WEBVTT 00:00:00.036 --> 00:00:02.916 A:middle It starts off with just a lot of information for you 00:00:02.916 --> 00:00:04.146 A:middle about the treatment. 00:00:04.146 --> 00:00:06.866 A:middle You get to talk about what PTSD is, 00:00:06.866 --> 00:00:08.396 A:middle hear about what you're going to be doing 00:00:08.396 --> 00:00:10.276 A:middle and why you're going to be doing it. 00:00:10.276 --> 00:00:13.326 A:middle You even learn a way to relax by taking some deep breaths 00:00:13.326 --> 00:00:16.196 A:middle and being able to slow down your breathing a little bit. 00:00:16.196 --> 00:00:19.876 A:middle And then the next two parts of it are starting to 00:00:19.876 --> 00:00:21.636 A:middle confront the things that you have probably been 00:00:21.636 --> 00:00:24.106 A:middle putting a lot of time and energy into avoiding. 00:00:30.206 --> 00:00:32.926 A:middle An in vivo exposure is going out 00:00:32.926 --> 00:00:35.156 A:middle and doing something in real life, 00:00:35.156 --> 00:00:37.806 A:middle in vivo just means doing something in real life, 00:00:37.806 --> 00:00:39.226 A:middle that you have avoided. 00:00:39.226 --> 00:00:42.156 A:middle So it can either be something that reminds you about the trauma. 00:00:42.156 --> 00:00:44.866 A:middle It can be something that makes you really anxious or fearful 00:00:44.866 --> 00:00:47.576 A:middle and so you've decided not to do it for a long time. 00:00:47.576 --> 00:00:49.786 A:middle Or it can just be something that you used to enjoy 00:00:49.786 --> 00:00:52.856 A:middle that you haven't put into your schedule for a while. 00:00:52.856 --> 00:00:55.316 A:middle You know, something like fishing, or going to the beach, 00:00:55.316 --> 00:00:57.546 A:middle or, you know, going out to a restaurant. 00:00:57.546 --> 00:00:59.886 A:middle And then what people find is that 00:00:59.886 --> 00:01:02.246 A:middle when they actually go in the situation and approach it 00:01:02.246 --> 00:01:06.196 A:middle from a different perspective and stay in the situation, 00:01:06.196 --> 00:01:10.126 A:middle their heart rate calms down, their anxiety lowers, 00:01:10.126 --> 00:01:13.286 A:middle their paranoia kind of lessens a little bit. 00:01:13.286 --> 00:01:17.646 A:middle And you'll see that you can have success if you allow yourself to 00:01:17.646 --> 00:01:21.976 A:middle go into a situation, even if it makes you nervous. 00:01:21.976 --> 00:01:25.606 A:middle If you stay in that situation, your anxiety will go down. 00:01:25.606 --> 00:01:27.936 A:middle And if you do it over and over again, 00:01:27.936 --> 00:01:30.566 A:middle pretty soon you won't be anxious in that situation. 00:01:36.556 --> 00:01:39.966 A:middle An imaginal exposure is actually confronting things in your mind. 00:01:39.966 --> 00:01:42.776 A:middle So this is about thinking about memories that have been 00:01:42.776 --> 00:01:47.046 A:middle frightening for you, about thinking through experiences that you had 00:01:47.046 --> 00:01:50.076 A:middle that happened in the past, and being able to confront 00:01:50.076 --> 00:01:53.746 A:middle those memories through talking about it and through visualizing it. 00:01:53.746 --> 00:01:56.526 A:middle It's very natural to avoid these memories, 00:01:56.526 --> 00:01:59.566 A:middle and there's nothing wrong with you for doing so. 00:01:59.566 --> 00:02:00.516 A:middle It makes sense. 