Psychodynamic Therapy in the Treatment of PTSD

A number of treatments, includingcognitive-behavioraland psychodynamic therapy, have been developed to help people recover from the effects ofpost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

If you're seeking treatment for PTSD symptoms, it's important to understand the difference between the two forms of therapy. Get the facts on both with this review.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapies for PTSD are based on the idea that problems arise as a result of the way people interpret or evaluate situations, thoughts, and feelings, as well as the problematic ways these evaluations cause people to act (for example, through avoidance).

创伤后应激障碍的认知行为疗法有暴露疗法，应激接种训练认知加工疗法，behavioral activation接受和承诺疗法。

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

创伤后应激障碍的心理动力学方法集中于一些可能影响或导致创伤后应激障碍症状的不同因素，例如幼儿时期的经历（特别是我们对父母的依恋程度），当前的关系和人们所做的事情（通常是在没有意识到的情况下），以保护自己免受因经历创伤事件而产生的令人不安的想法和感觉（这些“事情”被称为“防御机制”）。

Unlike cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy places a large emphasis on theunconscious mind在那里，令人不安的感觉、冲动和想法，对我们来说太痛苦了，无法直视。尽管这些痛苦的感觉、冲动和想法超出了我们的意识范围，但它们仍然影响着我们的行为。

例如，他们可能会导致你避免与某人开始一段关系，因为这段关系可能会带来一些痛苦的感觉。因此，正如认知行为疗法一样，心理动力疗法也希望带来行为的改变。只是去那里的路不同而已。

How Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Works

要改变症状或行为，就需要与那些痛苦的无意识的感觉接触并“努力克服”。为此，心理动力学治疗师将帮助患者认识到正在使用的防御机制，它们是用来做什么的（以避免由于创伤经历而在潜意识中产生痛苦的感觉），并联系和适当地释放那些之前被避免的感觉和想法。

For example, over several sessions, a psychodynamic therapist may notice that a patient is denying the extent to which a traumatic event has impacted her life.否认是一种常见的防御机制，可以用来保护人们免受他们无法应付的事情的伤害。

Likewise, a therapist may notice that a patient is expressing anger and putting blame on family members even though they haven't done anything to deserve it. In this case, the therapist may interpret this behavior as a sign that the patient is actually upset with and blaming herself for the traumatic event. Since this anger and guilt is too difficult to cope with, it is expressed toward others. This defense mechanism is referred to as "displacement."

In both of these cases, the therapist would interpret the patient's behavior and share this interpretation with the patient.

Studies on Effectiveness of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

创伤后应激障碍的心理动力学治疗尚未像认知行为治疗那样广泛研究。然而，已经进行的研究表明，心理动力学心理治疗有很多好处。

例如,心理动力学治疗的研究PTSD have shown that after therapy, people report improvement in their interpersonal relationships, fewer feelings of hostility and inadequacy, more confidence and assertiveness and reductions in PTSD symptoms and depression.

你应该使用哪种疗法？

这个问题的答案是基于你r personal preference. Both cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy can have benefits for someone with PTSD. Cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic therapists, however, take different approaches to the treatment of PTSD, and some people may prefer one approach to the other.

治疗is going to be the most effective if you buy into the approach and have a good relationship with your therapist. So it is important to shop around and find the best fit for you. You can find PTSD treatment providers in your area throughUCompare医疗保健as well as the美国焦虑症协会.