Post-traumatic stress disorder, also called PTSD, is a mental health disorder with serious consequences for sufferers.
Finding an effective treatment for PTSD could make a significant difference in the lives of many people with this mental health condition.
Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy has been proven to help treat some of the symptoms of PTSD, especially depression.
As we learn more about the effectiveness of electromagnetic stimulation on the brain, we can see how this type of treatment is an effective option for those with PTSD.
Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is the first step toward treating this mental health condition.
PTSD is triggered by some type of traumatic event, either by direct experience of, or by witnessing, it.
Common triggers for PTSD include a disaster of some kind, combat, or surviving an assault.
It is entirely normal to have some stress reactions after an event such as this, but if your responses don’t go away over time, or if they significantly disrupt your life, you may have PTSD.
Witnessing or experiencing events that involve the actual or threatened death of you or another person, being seriously injured, or experiencing a sexual violation of any kind, can all lead to PTSD.
Not everyone who experiences such events will develop PTSD, and mental health professionals understand that this mental health condition is the result of a complex mix of many factors.
These include:
Anyone can develop PTSD, but some risk factors make it more likely that you will experience this condition after a traumatic event.
For example, if the trauma you suffered was particularly intense or long-lasting, if you experienced trauma when you were young, or if you already have mental health problems, you are at a higher risk of developing PTSD.
If your job exposes you to traumatic events, you are also at an increased risk.
And those who abuse drugs or alcohol, or who lack a supportive network of friends and family have an increased chance of experiencing PTSD following a traumatic event.
The most common triggers for PTSD include exposure to combat, physical abuse during childhood, any type of physical or sexual assault or violence, accidents, and being threatened with a weapon.
Natural disasters, a life-threatening medical diagnosis, and other extreme situations that cause you to feel as though your life is threatened, can lead to PTSD.
Effectively treating PTSD can reduce your symptoms and improve your ability to function.
Symptoms of PTSD may appear within a month of your traumatic event, but they may also appear years later.
Symptoms of this disorder can sometimes interfere with your relationships, your ability to work, or your ability to engage in normal, daily life.
Your symptoms may vary over time, and no two cases of PTSD are exactly alike.
Over time, your symptoms may improve, or they can become more heightened.
Any type of stress in your life can intensify PTSD symptoms, as can reminders of your specific traumatic event.
Most symptoms of PTSD fall into one of four categories.
They are: Changes to your reactions to events, negative changes in your mood or thinking, avoidance behaviors, or intrusive memories.
The stress of witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event may cause you to react physically and emotionally to various situations and people.
Some common reactions include:
PTSD symptoms may also include shifts in your emotions, or how you think as a result of the trauma you experienced.
Some common negative changes include:
When you experience stress after a trauma, you may try to avoid events, people, and places that heighten your stress, or that bring back unpleasant memories.
Avoidance behaviors can include refusing to think or talk about your trauma, and avoiding anything that reminds you of your traumatic event.
Experiencing trauma can sometimes cause you to lose control of your ability to block memories, or to control when memories influence your life.
Some people with PTSD may experience:
If you have experienced a trauma and have any of these symptoms for over a month, or if your symptoms are severe and interfering with your ability to live your life, you should see a doctor.
Talking with your physician or a mental health professional can help you identify your symptoms, learn techniques to reduce them, and know your options for treatment.
Having PTSD also places you at an increased risk for other mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts or actions.
If you have thoughts of harming or killing yourself, or if you know someone with PTSD who is struggling with depression, get help immediately from your local suicide prevention center, a spiritual leader, a mental health professional, or a close friend or relative.
Reducing your emotional and physical symptoms is the goal of PTSD treatment.
Getting help can improve your ability to function daily, and to cope more effectively with the traumatic event that led to your symptoms.
Conventional treatment for PTSD often includes psychotherapy, use of medication, or a combination of these options.
Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for PTSD, because it teaches you how to cope with your feelings of stress and to manage your symptoms.
Counseling can also teach you more about PTSD, as well as assist your family in learning how to help you with your disorder.
One or more forms of psychotherapy may be needed to help you deal with your feelings of distress, learn new and more appropriate behaviors with which to cope, and treat your feelings of anxiety or depression.
Your doctor may recommend medications, such as antidepressants or anti-anxiety medicines, to help treat your PTSD symptoms.
Common drugs prescribed for PTSD include serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), tricyclic antidepressants, atypical antipsychotics, and blood pressure medications to control specific PTSD symptoms.
Your doctor may recommend a combination of medication and counseling or psychotherapy, depending on the length, severity, and nature of your PTSD symptoms.
Recovering from PTSD can take some time, and is an ongoing process.
While most people never experience a complete remission of PTSD symptoms, treatment can help lessen the severity and frequency of symptoms, as well as teach you how best to handle them when they do occur.
If you have suffered a traumatic event, one way to keep the typical reactions to this type of stress from developing into PTSD is to seek help immediately.
