Case Study:Recognizing Symptoms of PTSD

Joan Courtney, C.Ht.

Note: For this study, the name of this client was changed at her request.

Quite often you as a hypnotherapist are able to help people with PTSD who would not ordinarily believe in trance work. This can happen even in casual conversations. To lay a foundation, PTSD is a cluster of symptoms coming from exposure to an overwhelmingly stressful event or series of events, such as war, rape or abuse. The new chapter added to the DSM 5on Trauma-and-Stress-Related Disorders identifies the trigger to PTSD as exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation. This experience must result from one or more of the following: 1) a direct experience to the traumatic event, 2) seeing the event in person, 3) coming to know the event happened to a close family member or close friend or 4) repeated or excessive first-hand exposure to negative aspects of the event. Reactive symptoms coming from the event must persist for one month.

Millie
The following is a case of a client I met while making a purchase while I was in a local store looking for a birthday gift. It was a slow day for this business, but Millie, the clerk, was busy stocking her products. As I made my selections, she told her story.

Background: This 46 year old woman was raised in a nearby ranch. As a result, she was strongly independent and sure of her convictions. Deep  inter-family connections were made during this time, for the family naturally depended on each other for ranch work. She was also highly resourceful, which served her in good stead later on. After leaving the ranch, she got a job and then met her husband. He was successfully working as a manager in a furniture store, making good money. The family consisted of her husband, herself and four boys.
Time went along, and the couple decided to begin their own furniture business. He had the managerial skills and she had the sales expertise. A local bookkeeper worked on finances, keeping them solvent and the business expanding. However, the recession hit hard and business began to falter. Pressures were mounting and finances were dwindling.
While this scenario was being played out, Millie’s 86 year old mother became very ill. None of the other family members were close by, so Millie was elected caregiver by default. Before work and after the business day had ended, she visited and cared for her mother. She had been existing on about 4 hours of sleep a night for over a year.

Triggering event: As the business failed, Millie’s husband became more angry and more despondent. Millie was working at the business, caring for her mother, taking care of the house and the four sons. Arguments became heated and frequent. One evening as they argued, her husband pulled out his revolver and put it to his head. He kept saying he wanted to end it all, that there was no use in going on. In the heat of the moment, she shouted, “Just go ahead. Do it!. (As she described this event to me, she had shifted into a deeper trance). Right in front of her, he shot himself, with his brain and skull spattering all over the front room of their home.

Resulting behavior: She described shock, disbelief/dissociation and guilt quickly overcoming her: shock that he would actually follow though with his threat, disbelief that it was his body lying there in the living room and guilt that she felt that she had caused his suicide to happen. For the next year, she continued to care for her mother with no respite until she died, while caring for her sons at the same time. Her home was foreclosed, forcing the family to move to a location in another part of town. Sleep was non-existent, and she was often visited by memories of her husband’s suicide. Because she had an aversion to crowds (typical for those with PTSD), she was unable to shop at the local grocery store. Constant fear that “something bad” would happen to her sons was a consistent companion.
Did she meet the criteria? Yes. Millie had direct exposure to the traumatic event (suicide by her husband), compounded by exhaustion. Resulting behaviors included: shock, disbelief/dissociation, guilt, grief, flashbacks, insomnia, fear of crowds and extreme concern for her sons’ well being.

What followed: While Millie was relating her story, she was in varying levels of trance. Open eye hypnosis was used, much to her relief. A simple Neuro Linguistic Programming process was also worked with her while I was at the store with good result. (Of interest, there were 2 other customers that had come in during this time. Millie waited on them, immediately dropping back into trance after they were gone.) A series of appointments was then made. At present, she is currently working in another store. She is content and pleased with her current life, sleeping well, enjoying a circle of friends and having good relationships with her sons.

Copyright 2013 Joan Courtney

To learn more about PTSD and how hypnosis and NLP can help: Hypnotherapy for PTSD: Discovering and Resolving Symptoms will be held on November 9-10, 2013 in San Diego California. The instructor, Joan Courtney, is a clinical hypnotherapist and a NLP practitioner. Throughout her practice, she has worked with veterans and others affected by symptoms of PTSD related to fire, earthquakes and physical/sexual abuse.

You can learn more about the training here: http://hypnosis-continuing-education.com/home-study-ce-courses/live-training-ptsd/