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Is this going to make me worse before it makes me better?

Dr. Ron Acierno, Clinical Psychologist, answers common questions about PTSD.

Transcript

Some of the common concerns that Veterans have told me

about are, one, is this going to work?

Or, after they start,

is this going to make me worse before it makes me better?

A lot of times when you do these types of treatments

that cause you to talk about and to re-experience exactly

that which you haven't been experiencing for a while,

you are going to feel the effects, you're going to feel

a little bit worse before you feel better.

Again, no pain, no gain, but the pain is on your terms

and at the level you and your therapist design.

These are not happenstance treatments.

They're very focused, and they're very scheduled.

So, we tell the Veterans, "This is what we're doing,

this is why we're doing it,

do you understand, and do you buy it?"

And if they do, we ask them to then explain it to their

spouses, explain it to other people in their environment

because they're going to perceive this stress,

and we want them to know why you're working so hard

and why you may not be feeling good all the time.

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