Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) develops after a person

experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. Children and adults with

PTSD feel stressed, fearful, and nervous long after the danger passes.

PTSD can cause a severe decline in emotional regulation and function,

leading to difficulties in school, at work, at home, or in relationships. We

can help.Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) develops after a person

experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. Children and adults with

PTSD feel stressed, fearful, and nervous long after the danger passes.

PTSD can cause a severe decline in emotional regulation and function,

leading to difficulties in school, at work, at home, or in relationships.

We can help.

The team of board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioners and

psychotherapists at Owl & Eagle Health and Wellness are highly skilled

and experienced in treating PTSD, including cases that haven’t responded

to standard treatment. Our holistic treatment plans for PTSD combine up

to date psychiatric interventions, specialized psychotherapy, and evidence

based integrative care to maximize treatment efficacy. These treatments

can treat your PTSD symptoms while helping you improve your overall

health and wellness. For expert assessment and holistic psychiatric

treatment for PTSD in children, teens, or adults, either in person at our

offices convenient to the Denver Metro area, or via telehealth throughout

Colorado, Contact Us with questions or Book Now to request an intake

appointment today.

PTSD Q&A

How common is PTSD?

About 70% of people will experience a traumatic

event during their lifetime. An estimated 20% of people who experience a

traumatic event will develop PTSD, but the actual incidence may be much

higher, because many people who have PTSD never get diagnosed or treated.

Why should I seek treatment for PTSD?

PTSD causes problems

with mood, anxiety, sleep, and interpersonal interactions. Untreated or

inadequately treated PTSD can be debilitating, making it difficult to work

and engage in your regular activities. Fortunately, effective treatment for

PTSD is available. With treatment, people with PTSD can recover and live

healthier, happier, more satisfying lives.

What causes PTSD?

PTSD can be precipitated by exposure to any event that causes or has the potential

to cause serious physical injury, severe psychological harm, or death.

PTSD can occur after exposure to violence, physical or sexual abuse,

sexual assault, serious accidents, severe illness, unexpected death of a

loved one, famine, natural disasters, terrorism, or war. Complex PTSD can

develop in situations where trauma occurs repeatedly over a long period

of time, such as child abuse or domestic violence. Whether or not a

person who experiences a traumatic event will develop PTSD is related to

the severity of the trauma, whether they had experienced a previous

traumatic event, whether the trauma was repeated or prolonged, how

close they were to the traumatic event, and their relationship with the

victim or perpetrator. People are at particularly high risk for PTSD when

they experience rape, severe physical assault, or war. People who are

exposed to trauma related to their occupation, such as soldiers, police,

corrections officers, firefighters, EMTs, and other health care workers, are

also at very high risk for PTSD.

What are the symptoms of PTSD?

Symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, intrusive thoughts, vivid

memories which can feel like re-living the trauma, feeling agitated and on

edge all the time, constantly looking for signs of danger, having an

exaggerated startle response, mood swings, and emotional dulling or

numbness in some situations and difficulty controlling emotions in others.

PTSD symptoms can start immediately after a traumatic event, or even

months or years later. Symptoms can worsen with exposure to triggers,

which are people, places, and situations that remind the person of the

traumatic event. Sometimes people with PTSD can outwardly appear to

be participating in activities as usual, while inwardly feeling disengaged,

disconnected, and alone. They may feel like things are not really

happening, or like they are happening to someone else and not them.

Sometimes people with PTSD aren’t able to engage in normal activities at

all. In some cases, people with PTSD may wish they didn’t exist, or may

have thoughts of harming or killing themselves. PTSD can present

similarly to other psychiatric disorders, such as depression or bipolar

disorder, and sometimes people have other psychiatric conditions as well

as PTSD. Accurate diagnosis can be essential to creating an effective

treatment plan. The board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioners and

psychotherapists at Owl & Eagle Health and Wellness have extensive

experience and expertise in diagnosing and treating PTSD. How is PTSD

treated? At Owl & Eagle Health and Wellness, our team of board certified

psychiatric nurse practitioners and psychotherapists treat PTSD with a

holistic approach, combining medications with psychotherapy, nutritional

psychiatry, and other integrative treatments including dietary changes,

vitamins, supplements, stress management, sleep hygiene, exercise,

yoga, meditation, and breathwork. We provide highly specialized types of

psychotherapy for PTSD including Somatimotor Therapy and Eye

Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Medications that

are frequently used to treat PTSD include antidepressants, anxiolytics,

sleep medications, and medications for specific symptoms like

nightmares. Most medications for PTSD have very manageable side

effects, that typically resolve in the first weeks of treatment. Genetic

testing can help identify which medications are more or less likely to be

effective and well tolerated for you. For cases of PTSD that don’t resolve

with these treatments, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics

can be added to the treatment plan. These augmenting

strategies can be highly effective for treatment resistant PTSD. The

majority of patients we treat for PTSD are able to effectively control their

symptoms and achieve meaningful recovery, improving their function,

mental and physical health, and quality of life.

If you would like to learn more about psychiatric evaluation and holistic psychiatric treatment for PTSD for children, teens, and adults at Owl & Eagle Health and Wellness, Contact Us with questions or Book Now to request an intake appointment today. Appointments are available either in-person in our offices in Golden or Denver, Colorado, convenient to the Denver Metro area, or via telehealth anywhere in Colorado. We look forward to meeting you!