Learning how to address your normal stress reaction can help you both cope and move on from your trauma.
By ignoring your symptoms, or hoping they will go away, you run the risk that they will fester and become more serious over time.
Talking about your difficulty with supportive family and friends can be helpful, as can talking with a mental health professional.
Even seeking the support of your spiritual or faith community can assist you in coping with the normal stress of trauma immediately after an event.
This support can help you deal with your stress and others emotions in a healthy way, and resist the urge to turn to unhealthy habits, like drinking or taking drugs.
Another effective treatment for PTSD is a form of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, which is often abbreviated as rTMS.
This form of electromagnetic stimulation uses magnetic fields to stimulate neurons, and alleviate or improve symptoms of depression, the latter of which is common in people living with PTSD.
rTMS is generally used when other treatments for depression have been unsuccessful.
During a session using rTMS, an electromagnetic coil is used to deliver repetitive magnetic pulses that stimulate various nerve cells controlling depression and mood.
This painless process improves your brain function, eases depressive symptoms, and improves your overall mood.
This therapy has been used for over 30 years to treat mental health disorders, including depression, psychosis, and anxiety.
rTMS differs from other forms of electric stimulation by targeting specific areas of the brain known to influence mood.
rTMS has been approved by the FDA to treat major depressive disorder in patients who have not responded to medication.
Typically, a session using rTMS lasts between 30 and 60 minutes.
An electromagnetic coil is placed against your forehead above the area of the brain thought to control mood regulation.
Short pulses of electromagnetic energy are then delivered through the coil, sending small currents to your nerve cells in this targeted region.
Research is currently underway to understand the effects of pulsed therapies like rTMS on PTSD, as well as these therapies’ efficacy when combined with other treatments, such as counseling and medication.
One study aimed at determining the effects of rTMS on PTSD was published in Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience in 2013.
Researchers sought to compare the effects of rTMS to those of sham stimulation treatments on the right prefrontal cortex of patients diagnosed with PTSD (1).
In this experiment, 18 PTSD patients were randomly assigned to receive either a sham treatment or a low-frequency rTMS treatment of 1 Hz.
The study period lasted three weeks, and patients were measured using a PTSD evaluation scale at baseline, as well as at two, four, and eight weeks.
Results show improvement in all patients receiving rTMS, including specific subscores on the measurement scale that indicate a reduction both in reexperiencing symptoms and in overall depression.
This means that patients with PTSD could see a reduction in their depression symptoms when treated with rTMS.
What about patients with other mental health issues besides PTSD?
A study published in Neural Regeneration Research in 2014 examined the use of this treatment in patients with PTSD, alcohol use disorder, and mild traumatic brain injury (2).
Because these disorders are frequently co-occurring, and one disorder can exacerbate the symptoms of others, it is important to find an effective treatment for all three simultaneously.
By reviewing the existing literature, researchers were able to determine that there is some evidence for using rTMS to treat each of these disorders separately with success, and more limited information to suggest that using it to treat all three at once would be beneficial.
While more evidence is needed, that which exists supports this conclusion.
Many sufferers of PTSD are combat veterans who also have a variety of physical problems from which they are also recovering.
For example, phantom limb pain (PLP) is frequently seen in those who have lost a limb due to some kind of injury, including those common in combat.
Researchers wondered if rTMS could be used to treat PLP by helping stimulate the sensory cortex, from which nerve pain derives.
One veteran was followed for the study, which was published in 2015 in Military Medicine (3).
He was given alternating treatment using rTMS at 1 Hz five times per week, then at 10 Hz for the remaining sessions.
After 28 days, the patients’ pain was decreased significantly, indicating that rTMS could be effective for treating other symptoms common in those who suffer from PTSD, including phantom limb pain.
In a 2014 review of the literature on rTMS to treat patients with depression, researchers assessed all of the relevant studies using various types of electromagnetic therapy to treat depression (4).
Their results, published in the journal Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, indicate that rTMS may be effective for treating some types of depression, especially those that are classified as treatment resistant.
This means patients have been unsuccessful at relieving their symptoms using other forms of therapy before trying rTMS.
Compared to sham treatments as controls, rTMS had positive effects.
Patients with PTSD also experienced some level of success.
Among the findings, though, was an acknowledgment of the lack of varied research on this topic, including how various frequencies, number of pulses, and number of sessions influence patient recovery.
Also, more needs to be known about the health status of the patients involved in these treatment groups, in order to make more generalized recommendations about using rTMS to treat depression.
The use of a type of PEMF known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation holds promise as an effective treatment for PTSD symptoms, including depression.
Those with PTSD often don’t respond to other forms of treatment, and rTMS has been shown to be effective in some patients who have depression and other symptoms caused by PTSD.
Richard Hoover is a PEMF expert and content contributor to PEMF Advisor. With a bachelor’s degree in physics and multiple certifications in natural health programs, he is one of the best PEMF experts around.
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