Kogan Counseling specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD, providing expert care for survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence, and other traumatic experiences.
Helping Individuals with PTSD
With extensive experience in trauma work, Kogan Counseling helps individuals navigate the healing process by empowering them to share their trauma story with a sense of emotional mastery. In a safe and supportive environment, clients progress at their own pace, gaining a deeper understanding of their trauma reactions and responses. Through this journey, they reconnect with their true selves, identify triggers, and develop effective coping strategies to foster lasting healing.
Definition
What is PTSD?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that may result when an individual lives through or witnesses an event in which they believe that there is a threat to life or physical integrity and safety and experiences fear, terror, or helplessness. The symptoms are characterized by (a) reexperiencing the trauma in painful recollections, flashbacks, or recurrent dreams or nightmares; (b) avoidance of activities or places that recall the traumatic event, as well as diminished responsiveness (emotional anesthesia or numbing), with disinterest in significant activities and with feelings of detachment and estrangement from others; and (c) chronic physiological arousal, leading to such symptoms as an exaggerated startle response, disturbed sleep, difficulty in concentrating or remembering, and guilt about surviving the trauma when others did not.
Common Symptoms of PTSD
PTSD symptoms usually start soon after the traumatic event, but they may not appear until months or years later. They also may come and go over many years. If the symptoms last longer than 4 weeks, cause you great distress, or interfere with your work or home life, you might have PTSD.
Common Reactions
- Losing hope for the future
- Feeling distant (detached) or losing a sense of concern about others
- Being unable to concentrate or make decisions
- Feeling jumpy and getting startled easily at sudden noises
- Feeling on guard and alert all the time
- Having dreams and memories that upset you
- Having problems at work or school
- Avoiding people, places and things related to the event
Physical Reactions
- Stomach upset and trouble eating
- Trouble sleeping and feeling very tired
- Pounding heart, rapid breathing, feeling shaky
- Sweating
- Severe headache if thinking of the event
- Not keeping up with exercise, diet, safe sex or regular health care
- Smoking more, using alcohol or drugs more, or eating too much
- Having your ongoing medical problems get worse
Emotional Troubles
- Feeling nervous, helpless, fearful, sad
- Feeling shocked, numb, or not able to feel love or joy
- Being irritable or having angry outbursts
- Getting easily upset or agitated
- Blaming yourself or having negative views of oneself or the world
- Being unable to trust others, getting into fights, or trying to control everything
- Being withdrawn, feeling rejected, or abandoned
- Feeling detached, not wanting intimacy
