Q I've been diagnosed with PTSD but I also have depression and panic symptoms. Can all of these be treated at once?
A It is very common for PTSD to be accompanied by depression and anxiety disorders. In Korean medicine treatment, we address all three at once with formulas that treat the disharmony of heart and kidney and heart-and-gallbladder deficiency together, stabilizing whichever symptom is most severe first.
Detailed Answer
More than half of PTSD patients also have one or more of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or panic disorder. This is because the brain's fear and reward circuits and the autonomic nervous system are all affected. In psychiatric treatment, SSRIs are used as the first-line medication that addresses PTSD along with depression and anxiety at the same time.
Our Korean Medicine Clinic's Perspective
At Dongjedang, we use the Ondam-tang family, which treats heart-and-gallbladder deficiency, to calm anxiety and panic, and Guibi-tang to tonify the heart-mind and spleen qi and address depression and lethargy together. The more complex the symptoms, the more finely we perform pattern differentiation, adjusting the prescription to stabilize the hardest symptom first. Combining with psychiatric treatment reinforces the effects of each.
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