The frightening and devastating terrorist attack in Paris has had an affect on people the world over – but those who were there and survived can have emotional scars that could take some time to heal. 
It is hard to imagine how revellers in the bars felt when seeing people shot dead in front of them or the fans at the rock concert where 89 people were killed. Similarly, the French police and soldiers who had to attack the terrorist hide-outs must have experienced undue stress and anxiety too.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events, says the NHS.
Someone with PTSD often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt. They may also have problems sleeping, such as insomnia, and find concentrating difficult.
These symptoms are often severe and persistent enough to have a significant impact on the person’s day-to-day life. PTSD can develop immediately after someone experiences a disturbing event or it can occur weeks, months or even years later.
PTSD is estimated to affect about 1 in every 3 people who have a traumatic experience, but it’s not clear exactly why some people develop the condition and others don’t.
The mental health charity Mind, says treatments for PTSD include medication of anti-depressants or ‘talking treatments’ like trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and psychodynamic therapy.
Modern hypnotherapy, as practised by members of the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH), has become the most dramatically effective short-term therapy developed to date for dealing with issues like stress, anxiety and PTSD.
Stress may be triggered by an event or episode, like a terrorist attack. This event’s traumatic effect can lead to feeling of irrational dread, inner tension, a fear of losing control of a situation and phobias, like a fear of enclosed spaces, public transport etc).
Through hypnotherapy, once the client learns to recognise stress triggers, they can learn to introduce new, alternative behaviour when experiencing a stress trigger. While in the hypnotic state during treatment, they will be better able to see alternative perspectives and behaviours in stressful situations.
The NCH is the UK’s largest independent, not-for-profit governing body for hypnotherapy practitioners with over 1800 therapists across the UK on its directory. Each one must have achieved a certain level of training and demonstrated competence in practice.
If you need help in overcoming PTSD, depression or anxiety, an NCH-registered hypnotherapist can help. Just click here to access the NCH directory to find your closest therapist.