Doc said he posted a comment here the other day, but I don’t see it. Do you show comments on this post, or any?

Thanks.
- Matt

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is not caused by being exposed to a traumatic event or events, such as war, murder, rape, natural disasters or physical abuse. It is what you believe about the world and what you believe about yourself that creates PTSD.

This concept is not new. It is not the traumatic event or events that cause the problem. It is what you believe about the world and what you believe about yourself. Epictetus 55 – 135 AD said, “Men are not disturbed by things but by the view they take of them.”
There are two major ways of working with the traumatic pictures. Guided Visualization can be used to insert positive pictures. This technique has been honed to a sharp edge by Mervin Smucker Ph.D. and his fellow therapists at Medical College of Wisconsin. Guided Visualization works well in individual therapy.
A second way to create the positive pictures is through Psychodrama. For twenty years, I have held a free, Huge Group Therapy every Saturday morning with from 20 to 30 people in attendance. In Psychodrama, the client re-enacts the trauma but, this time, he/she takes back the power that they did not have during the original trauma or traumas. If it is a molest or rape, then a support belt is placed around their waist, leaving their hands and feet free.
Someone stands in front of them with a big pillow. Someone else plays the perpetrator “who is going to get you.” Other support people are standing up with the client and encouraging them to “fight back, hit the pillow, force the molester back.” The process of Psychodrama incorporates the whole body experience. It discharges the negative emotions and sets the person free to get on with their life.
Through both the processes of Guided Visualization and Psychodrama, the client creates a new and powerful picture of being in control which is next to the picture of the powerless, weak, helpless person. Now, when the negative pictures come up in the right brain, it also brings up a picture of strength and power. And, since the right brain does not know the difference between what is real and what is imagined, the sum total is zero.
The most successful therapy for PTSD must change both the left (logical) and the right (emotional) brain. The theoretical model that I have found to be best suited for this approach is the Cognitive> Affective> Behavioral approach. This model allows the therapist to conceptualize and focus on working with both sides of the brain.

M. K. Doc Downing Ph.D., LMFT
Doc@2GetHelp.com
http://www.DocDowning.info