[mikekrohde]

I went through Prolonged Exposure for childhood traumas and the best metaphor is that it turned off the fight/flight switch. Temporarily. I have found through follow up that I can control that switch much better than I used to, but the success in therapy seemed to be the starting point.

[Open Eyes]

Oh that is great Mike, thanks for sharing that. I have not heard of that kind of therapy. It sounds like you are exposed to a troubling event until you can find a closure with it? Or maybe a closure with understanding what you did not see at the time? Like desencitation?

Open Eyes

[beauflow]

Way to go Mikekrohde Sounds like you found something that is working for you to get better That is always a great thing to read

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/...re-therapy.asp

It sounds like from the link above, that with assistance with exposing one that has had trauma to a similar trauma in life, but showing a different out come... is that close?

I am still not sure what PE is either, but it does sound interesting.

[SeekingZen]

That is great Mike! Can you tell us a little bit about Prolonged Exposure Therapy and how long it took to see some results?

[OnwardUpward]

Hi guys, I'm new here. I have PTSD due to childhood trauma and the added trauma of things that happened during 18 years of alcoholic blackout drinking (13 years sober now in AA). I too would like to know more about the therapy model you described. I went through massive trauma this year due to the addiction and mental illness of a family memebr and had to flee thousands of miles to be safe and start a new life. I am plagued terribly right now with trauma due to thosde events and I'm not sleeping - firmly into sleep deficit so I'm in a loop of the PTSD contributing to bad sleep and visa versa. I think he's coming to get me and kill me in the horrific way he threatrened - during the day as well. I'takew my psych meds diligently and am immersed in therapy and very proactive. I do everything suggested but it's not working right now. Any new suggestetions would be appreciated.

[ThisWayOut]

I have just recently learned about PE, and was having trouble finding more info on it. I went so far as to contact UPenn about it (since it was developed there). I wasn't really responding to much of the therapy except for EMDR, but then ended up moving away from my therapist that I trusted enough to go through it with... Would you say PE is generally helpful? Does it help to trust the clinician that does it with you (ok, stupid question, but I;m wondering if I would have to build up a relationship with the clinician before I started, or I could find a clinician and just start it up with them...)

[whirlwind1965]

Originally Posted by mikekrohde

I went through Prolonged Exposure for childhood traumas and the best metaphor is that it turned off the fight/flight switch. Temporarily. I have found through follow up that I can control that switch much better than I used to, but the success in therapy seemed to be the starting point.

Mike, I am not familiar with this type of therapy. Could you help me understand what it means?

[Heart2Heart1]

Originally Posted by mikekrohde

I went through Prolonged Exposure for childhood traumas and the best metaphor is that it turned off the fight/flight switch. Temporarily. I have found through follow up that I can control that switch much better than I used to, but the success in therapy seemed to be the starting point.

What do you do in that type of Therapy ? Thank You

[Rzay4]

Yes I too I'm very interested in learning what happens in this type of therapy!?

[Readynow]

I'm new to this (as of this very second) and I'm not understanding how this site works. Where are the responses from Mike to people's questions?

[seesaw]

This sort of sounds like the plan my therapist and I have developed for my 7 week medical leave.

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Originally Posted by Readynow

I'm new to this (as of this very second) and I'm not understanding how this site works. Where are the responses from Mike to people's questions?

It would be listed here along with what other people are writing such as yourself. He hasn't responded back to anyones questions.

[(JD)]

It always helps to have a trusted T!

Prolonged Exposure has been known as Flooding in the recent past.

The underlying theory behind flooding is that a phobia is a learned fear, and needs to be unlearned by exposure to the thing that you fear.
By definition, a phobia is an unreasoning fear to a non-dangerous thing or situation. Somehow this non-dangerous thing has become associated with the panic response usually associated with mortal danger. By forcing the phobic to confront their fear, therapists reason, they will learn that there is nothing dangerous about it.

It's intense and can cause setbacks, increased triggering and the like, imo.

I'd rather suggest Cognitive Behavioral therapy (which is exposure therapy "lite" imo )

[seesaw]

I totally agree. In fact, I.train dogs and flooding is now looked down upon. We instead look at slowly changing the emotional response by the dog to the stimuli and associating it with something possible. It takes a while but it is successful. .. sound familiar?

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