00:02:00.516 --> 00:02:03.716 A:middle You have a memory, it makes your heart increase, it makes you sweat, 00:02:03.716 --> 00:02:07.596 A:middle maybe it makes you feel sad, anxious, or hypervigilant. 00:02:07.596 --> 00:02:10.756 A:middle So it's very natural to want to push that memory away. 00:02:10.756 --> 00:02:13.546 A:middle What we do through imaginal exposure 00:02:13.546 --> 00:02:15.936 A:middle is we help you approach that memory 00:02:15.936 --> 00:02:20.366 A:middle and, most importantly, sit with it long enough for it to reduce. 00:02:20.366 --> 00:02:23.426 A:middle I will ask you to pick a starting point, 00:02:23.426 --> 00:02:27.886 A:middle a point where you were safe, 00:02:27.886 --> 00:02:30.606 A:middle a few minutes before the trauma started. 00:02:30.606 --> 00:02:33.586 A:middle And I'll ask you to just take me through what happened 00:02:33.586 --> 00:02:38.806 A:middle until you're safe again, until a few minutes after. 00:02:38.806 --> 00:02:42.226 A:middle And we'll do that as many times as we can 00:02:42.226 --> 00:02:44.656 A:middle for about 45 minutes. 00:02:44.656 --> 00:02:47.876 A:middle And we'll take it at your own pace, 00:02:47.876 --> 00:02:49.396 A:middle whatever you're comfortable with. 00:02:49.396 --> 00:02:52.326 A:middle You actually talk about it and make some recordings about it 00:02:52.326 --> 00:02:54.166 A:middle and listen to them at home. 00:02:54.166 --> 00:02:57.026 A:middle And you have a chance to work through that memory and maybe 00:02:57.026 --> 00:02:59.836 A:middle come to a different place about it than you were before. 00:02:59.836 --> 00:03:02.516 A:middle One of the things that we typically find is that 00:03:02.516 --> 00:03:05.286 A:middle the treatment sounds a lot scarier than it is. 00:03:05.286 --> 00:03:08.876 A:middle And after the very first time where somebody actually 00:03:08.876 --> 00:03:12.536 A:middle approaches, re-visits their traumatic experience, 00:03:12.536 --> 00:03:14.566 A:middle often the first thing they say afterwards was, 00:03:14.566 --> 00:03:17.306 A:middle "Wow, I've never done that before, 00:03:17.306 --> 00:03:19.256 A:middle and it feel pretty good to talk about it. 00:03:19.256 --> 00:03:22.226 A:middle Even though I might have gotten anxious, my heart rate 00:03:22.226 --> 00:03:25.516 A:middle would have increased, or maybe I cried a little bit." 00:03:25.516 --> 00:03:29.336 A:middle It feels good to face these things. 00:03:29.336 --> 00:03:31.586 A:middle PTSD bullies us. 00:03:31.586 --> 00:03:32.936 A:middle It pushes us around. 00:03:32.936 --> 00:03:36.286 A:middle In one sense, it puts up police tape in our head, 00:03:36.286 --> 00:03:38.966 A:middle and it says, "You can't go there! You can't go there!" 00:03:38.966 --> 00:03:42.096 A:middle So the act of clearing down that police tape 00:03:42.096 --> 00:03:45.206 A:middle is something that just feels good, it feels right. 00:03:45.206 --> 00:03:47.976 A:middle I think that the doubts that someone has at the beginning 00:03:47.976 --> 00:03:50.356 A:middle are so normal and so understandable. 00:03:50.356 --> 00:03:51.706 A:middle You're having to take a leap of faith. 00:03:51.706 --> 00:03:54.536 A:middle You're having to believe that this therapy works 00:03:54.536 --> 00:03:56.176 A:middle and you're having to try something that is 00:03:56.176 --> 00:03:58.196 A:middle the opposite of what you've been doing. 00:03:58.196 --> 00:04:00.856 A:middle And you have to just try it and then see 00:04:00.856 --> 00:04:03.246 A:middle that you can get these wonderful results from it.