This website will not go into much detail about how to treat PTSD, or how to treat ourselves for this Cultural PTSD, but two sections on treatment are explored in some detail in the book.
The main focus for this web site right now is disseminating the overall theory of Cultural PTSD. That is, typical trauma based reactions seen in individuals with PTSD appear to have close corollaries at the cultural level. And these responses are greatly contributing to our social problems. I hope that people can see the correlations, and that the ideas will start percolating through more people.
The second priority is to suggest that how we are dealing with our problems is not working and a shift to compassion based strategies is long overdue.
Having said those things, treatment for PTSD is getting more and more effective.
Recognizing the Problem Is Key
Initially, the most important work in helping people resolve trauma comes when people actually start to put the pieces together that there are reasons for the symptoms they have.
When people can (finally) see how they have developed typical symptoms (such as distrust or hyper-competitiveness) to try to protect themselves, they are then -at last- able to address issues more consciously.
When we are clear about the root motivations or mindset level assumptions we hold, we can choose more consciously. We can begin question whether our needs for -say- safety are at reasonable levels or if our fears are outsized and can be scaled back a bit. There is no reason why we can’t do this more systematically and consciously a cultural level as well.
Again, specific treatment ideas and how to incorporate already existing treatments and Trauma Informed Care protocols are explored more thoroughly in the book, but a preview can be found here.