This article is for informational purposes only. None of the information here should be taken as medical advice. If you suspect you may have PTSD, seek medical help. You may try the complementary approaches listed below if you and your doctor determine that they could be appropriate for you. Discuss the strategies listed here with your doctor.
Lifestyle
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy can improve different anxiety disorders, including PTSD, especially if combined with medication [R, R].
- Different forms of behavioral therapy, such as cognitive processing therapy and narrative exposure therapy, are a part of standard care for PTSD— consult with a healthcare professional about your options [R].
Mindfulness
- Multiple studies found that mindfulness can help improve PTSD, both alone and as an add-on to conventional therapies [R, R].
- A study on discharged ICU patients with PTSD found a mindfulness program self-directed by a mobile app as effective as a therapist-led program [R].
Exercise
- People who exercise regularly experience lower levels of neuroticism, anxiety, and depression, while lack of regular physical activity has been associated with an increased risk of anxiety [R, R].
- Physical exercise interventions based on aerobic exercise, resistance training, or both improved PTSD in multiple trials. While aerobic exercise was more effective at improving anxiety and overall psychological distress, resistance training also helped with specific PTSD symptoms, distress tolerance, and sleep quality [R, R, R, R, R, R, R].
- Strenuous exercise increases the blood levels of neuropeptide Y (NPY), a messenger molecule that helps prevent PTSD caused by rises in stress hormones [R, R].
Yoga and Meditation
- Yoga and other forms of meditation have a natural stress-relieving effect, which could help mitigate the hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD [R, R, R].
- A yoga program called trauma-sensitive yoga has been associated with reduced symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety in people with PTSD [R, R, R, R].
- A meta-analysis concluded that the evidence to support yoga for PTSD is encouraging but preliminary due to the low quality of most studies [R].
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