抑郁症，PTSE等的暴露疗法| Everyday Health

如果您经历了一场创伤性，改变人生的事件，您可能会惊讶地发现，这种创伤的一种治疗方法（暴露疗法）涉及一再恢复可怕的事件。

听起来比有帮助的更有害，对吗？但是，在接触疗法的治疗师的帮助下，一遍又一遍地经历恐惧的人实际上可以学会控制这些恐惧。

The technique is now being used to treat a growing list of health conditions that includes anxiety, phobias,obsessive compulsive behaviors, long-standing grief, and even depression.

暴露疗法的工作方式

Exposure therapy is sometimes referred to as a desensitization approach.People with PTSD, including combat veterans and rape and other assault victims, may experience nightmares and flashbacks that bring back the traumatic event. As a result, they avoid situations that can trigger similar memories, and become overly sensitive to these situations.

Edna B. Foa，博士, director of the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, explains exposurePTSD的治疗这对她的患者进行了这种方式：“我们将帮助您谈论创伤，以便您可以对其进行处理和消化，并使其完成业务。”

While you won't forget entirely about the trauma, she tells them, ''It’s not going to haunt you all the time."

Dr. Foa reassures her patients they won't be exposed to dangerous situations. She also tells them, "You are going to find out that you are stronger than you think."

一种lthough exposure therapy is considered a short-term treatment — 8 to 12 sessions is common — people with more severe conditions (and those with obsessive-compulsive behaviors) may need more time.

暴露疗法在许多情况下有效

ForPTSD, saysMatthew Friedman, MD, PhD，退伍军人管理局国家PTSD国家中心高级顾问，以及新罕布什尔州汉诺威市达特茅斯的盖塞尔医学院的精神病学，药理学和毒理学教授，“这是我们拥有的最好的治疗方法之一。”一种2007年医学研究所的报告还发现该技术对PTSD有效。

FOA出版了2005 study in theJournal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology这表明PTSD和depression symptomsin female victims of assault after 9 to 12 sessions.

和2014 study inJAMA精神病学found that adding exposure therapy to traditional talk therapy was more effective at relieving long-standing grief than standard therapy plus supportive counseling.

Effective, But Different, as a Depression Treatment

While research is still ongoing, some experts believe exposure therapy can be helpful严重的抑郁症，也。Depression and PTSDshare common features, like flashbacks and memory flooding, says一种dele Hayes, PhD，特拉华大学纽瓦克大学心理学教授。但是这两个条件也有一些重要的区别。

“With depression, it's not necessarily a trauma but a whole store of memories associated with being a failure, worthless, and defective," she says. A depressed person’s encounter with a rude clerk at a store may trigger thoughts that seem to back up their fears: that no one likes them, they are worthless, and so on.

In 20 to 24 sessions of exposure therapy, Hayes persuades her patients with depression to reexamine the events that trigger their ''worthless'' messages. Then she asks them to see if they can reinterpret them in a more positive light. Next, she helps them build up what she calls the ''positive emotion system."

But some people with depression may be fearful of having positive emotions, she says. Paradoxically, if they start to have hope, they may begin to fear that things may fall apart again, and get more depressed.

Getting Started With Exposure Therapy

FOA说：“前几个会议令人痛苦。”但曝光疗法的困扰通常仅持续三到四个星期。重要的是要关注您正在学习新策略的事实。例如，有人社交恐惧症或者可能会建议对公共场所的恐惧去繁忙的地方，例如超市。FOA说，起初很自然。但是，“如果您停留足够长的时间，焦虑将会减轻，”她说。“一开始，您担心自己将无法忍受它，但最后，您是赢家。”

弗里德曼说，作业是曝光疗法的重要组成部分，因此您还可以在会议之外进行练习。这可能包括聆听您对创伤的帐户的记录或执行可能触发事件记忆的任务。在下一次访问中，您将与治疗师讨论自己的经验。

在开始曝光疗法之前，请确保清楚地说明与您合作的治疗师的期望。

要找到曝光疗法专家，请首先向您的家庭医生询问转诊或联系组织美国心理协会或者一种ssociation for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies这可以帮助您找到一个。退伍军人可以联系其当地的VA诊所以获取更多信息。