Sexual Abuse Therapy & Treatment
Sexual violence, including sexual abuse, can happen to anyone at any age, of any gender, race, or sex. What’s more, the lasting effects following sexual abuse can impact a victim physically, mentally, and emotionally leaving behind sexual trauma even years after the act took place. If you were the victim of sexual abuse, you likely experience flashbacks, adverse reactions, mood changes, and avoidance of reminders. While therapy and antidepressants have proved useful for some individuals with post traumatic stress disorder following sexual abuse, many more struggle with these and other symptoms daily.
At Florida Mind Health Center, we are committed to helping you heal with innovative, alternative therapies and treatment options. Our ketamine clinic specializes in treating a wide range of complex mood disorders to help our patients feel safe, secure, and regain control through each step of their individualized treatment plan. To learn more about how ketamine can reduce sexual abuse trauma and PTSD symptoms, contact our ketamine treatment center today.
Sexual Trauma PTSD Symptoms
Sexual abuse is a severely invasive act of violence that often leaves behind deep and enduring scars, both physically and emotionally. A personal invasion of the body and mind, the effects of sexual abuse often result in a loss of the victim’s sense of control and safety. Due to the deeply personal nature of sexual abuse, survivors of this type of violence are at an increased risk of developing PTSD. While post traumatic stress symptoms are a perfectly natural and normal response to the violence, it can have significant consequences on the survivor’s health, happiness, and overall well being.
PTSD results when our psyche copes with extreme fear, vulnerability, and the loss of control resulting from the intense trauma of sexual abuse. In survivors of sexual violence, PTSD symptoms can manifest in wide varieties depending on the individual. However, survivors of sexual violence may experience the following PTSD symptoms.
- Re-experiencing. Reliving the traumatic incident through memories, dreams, reminders, or intrusive thought patterns.
- Avoidance. Either deliberately or unintentionally altering behaviors to avoid reminders of the trauma or losing interest in previously enjoyable activities.
- Mood Changes. Changes in thought patterns, negative thinking, anxiety, depression, and/or frequent angry feelings.
- Hyper-Arousal. Constantly feeling on-edge, being easily startled or prone to sudden outbursts of anger or sadness, and/or difficulty sleeping.
Symptoms of PTSD often overlap and, as a result, become reinforced, leading the survivor into a vicious cycle from which they are unable to escape without treatment.
Ketamine Infusion For Sexual Trauma
Traditional treatment plans for survivors of sexual abuse with PTSD typically include a combination of psychiatric counseling and prescription medications, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as well as serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), such as Zoloft, Paxil, and Prozac. Traditional antidepressants, however, come with a slew of problematic side effects, including an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, and — for some individuals — they simply are ineffective.
In the case where antidepressants are effective, we offer an alternative sexual trauma therapy with ketamine treatments. Prized for its anesthetic qualities, ketamine provides benefits that extend beyond pain relief.
Ketamine infusion therapy is widely used as a natural PTSD treatment to help survivors of sexual abuse and trauma heal without the requirement of traditional antidepressants. Ketamine therapy involves administering low doses of ketamine directly into the bloodstream through IV infusion. Direct reception of the infusion within the patient’s brain chemistry breaks the cycle of harmful symptoms and negative behaviors associated with PTSD — freeing the patient from negative thoughts and actions offers space and time for therapy and counseling to work as intended. By binding receptors throughout the body, ketamine allows the brain to restore degraded connections, helping patients successfully take control of their condition.
Treating Mood Disorders With Ketamine
At Florida Mind Health Center, we are committed to helping you on your path to overcoming sexual trauma. Our team and clinicians work alongside patients, providing in-depth care individualized to each person’s requirements for optimal health and well-being. During ketamine treatment, we use the latest technology and techniques to ensure our patients see immediate results that last. For more information about our available treatments or to learn how ketamine can help you heal from sexual abuse trauma, contact us today.