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Does your adopted child suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused from early trauma? Trauma that happened before you ever met your child may be adversely affecting your parent-child relationship. Most adoptive families try numerous techniques to help their affected children. Living with a person who suffers from PTSD can be difficult for the entire family making some families feel desperate for help. Parents of children with PTSD tend to get a little excited when we hear about a new treatment. At least those of us with eternal optimism do. The cutting-edge treatment for PTSD sufferers may be virtual reality psychotherapy combined with medication.
The study lead author, Barbara O. Rothbaum, a professor of psychiatry, and director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta is very optimistic. She indicated that using virtual reality people are able to confront their fears in a therapeutic way. Preliminary study findings with Iraq war veterans in their twenties and thirties are positive. Two-minute video clips provided imagery, sounds, and the computer-generated a 360-degree virtual experience including vibrations, smells, and smoke specifically tailored for each veteran.
According to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, post-traumatic stress disorder affects over 7 million American adults. Do you find it interesting that numbers are not given for affected children? Perhaps it would be impossible to estimate do to a lack of reporting by parents and doctors. However, a significant number of older-adopted children suffer from PTSD caused by early trauma.
A person may develop PTSD following exposure to physical harm or even just the threat of physical harm. Victims of rape, violent assault, traumatic accidents, and war veterans may develop PTSD. Medications help manage the symptoms of depression and anxiety but they are not a cure. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has been used to help sufferers with the disorder.
The researchers are optimistic because young patients are interested in virtual reality and therefore, may participate in that type of therapy when they refused other types. Results of the virtual reality treatment were measure immediately and then periodically. After six months, all of the veterans benefited from therapy with a 75 percent decrease in startle.
Photo Credit Pixel Drips’s photo stream uploaded October 10, 2005 honduras, tegucigalpa
Source:
HealthDay
