Integrative Treatment of Emotional Traumas

This chapter examines the heterogeneity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reviews the controversy over traumatic triggering events, and explores the complexities of the disease including clinical presentation, comorbidity, and the role of social support. Conceptual models for PTSD are also detailed. PTSD has a highly individualistic clinical presentation, which lends itself to the holistic nature of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). In this chapter, CAM treatments that have demonstrated clinical utility and research support are reviewed. These approaches include mindfulness, Chinese medicine, the Neuro-Emotional Technique, biofeedback, animal-assisted therapy, yoga, plant-based medicines, and cannabis. The chapter addresses those who want to understand and treat PTSD.