Abstract
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a psychophysiological disorder, characterized by chronic sympathetic nervous system activation; persisting perceptual/sensory vigilance for threats; recurrent distressing memories of the event, including intrusive memories, flashbacks lived as if in the present moment, and nightmares; and a persisting negative emotional state including fear and shame. The psychophysiological basis for this disorder calls for psychophysiologically based interventions. This chapter presents the case narrative of a 29-year-old national guardsman, exposed to combat trauma, and later to civilian trauma in public safety work. His treatment followed the Pathways model, comprised of multi-modal interventions, beginning with self-directed behavioral changes, then the acquisition of skills (including self-hypnosis), and finally professional treatment including clinical hypnosis and EMDR.
This chapter is adapted with the permission of Taylor and Francis from a previous version which appeared as: D. Moss (2017), The frustrated and helpless healer: Pathways approaches to post-traumatic stress disorders. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 65(3), 336–352. doi.org/10.1080/00207144.2017.1314744.
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TF-CBT is a form of psychotherapy, which is empirically supported by extensive outcome research (Seidler & Wagner, 2006).
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McGrady, A., Moss, D. (2018). Pathways Approaches for Post-traumatic Stress Disorders. In: Integrative Pathways. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89313-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89313-6_8
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