Finding the Right Treatment Plan

"Trauma treatment is different for everyone. There’s not a one-size fits-all recipe for trauma treatment. A lot of times I hear individuals say, ‘Well, therapy didn’t work for me.’ And, you know, that’s kind of common for a lot of people. But then I ask more questions in terms of, you know, ‘Did you have that experience?’ Things like that. And usually the individual says, ‘Yeah, I tried therapy, at least one therapist,’ but when choosing a therapist and going to therapy, you can always have a consultation with the therapist. Usually they’ll offer like a free 15-minute over-the-phone conversation, but also you could attend one or two sessions and kind of treat it as a job interview, because you’re the one sharing with the therapist. So, if you don’t like the therapist after 1 to 3 sessions, you know, shop around, find somebody that you are comfortable talking with, and that you think will be a good fit to help you through that trauma.

And then again, therapy is a confidential process where you’re able to vent your feelings. Other individuals have said to me that, you know, ‘I’m not ready to work on my trauma.’ They don’t want to get into it. And my response is, ‘Well, you could still go to therapy, and talk about other issues in your life.’ We all have other stressors. So, issues at work, issues in the family, things like that. So if you’re able to work on those issues, or even just vent your feelings, that will lower stress in other areas of your life and hopefully give you a little bit of relief.

There’s also medications, and I always tell people to ask questions about the medications that they are prescribed, because again, the medication isn’t going to work for every individual. It’s unfortunately not an exact science, so, you know, the psychiatrist, or doctor, may need to play around with the dosages or different medications. Also, unfortunately, people usually feel side effects of medications before they actually feel the intended effects. So, that’s why some medications, especially for depression, will take, you know, 4 to 6 weeks to, for the person to actually start feeling, you know, less depressed. But during those first six weeks, you might have those side effects. And a lot of times those side effects will go away, and that’s what you need to ask your doctor about.

So for me, medications did help a little, but the different type of medication called ketamine worked for me. There is a nasal spray, which is now FDA-approved, but for me, I had to do an IV ketamine treatment, and I had a great experience with it. It really helped with my depression, very quickly. Again, it’s not a one-size-fits-all, you know, recipe, so it might not work for you. But I would encourage you to keep trying, so keep looking for a therapist, and keep asking questions about the medications, because eventually, there will be some type of combination that will help you."