Intrusion is a symptom of psychotrauma. In response to a key stimulus, patients relive the traumatic experience. Treatment involves a combination of various psychotherapy techniques and medication.
What is an intrusion?
Traumatic experiences are the cause of a wide variety of disorders of the psyche. The traumatic event does not have to refer to a threat to the patient’s own person, but can also correspond to an observational situation. The patient’s understanding of the world is deeply shaken by the traumatic event. The ego understanding is shaken. Symptoms such as helplessness often arise. In the context of various clinical pictures, intrusion regularly occurs after the traumatic event. This refers to the re-experiencing of the traumatizing situation. Intrusions can correspond to flashbacks. Nightmares or fleeting images related to the trauma are also summarized as intrusions. Intrusions are usually experienced with high emotional involvement. The opposite symptom is emotional dullness. In the context of many disorders, intrusion and emotional dullness alternate episodically. Patients often experience intrusion in response to certain key stimuli, called triggers. Many sufferers are unable to block out the images of intrusion in a controlled manner and are literally overwhelmed by them.
Causes
The primary cause of an intrusion is a psychotraumatic event. Psychotraumas are psychological, soul, or mental traumas that have caused mental injury. Every traumatic event is accompanied by a strong shaking of the psyche. Different clinical pictures can grow on the breeding ground of traumatic experiences. One of the best known of these is post-traumatic stress disorder, as it is most commonly known in the context of war events. Post-traumatic stress disorder develops after traumatizing events of catastrophic proportions. The traumatizing threatening nature of the situation does not necessarily have to correspond to a threat to oneself, but can also correspond to an externally observed threat to others. Usually, post-traumatic stress disorder follows about six months after the traumatic event. In the context of post-traumatic stress disorder, intrusion plays a predominant role, but the symptom is also relevant for disorders such as acute stress reaction. Each intrusion is triggered by a trigger or key stimulus that reminds the patient of the trauma experienced. The intrusion differs from trauma patient to trauma patient. Moreover, for the same trauma patient, the symptom may differ from time to time, corresponding one time to nightmares, for example, and the next time to debilitating flashback images during the day. The trauma patient relives the traumatic event against his or her will in myriad details during the intrusion. This re-experiencing of the trauma usually includes thoughts in addition to images and perceptions. For example, children with post-traumatic stress disorder following abuse tend to enact the traumatic experience after an intrusion in the context of play. During the intrusion, the patient has no control over his or her memory and its sequence. The intrusion thus escapes volitional control and can overwhelm the affected person to such an extent that “speechless terror” occurs. In this context, patients are often neither able to move nor to speak. Intrusions cannot be blocked out. In most cases, the event of intrusion immediately alternates with emotional numbness. Patients often avoid situations that could harbor possible trigger trips.
Symptoms, complaints, and signs
Intrusion is primarily manifested by reliving a traumatizing situation. Affected individuals suffer flashbacks or recurrent daydreams that are difficult to control. Thus, sufferers are overwhelmed by the stimuli, which can result in sweating, nervousness and panic attacks. Intrusion is triggered by key stimuli and can last from a few seconds to several minutes. In addition to images, feelings and perceptions, reliving the trauma also triggers negative thoughts. Typically, the characteristic complaints occur during relaxed periods and at night.Nightmares can occur during sleep, which often have the trauma as their theme and thus disturb night sleep. Accordingly, an intrusion can cause secondary symptoms such as fatigue, irritability and malaise. In certain disorders, intrusion occurs in interaction with emotionless behavior. Then there are often further behavioral abnormalities due to the frequent changes in mood and the accompanying psychological stress. The patients appear emotionally distressed and often suffer from psychosomatic complaints. Thus, involuntary twitching may occur, which leads to further restrictions in the daily life of the affected person. If the intrusion is treated therapeutically, the symptoms and complaints can slowly be reduced. In the absence of treatment, further mental illnesses often result from the traumatic experience.
