Beyond The Couch With Dr. Sally Nazari

Overview:  We’ve been taking a closer look at the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD. We’ve discussed an overview of what happens in PTSD and explored in more depth how people with PTSD are impacted by the re-experiencing cluster of PTSD symptoms. We’ve also explored more thoroughly what the hyperarousal set of challenges we see in PTSD bring on for people. Today, we are going to look at the third symptom cluster, avoidance. Avoidance symptoms represent an effort to withdraw from certain situations that bring about body-level distress of trauma-related symptoms. What We’ll Learn: As part of our protective mechanisms, human beings have a tendency to withdraw from pain. With PTSD, since our experience is that this terrifying, disruptive event is truly a danger to us in the here and now, our natural mechanisms to pull and move away kick in automatically. Avoidance symptoms represent an effort to withdraw from certain situations that bring about body-level distress of trauma-related symptoms. We can