WEBVTT

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Patients often ask me,

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do I really think the medicines might help?

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And the evidence, both from research

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and just from my clinical experience over the past 10 years,

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is that yes, the medicines really do help.

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Now, the first thing I tell everyone is that the medicine

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is not going to cure the PTSD and make it all go away.

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That's not the purpose of the medicines.

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The purpose of the medicines is to turn down the volume

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on the symptoms so they're less bothersome,

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so you can get on with living your life.

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This is what I see when we can really

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get the medicines working for someone.

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I've seen the medications work.

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I've seen people walk through my door before we started

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the medications who weren't sleeping, who were angry,

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who felt on edge and disconnected from people,

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who came back in after we found the right medication,

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got them to the right dose, and they're talking about

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how they're sleeping.

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They feel rested in their morning.

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They feel like they have a new lease on life.

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They're able to get that job that they want

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and have that relationship with their family that they want.

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I've had several people who have gotten back to driving cars

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where before, maybe they had a car accident

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and they couldn't drive anymore.

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Or being able to go sit down in a restaurant

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with their kids and with their family

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and not feel like they have to run out of the restaurant.

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I've had people who are able to do things like

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just go to a beach, and fly, and go on vacation,

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and other places that they weren't able to go

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and things they weren't able to do

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because they now have the confidence

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and they know that "I can manage those symptoms."

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So PTSD steals a lot of things from you.

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And that's the biggest thing about PTSD,

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is that it really robs you of the life that you enjoy.

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And we want to help you get that back.