Prolonged Exposure Therapy

[hedgey]

My VA therapist is really pushing this Prolonged Exposure Therapy. He keeps telling me that PET is soooooo tremendously effective and that EVERY one of his vets who have been through it have had EXCELLENT results.

Now he's got a 'new' dvd from the VA that supposedly shows real vets talking about how much PET helped them (as opposed to the actors they had in the 'old' dvd...). He thinks that if I'd watch the dvd I'd feel more comfortable about going through PET.

I wonder if the VA made a dvd of real vets who talk about how PET has made them worse? Probably not.

[carlie]

This kind of therapy is like the therapy for phobias. However, PTSD is not a phobia. I don't trust the VA to do this therapy in the very slow and steady measures it might take. The VA uses the cookie cutter approach to everything. There is one cure for everyone according to the VA.

Ditto.

Prolonged Exposure Therapy is essentially a therapeutic way to ATTEMPT to

desensitize a person.

Live the trauma, over and over - inside and out, talk about it, write about it, think

about it, visualize it continually, in every way possible - by doing so it will all

become much to do about nothing. It will no longer have a negative effect on your daily life.

I wonder just how skewed the data and statistics on this type of therapy will get.

Perhaps the true results of PET therapy, was part of the statistical support the VA used to get funding

for the VA Suicide Prevention Hot Line - lol.

[clw4514]

at the advice of my therapist, i went thru this last yr. its typically an 8-12 wk program. i didnt feel good about it from the beginning at all!! since my husband is still AD, we were due to pcs in june. i expressed concern that i would be "dropped" once i finished it. they assured me that would not happen.

so, moving fwd with it not feeling as if i had a say in it....my nightmares increased to the point that my insomnia was at an all time high. my anxiety, short term memory loss & paranoia increased significantly. it had a serious impact on my family and not for the good. the VA increased my meds to help handle the symptoms. i would be so distraught after a session that i would have to sit in my van for hours b4 i could drive. i begged to stop. she pushed me to go fwd. i did. i ended up doing 16-17 wks instead of the typical 8-12 wk program. it was the 2nd wk of june when i finished. we pcs'd a wk later. it took me over 3 months to get into the VA out here in hampton even though memphis VA was supposed to have that taken care of for me so i wouldnt have to wait. when i finally got in to see the MH dept here, they were appalled at what i had been put through.

to sum it up, i had one of the most miserable summers with my husband and kids, im much more isolated, i dont have ANY outside social activities/friends/etc, my meds r increased, i have horrible short term memory to the point i forget entire days at a time. would i do it again? not a chance in hell! absolutely not! has it helped any aspect of my ptsd? the only thing i can say is i am now able to speak of my rape as if its a story on the side of a box. the price for that ease of speaking is my life. i feel as if it took more from me than it helped.

all this said, everyone responds differently. just thought i would offer my first hand experience with PET. best of luck with whatever choice u make. and if u would like, message me and i will answer whatever i can for u.

[john999]

The fact the VA dropped the ball on you is awful. They failed their mission big time.

[hedgey]

Clw, thank you so much for telling about your experience with PET. It echoes nearly exactly what I fear about it. The only difference is that I'm not worried about moving - what I expect to happen is another change of personnel at the VA. Since I started MH services with them I've had 6 different therapists and 3 different psychiatrists (plus I just found out last week that again, my PCP has quit the clinic. This makes 3 medical providers who have quit). Where I am there is a disturbing turnover of providers at the clinic and at the vet center.

My current therapist swears that he won't leave, that he'll be my therapist for at least the 5 years before he retires. I have a lot of trouble believing he has that kind of control over what the VA says about his position.

Clw, you say you can talk about your trauma, but are still haunted by it. Is that really what the whole target is of PET, that you can just blithely discuss the event and not become hysterical? How is that supposed to make the nightmares stop, the fear and anxiety stop, the guilt and shame stop?

So PET makes it so vets can easily discuss the horrible experiences without breaking down or becoming hysterical. Big whoop. That will come in handy when Dr. Phil calls us up and wants us on his show, right?

Heh, now that I'm thinking about it that way, maybe they're shooting themselves in the foot with this therapy. Imagine if hundreds of traumatized vets were suddenly able to go out and calmly tell what horrors they'd seen & suffered. Maybe start calmly describing the little details the recruiters forget to tell about.

[SANDMAN]

I did the program for 5 or 6 sessions and then i couldn't deal with it anymore. I had to quit . They get you to sign a contract stating you will give it your all and not stop. I had ( still am 18 months sober ) stopped drinking , i can't remember how many times i struggled with the drink while in this program . I was doing really well with not drinking before it. I had always used it as a crutch , so i wanted to fall back on it. Prolonged exposure works really well with things like OCD . I know it does because i went to the famous Menninger clinic and was treated with prolonged exposure therapy and it did help alot. My Dr's there also told me it will never go away, it will always be a struggle . Hope this helps .

Semper Fi Sgt Sandman