Introduction
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition brought on by trauma. A trauma is a stressful event that makes a person fear for their or other people's life or safety. Trauma events that can lead to PTSD include physical or sexual abuse, assault, school or neighbourhood violence, natural disasters, car accidents, military combat, sudden loss, and more. An event can be a trauma for someone even if they don't go through the danger themselves. For example, seeing someone else be hurt or die from violence can be a trauma.
You can be rest assured that at Skooc, you and your family are in good hands.
Symptoms
Keep a look out for some of the following signs:
Bad memories or flashbacks to the traumatic experience
Remembering or re-experiencing the event,
Increased nightmares or insomnia
Avoiding things or anyone associated with the trauma, increased anger and irritability
Changes in mood, such as feeling sad, moody, angry, or detached
Withdrawing from friends and experiences they used to enjoy
Feeling more easily scared, anxious, jumpy, or easily startled
Having difficulty in school, including trouble concentrating and completing work
Feeling numb or depressed
Not wanting to talk about the traumatic event
Easily triggered by things that remind them of the traumatic event
If you notice recurring instances of a few of these symptoms, we at Skooc recommend a formal evaluation.
Diagnosis
At Skooc, we help you better understand what you are going through. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health counsellors have the experience to work with patients with PTSD. Treatment for PTSD can include therapy and/or medicines to help with anxiety, mood problems, and sleep issues.
In order for a mental health professional to make a PTSD diagnosis, symptoms must last for more than a month and be severe enough to interfere with daily functioning.
Physical exam: To begin a trauma assessment, a physician will do a full exam and ask in-depth questions about the young adult's general health to ensure that there are no underlying physical health issues.
Lab tests: While there is no lab test to determine whether a young adult has PTSD, tests will help rule out any other factors contributing to symptoms of trauma or co-occurring disorders.
Psychological evaluation: A doctor or mental health professional will inquire about your thoughts, feelings, behaviour, and personal history. Your answers will help pinpoint a diagnosis and identify any related complications.
Click here to take an assessment.
Next Steps and Intervention
Our team of professional psychologists at Skooc can help you by providing the necessary interventions. Therapy for PTSD is called trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT). This type of talk therapy uses talking and learning activities guided by a mental health therapist. It can help anyone who has been through a trauma, not just people with PTSD.
PTSD therapy often includes:
Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) activities: to help with thoughts and feelings about the trauma
Prolonged exposure (PE) activities: to help someone lower anxiety and learn to safely face things they avoid after trauma
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR): combined cognitive therapy with directed eye movements to reduce the power and pain of the trauma. This helps the brain reprocess memory of the trauma. There are therapists who specialize in this type of trauma therapy.
"My daughter lost 11 kgs across the Skooc program which was more than 10% of her body weight and has stayed in the healthy range of BMI since then. She now makes the right decisions regarding her foods and is aware of the effect of what she eats and her exercise on her weight.
Skooc has helped my daughter get into a great shape physically and mentally. She has lost more than 15 kgs and has improved her health metrics enough that she is no longer at risk of chronic diseases. The program worked with my daughter and me to help us understand how to correct what we were doing. Very importantly, Avi and I no longer fight over what she eats and what she does not.
My son has lost 15 kgs and I lost 10 kgs through the Skooc program. It was easily paced and did not ever restrict my child from eating anything that was essential. He had a balanced meal everyday and he and his counsellor agreed on a schedule that was easy for me to cook too. From a child who watched TV all the time and ate junk food, Ayaan is now an active child and a healthy eater who is very happy and confident with how he looks.
Manish was severely obese with a risk of contracting chronic conditions. After joining the Skooc program, he has lost over 15 Kgs and has started to exercises everyday for 45 minutes. He suffered from pain in the knees which has gone now and he is able to run and play with his friends. It has been 1 year since he started to lose weight and he is still in the process successfully losing wight and getting healthy.
Ria was teased very badly in school for being fat and would be very embarrassed about even going out. When we went to the doctor we were shocked to find out that she was very overweight and had high cholesterol. We joined Skooc and both she and I have dropped our extra weight and even after finishing the full course are able to stick with the habits we learnt at Skooc. We are both very happy with our new healthy bodies.
My son suffered from constant digestive issues and obesity. He found it very difficult to run and play due to his thighs being very fat and also he suffered from pains in his knees, hips. He also had trouble breathing after even walking a small distance. We joined Skooc because we had tried to put Jay on a diet before and it had not worked. At Skooc, he dropped 24Kgs and is now a teenager who was healthily and works out everyday. I personally dropped 16Kgs and now we are both very close to entering our ideal weight zone