Traumatic invalidation is a powerful and often misunderstood concept that can play a significant role in the development and maintenance of PTSD. In our latest P4P episode, we sit down with Dr. Robin Brody who shared her insights on what traumatic invalidation is and how it contributes to trauma responses, including PTSD.
I’ve had mixed experiences with group therapy in my clinical practice. There’s no doubt that groups offer unique benefits beyond individual therapy. But they can also be difficult to initiate, in terms of recruiting group members, conducting screenings, and finding a time (and location) that works for all. And, in my experience, the choice to offer a group can sometimes be made out of necessity, as opposed to being a thoughtful recommendation based on the particular needs of the patient(s)
A few months ago, I was treating a patient with PTSD, but after greater exploration of his distress, which included guilt, shame, and feeling betrayed by his military boss, we fleshed out that moral injury was a salient part of his clinical picture. Currently, there is no consensus in the field on the exact definition of moral injury, but one I like refers to it as “enduring psychosocial and spiritual harms following exposures to high-stakes events that involve transgressions of one’s deeply held moral convictions or beliefs of right and wrong through one’s own or others’ action or inaction, or perceived betrayal by those in positions of authority or trust” (Phelps et al., 2022).
The confidence to effectively treat comorbid substance use disorders and mental illness has always eluded me. I can competently explain the rationale for treating both concurrently and I happily collaborate with providers who can address significant substance use concerns. But the task of becoming familiar with effective treatments (such as medication-assisted treatment) feels overwhelming to me. This is unfortunate because the need for such expertise clearly exists.
In the world of treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) there seems to be an insatiable desire for new and novel treatments, and there is a frequent refrain that “We need effective treatments for PTSD!”