On Grey's Anatomy the other night, there was a lot of unsaid references to PTSD and how those who have it can need to address it. On the show (my wife got me hooked), there was a shooting and some people were hurt or killed. One character, Yang, who has been portrayed as a "no nonsense" surgeon, was afraid to perform surgeries...so much to the point that she laid on the floor during her first surgery back after being cleared by the pshycologist. Another character on the show, Karev (sp?) almost died in an elevator, so after the shooting incident, he would refuse to take the elevator but instead would run up and down the stairs.
What I found interesting was actually two things. The first was that some characters encouraged those such as Yang and Karev to "face their fears." The other thing is actually a dumb one, but I liked the reference: the title of the show contains the word "Grey", obviously. My doctor says that I have a LOT of black and white thinking...and I should probably state that this is true...and that I should try more thinking in grey.
Anyway, I have noticed on different shows that PTSD has been either the primary or the background focus. It was very interesting to me in Grey's Anatomy to see that the method recommended to address the PTSD was that of facing the fear/issue directly. This seems to me to be exactly in line with the specific type of therapy that I am doing through the VA...Cognative Processing Therapy (CPT). Althought this isn't exactly 100% exposure therapy, it DEFINITELY requires the patient, like me, to face the primary trauma experienced, much like Karev being forced to take the elevator until he wasn't afraid or like Yang being forced to perform a surgery, a surgery similar to the one that she associated with her trauma.
I am not an expert on CPT, or any time of therapy. I am also not a fan of the exposure philosophy. However, I CAN say that this type of therapy has greatly helped.
