrades attention, self-control, and many other aspects of executive function. Our psychologists can work with the staff at your child’s school to implement best educational practices with students with PTSD. Sometimes we are engaged by the school, sometime by parents. Our goal is to help build a strong collaboration between parents, students, and staff, so that your child feel safe at school, learn, and make friends.
