At Phoenix Rising Recovery center, our PTSD treatment program in California can bridge the gap between comfort and healing. When you live through something frightening, painful, or disturbing, the memories can haunt you for a long time. This often leads to abusing drugs and alcohol to numb the pain, which can result in addiction. If you’re stuck in this cycle of PTSD and addiction, then it’s important to turn to a rehab center offering trauma-informed care. Don’t hesitate to call our PTSD treatment center here in Palm Springs, CA to get your questions answered about our program and what additional options you may have.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health disorder triggered by witnessing or experiencing a terrifying event. Although it’s normal for everyone who goes through a traumatic event to feel distressed by the event. PTSD is diagnosed if the distress lasts for months or years and interferes with daily life.
When we go through a traumatic or life-threatening experience, it’s normal for our bodies to activate the “flight or fight” response. This response helps us deal with an overwhelming situation. So, this is a healthy response to protect ourselves. However, this often results in avoidance symptoms, intrusive thoughts and memories, and severe emotional and physical reactions to triggers. You may feel sad, upset, or frightened for a while, but after some time the pain goes away and life returns to normal.
When you suffer from trauma, the fight or flight response becomes seriously damaged. After the traumatic event, the body and mind don’t go back to normal. The mind goes on overload and PTSD symptoms start to develop.
You might find that the trauma you experienced is impossible to get over on your own. Additionally, you may feel a range of overwhelming emotions and physical symptoms such as:
Sometimes it’s hard to understand that these signs are actually PTSD because the trauma may have been experienced years ago. It could have occurred in your childhood and it is almost impossible to recognize what is causing your life to become unraveled.
PTSD is treated with a combination of medication and different therapies at our California treatment center. Mental health programs often incorporate anti-depressants as well as experiential and evidence-based therapies in order to facilitate full-body healing. These therapies can also be used when PTSD co-occurs with addiction. These therapies include:
Most people who are struggling with addiction have also experienced serious past trauma. This occurs most often because of patients self-medicating to relieve symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This includes depression, anxiety, and panic.
The disorder affects up to 7.7 million Americans each year. It’s usually associated with military veterans, but it’s also common in those who’ve been through abuse, robberies, car accidents, shootings, and other frightening scenarios. If you’re struggling with an addiction, you may have PTSD and not even know it. Examples of the correlation between PTSD and addiction include:
It used to be thought that to treat PTSD, you had to first treat the substance abuse. It was also suggested that to effectively treat a substance use disorder, the PTSD needed to be treated first. Unfortunately, this thinking continues in some places. However, research shows clearly that when you have a dual diagnosis (mental and substance use disorder at the same time), the best treatment centers focus on treating PTSD and addiction at the same time.
Depending on the severity of the substance abuse, you may need to go into a detox program to withdraw from the addiction. Medically supervised is the safest way to detoxify your body. Withdrawal symptoms can be extremely painful and life-threatening. It’s important to have medical personnel in case of an emergency.
Residential treatment programs are the most intense programs. You will live at the treatment facility with 24-hour medical supervision, away from the people and places that might trigger a relapse. Your days will be structured with therapy, support groups, and holistic activities.
PHPs are a lower level of care than the residential program. You will spend most of your days at the treatment facility but you will go home at the end of the day. This level of care can also be used as a step-down from the residential program. It’s important that you have support at home and a plan to stay away from people and situations that might trigger a relapse.
People suffering from PTSD and addiction can be treated in an outpatient program. As usual, it depends on the severity of your symptoms. In an outpatient program, you will attend therapy sessions, etc. at the treatment facility during the day, but you will be able to go home in the evening. You won’t attend as many hours or days as in PHP. This treatment program could also be used as a step-down from PHP. The longer you stay in some sort of continuing treatment, the better your chance at long-term abstinence.
To help transition back into a drug-free life, some people will find a sober living home to be the next best step. A “sober home” is a residence with people who are all in recovery from substance use disorders. It’s somewhat structured in that there are rules of the house, residents are assigned chores and sometimes required to have a job.
It’s time to reclaim your life. Help is available, recovery is possible, and you are capable—so do not let PTSD hold you back. We are dedicated to getting you the PTSD and addiction help you deserve at our treatment centers in Southern California. Call us or use our contact form today to begin your recovery journey.
There is a multitude of benefits associated with the comprehensive drug rehab care we offer in sunny California. The most noteworthy of these is living a life free of the harmful physical, mental, and social effects of addiction.
Further benefits of receiving treatment at our drug rehab in Southern California include the following:
These benefits are why our programs lead to successful outcomes for many in recovery. By offering varying levels of care, therapies, and amenities, we have something for everyone in recovery.
