How does someone apply a coping mechanism to dreams or flashbacks?

Of the 4 categories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, this author believes the most difficult to overcome are the intrusion symptoms. Unlike avoidance symptoms, alterations in cognitive and mood, and alterations in arousal and activity, intrusion symptoms cannot be controlled.

As stated by Iyadurai et al. (2019), intrusive memories intrude involuntarily into the consciousness. Intrusion symptoms may or may not have a trigger. How does someone apply a coping mechanism to dreams or flashbacks? Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can mediate maladaptive cognitive distortions associated with PTSD (Kar, 2011). Hence, CBT can be utilized to address thoughts and feelings that can be applied to cognition, mood, arousal, activity, and avoidance. These symptoms are thought and feeling based whereas memories, dreams and flashbacks are not.

There are methods of therapy that have proven to be beneficial to PTSD such as Trauma-Focused Psychotherapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Restructuring, Written and Narrative Therapy. Additionally, medications such as Fluoxetine, Paroxetine, Sertraline, and Venlafaxine have strong evidence for success in patients with PTSD (Schrader, Ross, 2021). These methods have proven to be successful in controlling and eventually decreasing PTSD symptoms over time. These may address the feelings, thoughts, and actions that can be controlled, but how do you control something that cannot be controlled such as dreams, flashbacks, and memories.

Requirements: 100 words