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It makes lives smaller and smaller.

Dr. Kristy Center, Clinical Psychologist, explains what PTSD is.

Transcript

So one of the main things that PTSD causes for people

is it just makes their lives smaller and smaller.

They start to avoid things that trigger the memory.

They avoid things that remind them or even avoid

things that will bring up strong feelings.

And so one of the primary mechanisms we work with

with Exposure therapy is to get people

out living their lives again.

And I can think of an example of a Veteran I worked with,

he was in Iraq, and one of the things that happened,

he lost a close friend.

And he had a lot of sorrow and sadness

about this close friend, and there was a memorial

to soldiers in that area of the country.

And by the end of treatment he was able

to go ahead, go to the memorial.

He could go look at his friend's honorarium

and spend time there, and it was very meaningful.

He also ended up doing a Google search and found

the homepage that the family members had set up,

and he could write something there.

Through doing this, he was terrified initially,

but it actually turned out to have a lot of meaning for him.

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