An increasing number of states permit and have legalized the use of medical cannabis for the treatment of PTSD. Other
Exercise, sport and physical activity
Physical activity can influence peoples psychological and physical health. The U.S. National Center for PTSD recommends moderate exercise as a way to distract from disturbing emotions, build self-esteem and increase feelings of being in control again. They recommend a discussion with a doctor before starting an exercise program. Play therapy for children
Play is thought to help children link their inner thoughts with their outer world, connecting real experiences with abstract thought. Repetitive play can also be one way a child relives traumatic events, and that can be a symptom of trauma in a child or young person. Although it is commonly used, there have not been enough studies comparing outcomes in groups of children receiving and not receiving play therapy, so the effects of play therapy are not yet understood. Military programs
Many veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have faced significant physical, emotional, and relational disruptions. In response, the United States Marine Corps has instituted programs to assist them in re-adjusting to civilian life, especially in their relationships with spouses and loved ones, to help them communicate better and understand what the other has gone through. Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) developed the Battlemind program to assist service members avoid or ameliorate PTSD and related problems.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that people perceive the world differently according to the language they speak: language and the world it exists within reflect back on the perceptions of the speaker. For example, ethnopsychology studies in Nepal have found that cultural idioms and concepts often don’t translate to western terminologies: piDaa is a term that may align to trauma/suffering, but also people who suffer from this are considered paagal (mad) and are subject to negative social stigma, indicating the need for culturally appropriate and carefully tailored support interventions. In summary, different cultures remember past experiences within different linguistic and cultural paradigms. As such, cultural and medical anthropologists have questioned the validity of applying the diagnostic criteria of PTSD cross-culturally, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), and constructed through the Euro-American paradigm of psychology.There remains a dearth of studies into the conceptual frameworks that surround trauma in non-Western cultures. There is little evidence to suggest therapeutic benefit in synthesizing local idioms of distress into a culturally constructed disorder of the post-Vietnam era, a practice anthropologist believe contributes to category fallacy. For many cultures there is no single linguistic corollary to PTSD, psychological trauma being a multi-faceted concept with corresponding variances of expression. Designating the effects of trauma as an affliction of the spirit is common in many non-Western cultures where idioms such as “soul loss” and “weak heart” indicate a preference to confer suffering to a spirit-body or heart-body diametric.