Mental health
PTSD treatment in Ohio
Outpatient treatment for post traumatic stress disorder, with stabilization before processing and trauma focused work delivered through cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy. Treated on its own and alongside substance use, with no abstinence required first.
- Ambulatory detox
- Not applicable
- Treated at
- Partial hospitalization, Intensive outpatient, Outpatient, Virtual IOP, Alumni program
- Where
- Columbus, Dayton
- Admissions
- (614) 665-8878
The four symptom groups
PTSD follows exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence, directly, as a witness, or by learning it happened to someone close to you. The American Psychiatric Association requires symptoms from each of four groups for more than a month.
- Intrusion: unwanted memories, nightmares and flashbacks
- Avoidance: staying away from reminders, including your own thoughts
- Thinking and mood: shame or blame, flattened feeling, lost interest
- Arousal: on guard, startling easily, irritable, sleeping badly
Symptoms in the first month are common and not automatically PTSD. What separates the disorder is that they persist and life organizes around them.
Trauma with substance use
Alcohol and other substances work on PTSD symptoms in the short term, shortening the gap before sleep and blunting intrusive memories. That is why the two travel together so often, and why treating one while ignoring the other tends to fail.
Leora treats PTSD on its own and alongside substance use, in one plan with one clinical team. Nothing requires you to be abstinent before trauma treatment begins, and stabilization covers withdrawal where it is present.
Stabilization before processing
Stabilization comes before processing. Sleep, substance use, panic and self harm get addressed first, because trauma work done on top of an unstable week makes things worse. DBT skills carry that stage: distress tolerance, grounding during a flashback, and emotion regulation.
The cognitive behavioral work that follows tests what the trauma taught you about danger against what is true now. Avoidance gets reduced at a pace you set, because it is what holds the symptoms in place. Processing happens in individual sessions. You are never required to narrate the event to a group.
Family therapy is available where a partner or family member is involved, and case management handles the practical problems trauma leaves behind.
Medication support
Medication is optional for PTSD and supports therapy rather than replacing it. Where used, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors have the best support.
Sleep is usually the first target, because little else improves while nights are broken. Benzodiazepines are approached with caution, especially with any substance use history. Leora offers medication management with a licensed psychiatrist, and you meet with a nurse practitioner about your medication.
Schedule by level of care
- Partial hospitalization
- 5 days a week, about 6 hours a day. 4 hours therapy group, 1 hour relapse prevention, 1 hour nurse education, plus 1 to 2 individual sessions. Lunch provided, nurse practitioner weekly.
- Intensive outpatient
- 3 to 5 days a week, 3 hours of group a day, 9 to 15 hours a week. Nurse practitioner every 2 to 3 weeks.
- Outpatient
- 1 to 2 days a week, 2 hours of group, plus individual sessions.
- Virtual IOP
- fully remote, anywhere in Ohio, with morning, afternoon and evening sessions.
- Alumni program
- ongoing counseling, help finding work and twelve step meetings.
Limits of outpatient care
Leora is outpatient, with no beds and no overnight supervision. Active suicidal intent, an inability to stay safe between sessions, or withdrawal needing 24/7 medical supervision calls for a higher level of care, and the assessment will say so. If you are in immediate danger call 911, and the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988 by call or text, with veterans pressing 1.
Common questions
Will I have to describe what happened in front of a group?
Do I have to stop drinking or using before trauma treatment starts?
Which trauma therapy do you use?
Do I need medication for PTSD?
What if I do not have a formal PTSD diagnosis?
Where this is offered
Hope inspired
Talk to admissions about the right next step.
Outpatient addiction and mental health treatment in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, from ambulatory detox to outpatient therapy groups. Walk-ins welcome. Call now, or leave your number and admissions will call you back.
