Trauma

PTSD – What Is It?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an extreme form of anxiety that develops following a singular traumatic event. Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) is similar, but develops after repeated exposure to traumatic occurrences over time.

Sufferers often develop PTSD/C-PTSD after experiencing an event that caused them to feel extreme fear, shock or helplessness such as a car accident or wartime atrocity or after being repeatedly exposed to trauma such as childhood abuse or sexual violence.

Causes of PTSD

There is no one single reason why someone will develop PTSD after experiencing trauma and someone else will not. Genetic and environmental factors are both believed to play a part in a predisposition for developing PTSD. The extreme nature of the event or series of events can also be the instigator of development of either condition.

Someone who has previously experienced a traumatic event is thought to have a higher chance of developing PTSD, as is someone who has been exposed to trauma over a period of time (such as childhood abuse or living in a war zone).
Someone with a history of other types of mental illness is also believed to be more susceptible to PTSD, along with anyone experiencing ongoing stressful life events following a trauma without the benefit of any social supports.

Whether the traumatic event was intentional or not may also have a bearing, with someone experiencing a natural disaster thought less likely to develop PTSD than someone who has been sexually assaulted or suffers some other form of intentional physical violation.

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Symptoms of PTSD

Someone going through PTSD will normally exhibit the following  symptoms:

  • Re-experience – reliving the traumatic event in your mind is normal, often in vivid flashbacks and nightmares, an experience which may be accompanied by heart palpitations, profuse sweating, difficulty breathing and feelings of panic.
  • Hyperarousal – experience feelings of being highly-wired, constantly on guard for signs of danger, overprotective of loved ones, easily startled and often experience irritability, lack of concentration and difficulty sleeping.
  • Avoidance – may avoid any places, situations, people, objects or activities that might remind them of the traumatic event and bring back painful memories. They may also avoid having any thoughts or conversations about the event.
  • Detachment – they often lose interest in everyday activities and feel detached and isolated from others and emotionally numb. Their thoughts and feelings may also become negative and they may experience difficulty having positive feelings like love or happiness.
Many of these reactions are an exaggerated version of the body’s natural ‘fight or flight’ responses to stress, so gaining a better understanding of the symptoms may help us to better understand the causes of PTSD.
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A life-changing transformation

Nobody knows what it’s like to be you (and that’s totally ok).

When faced with trauma, it can be hard to enjoy a “normal”, fulfilling life. It can even be a struggle to do everyday things that most people seem to handle with ease.

There’s nothing wrong, you simply need a way to get back to basics and rebuild healthy foundations of confidence and fulfilment. As well as learning how to develop a range of beneficial observational tools and coping mechanisms.

At Palladium Private you can step out of your normal life and focus completely on yourself and your wellbeing. With comfortable surroundings and friendly professional staff, we take a holistic approach to your mental health needs – giving you the tools and the support for a complete life transformation.

Talk about anything and everything with
your own personal psychotherapist

Tailored help is available for PTSD/C-PTSD sufferers with the Palladium Private BioPsychoSocial Program, wherein our qualified psychotherapists will help you pinpoint the triggers of your anxiety and physiological responses.

The process begins by learning to observe emotions that result when the trauma response is activated. We teach that trying to stop a painful emotion is only a very temporary fix and whilst you might make it through the moment, when you’re in a similar
situation again, the same learned beliefs and trauma response will be activated so the same anxiety will occur.

At Palladium Private, we teach you simple ways to stop, change and even reverse this pattern. By using newfound tools and techniques, we will teach you to intercept, adopt new behaviours, practice new skills and engage in new ways of thinking.

Our team of wonderful, highly qualified and diversely trained psychotherapists will help you address the events, experiences and responses that have occurred in your life leading to this point in time.

Through our structured program of one-on-one psychotherapy sessions using a range of specifically tailored, evidence-based therapeutic modalities, you will receive the clarity you’re after and the tools to move forward and beyond.

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Treatment of PTSD

There are various methods available for treating PTSD, with several types of psychotherapy being the major form of treatment. These include:

  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Focuses on changing the sufferer’s way of evaluating and responding to situations and unhealthy behaviours stemming from their thoughts and feelings.
  • Exposure therapy
A behavioural treatment aimed at reducing fear, anxiety and avoidance behaviour by confronting or being exposed to the feared thoughts, feelings and situations.
  • Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
A treatment based on the idea that suffering results not from experiencing emotional pain, but from attempting to avoid that pain.
  • Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Unlike other treatments that focus on directly altering the emotions, thoughts and responses resulting from traumatic experiences, EMDR therapy focuses directly on the memory, and is intended to change the way that the memory is stored in the brain, thus reducing and eliminating the problematic symptoms. 

Please visit the About Us page and browse our therapists qualifications to see the full range of modalities they each specialise in.

We can help you overcome a variety of challenges

Our personal, tailored BioPsychoSocial programs are designed to empower you to deal with
issues in your life including:

Reliving the
Traumatic Event

Hyperarousal

Avoidance Behaviours

Detachment

Anxiety

Achieve the change that you’d like to see

Whatever you’d like to achieve whilst at Palladium Private, we can help you do it. We will give you the tools to get through the day, without the need to turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms.

If you can commit to the following, you will significantly improve the long term success of your program:

  • Attend with the end in mind - focus on what you'll achieve during your time with us, and how you want to see your life changed afterwards
  • Participate for you and only you – attend because YOU want change, not because you want to please someone else
  • Have an undeniable desire to change your life – if you know you deserve a better life, you WILL achieve it with the right help
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Everything is done for you

(so you can focus on you)

Wonderful
Accommodation

With a maximum of 15 guests at any one time, we offer a range of comfortable private or shared accommodation options to suit your budget

Healthy,
Chef-prepared Meals

Healthy, delicious and nutritious meals are a core pillar of our BioPsychoSocial program. Clean food intake helps your body regulate your emotional state

Communication & Personal Development Workshops

In our psychotherapist-led communication and topic groups, you’ll learn how to feel comfortable within yourself again, whilst improving your relationships

Mindfulness
Teachings & Practice

Our program includes a variety of mindfulness practices such as holistic stress reduction and mood therapies. These therapies are a combination of one-on-one and group activities

Yoga Therapy

Get your body and mind feeling wonderfully aligned and energised with our certified yoga instructor's one-on-one tuition

Personal Training

We have personal trainers who work with you to help rebuild yourself physically and mentally, giving you the confidence to take on each day with vigour

Art Therapy

Release tension and anxieties whilst learning to express your emotions and experiences through art with the assistance of qualified art therapists

Massage Therapy

Professional massage therapists will take away the stress and anxiety from your body while you are working on your mind - leaving you feeling wonderful

You’ll be safe and supported with us

With just 15 guest spots available in our program, a careful screening process and individual support on hand when you need it, we will make you feel as comfortable as possible. We have designed our program and retreat in the ultimate way for you to completely ‘reset’, whilst empowering you to take on your life again with new-found confidence and tools to forge the better life you deserve.

It’s all about helping you to become self-contented, with the shackles from your past no longer affecting your present and your future.

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Here’s what some of our guests have said
about their time with us:

Get in touch with us now for a no-obligation,
confidential discussion

We welcome you to contact our Admissions Team to discuss your specific needs and begin the journey towards full recovery. To get in touch, simply call the number below, or enter your details on this form and we’ll contact you back very soon.

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67 McCarthy Rd, Maleny QLD 4552 Australia