Long-Standing PTSD: Two Treatments May Renew Hope

PTSD sufferers now have new treatment options. Too few sufferers know about them.

Source: Bialasiewicz/fotosearch.

Manny had been one of those fellows whom everyone loved. He was fun, smart, a loving husband, a great dad, and super-competent at work.

Then came the war.

While fighting as a soldier has many challenges, one episode, in particular, proved too potent for Manny's brain. When his unit suddenly found themselves surrounded and cut off from communications with their support network, Manny was the one who volunteered to brave enemy fire, crawl out from their bunker, rescue their radio equipment, and signal for help.

Manny saved the lives of his fellow soldiers. At first he too seemed to have survived fine. However, several years later the impacts of that event resulted in a total inability to function. The smallest movement, sound, commotion, or everyday stress would set him off into a rage state.

Now, fortunately, new treatment methods for PTSD are emerging from research. For Manny, two in particular have proven to be helpful: hyperbaric oxygen therapy and stellate ganglion block. These treatments have given Manny:

• Better sleep
• Less jumpiness and quickness to anger (emotional hyper-reactivity)
• Decreases in anxiety, panic attacks, and depression.
• More ability to connect with others
• Better memory and concentration
• Intimacy and sexual function improvement

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy utilizes pure oxygen to accelerate healing, It has most often been used to treat conditions like decompression sickness or gangrene. Is it possible that oxygen treatment could help with PTSD?

Researchers at Israel's Tel Aviv University and the Shamir Medical Center studied brain scans of Israeli soldiers whose wartime traumas had left them with long-term PTSD. As they reported in the scientific journal PLOS One, the scans showed physical damage in the hippocampus and frontal lobe regions.

Because of this organic brain damage, talk therapies have often been insufficiently effective. PTSD brain damage likely needed physical healing for the emotional wounds to heal, they argued.

In the initial round of testing, which involved 65 war veterans with major PTSD, before- and after-treatment brain scans showed major improvements in both the hippocampus and the frontal lobes. The study was small, and more research is needed to confirm the therapy's effectiveness, but the results are promising.

Hyperbaric treatment increases the supply of oxygen to the brain to activate the creation of new blood vessels and neurons. The oxygen infusion reactivates stem cells and causes them to proliferate (grow more). The oxygen also stimulates the production of new blood vessels, thought to result in increased brain activity and restore wounded tissues to normal functioning.

Treatments are conducted in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, where atmospheric pressure is higher than sea-level pressure and the air is rich with oxygen.

Stellate Ganglion Block

Stellate ganglion block treatment consists of an injection directly into the stellate ganglion nerve cluster. This cluster is a star-shaped bundle of sympathetic nerves in the neck, formed by the fusion of lower cervical and upper thoracic ganglia,. The injection results in a calming of the parts of the brain system that the trauma has caused to become over-reactive.

The results have been impressive enough that there are now over 50 stellate ganglion block treatment centers across the U.S. where this treatment is being done. (I have listed a number of the published studies in the reference section below.)

Additional New Alternatives

Energy therapies lie outside of the conventional mental health methods of treatment. At the same time, in my own clinical experience working along-side energy healers, I have seen amazing results from several treatments in particular: Acupoint Tapping (also called EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique), Emotion Code, Brain-spotting, and Somatic Experiencing.

Research reported in non-conventional journals also corroborates what I have seen with my own eyes.

In a large-scale study of 5,000 patients with anxiety, 90% of those who received acupoint tapping improved, compared to 63% in the CBT group. Moreover, EFT (acupoint tapping) required fewer sessions to achieve results. Improvements were maintained at one-year follow-up. Similarly, when measured against the standards of the American Psychological Association’s Division 12 Task Force on Empirically Validated Treatments, EFT is found to be an “evidence-based” practice for relieving multiple disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Similarly, a study published by Hilaris Publisher on treatment with the treatment method called Emotion Code for PTSD found that it too significantly decreased symptoms in participants. I personally regularly refer to a local Emotion Code healer for treatment on my clients whose difficulties go beyond what my talk therapy methods can resolve.

Brain-spotting is yet another new technique for ptsd treatment. While I have been told by its practitioners that this methodology yields impressive results, I have not yet personally observed the use of this technique.

The good news is that many mental health professionals have learned how to do these impressively effective treatment methods. A web search for practitioners in your area of practicianers who utilize these methods is likely to yield useful information. Note too that these techniques can be administered over the internet as well as in person. In addition, several, especially acupoint tapping, can be learned and used as self-help.

Somatic experiencing treatments such as are taught by Ricki Bernstein also have been yielding impressive results in calming clients whose PTSD has rendered them less able to function normally. When I recently viewed a video of these techniques in action I was strongly impressed by their efficiency and effectiveness.

The Bottom Line for PTSD Sufferers

The good news is that the new treatment methods described above not only show promise. They also already are being offered across the globe. And thanks to ai search and zoom treatment options, many of the treatments are now accessible to anyone, anywhere.