Diagnosis and course of the disease
Intrusion is simply a symptom. The psychologist usually recognizes it in the immediate context of the larger framework of various primary disorders. Intrusions always speak to trauma sequelae. The severity of the intrusion depends to some extent on the severity of the traumatic upheaval. Not every trauma patient necessarily suffers intrusions. Thus, although intrusion is a reinforcing symptom in the context of trauma diagnosis, it does not have to be present for a diagnosis of psychotrauma. The prognosis for patients with an intrusion depends on the primary disorder and the causative trauma situation.
Complications
Because intrusion is usually a psychological complaint, it also primarily results in psychological upset or depression. It is not uncommon for patients to suffer from severe panic attacks or anxiety in the process, which can further lead to sweating. The patient’s quality of life is significantly restricted and reduced by the intrusion. In many cases, social contacts are broken off. The affected person appears fatigued and tired and no longer takes an active part in life. Self-injurious behavior may also occur. Patients are often aggressive or irritable and suffer from mood swings. Furthermore, the intrusion can lead to involuntary muscle movements or twitching, which continue to restrict the daily life of the affected person. Concentration and coordination are also usually impaired by this condition. Treatment can take place with the help of medication or through therapy. In many cases, the medications have other side effects and can lead to severe fatigue. Not in all cases, the therapy promises a positive course of the disease.
When should you see a doctor?
If emotionally stressful events are repeatedly experienced in dreams or mentally relaxed situations, there is cause for concern. If sleep disturbances or fear of falling asleep set in as a result, a visit to the doctor should be made. If, after traumatic experiences, there are sudden and uncontrollable moments of the emerging memories in everyday life, it is recommended to see a doctor or therapist. If the affected person feels the intrusions to be emotionally stressful and emotional suffering occurs, it is advisable to seek help to process the events. If the affected person withdraws from the social environment, avoids conversations about the experience or if his personality changes, a visit to a doctor is advisable. Developments should also be discussed with a physician if the intrusions begin months or years after the original event. If everyday professional as well as private demands can no longer be met as usual due to the psychological state of the affected person, a visit to the doctor is recommended. If further mental disorders occur, such as depressive experience states, melancholic behavior patterns or a strongly euphoric appearance, a doctor is needed. In case of strong weight changes, panic behavior, an inner restlessness, disturbances of concentration as well as loss of joy of life, the affected person is well advised to contact a doctor or therapist.
Treatment and therapy
Drug therapies are available to suppress and relieve symptomatic intrusion. Tranquilizers, antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and neuroleptics are particularly useful for treatment.However, this symptomatic treatment does not cure the patient. In order to achieve a cure, causal treatment must take place. For trauma patients, causal treatment corresponds to psychotherapy, which is applied in different procedures. In addition to psychoanalytic methods, imaginative methods are common in this context, which start with inner images and dream-like processing pathways at a deeper level of the psyche. Behavioral therapy approaches, on the other hand, pursue exposure to the traumatic stimuli and ideally achieve cognitive restructuring that attenuates stressful memories and makes them controllable. In narrative procedures, the patient follows his or her human urge to assemble the individual intrusion elements of the trauma into a coherent story and to integrate them with meaning into the personal life story. In Eye Movement Desensitization, intensive stimulation of both hemispheres of the brain through eye movement, sounds or touch is intended to bring incompletely integrated memories to processing. Gestalt therapy addresses body, mind and spirit simultaneously. In addition, body therapy methods such as TRE exercises are used. Creative therapy methods are also suitable for overcoming trauma in individual cases, such as specifically for children.
Outlook and prognosis
Intrusion is not a disorder in its own right. It is considered a symptom that occurs during a strongly formative experienced event. The internal repetition of the experienced event can be present in healthy as well as diseased people. Therefore, it does not always have a disease value. This depends on the experiences and accumulated experiences of the affected person. It is mostly diagnosed in people who have experienced a trauma and have consulted a doctor. In the case of severe trauma, the affected person should seek therapy to alleviate existing symptoms. What has been experienced must be processed or worked through in order to achieve an improvement in the quality of life. The more successful the therapy, the fewer disorders and irregularities, such as intrusion, will occur. If the affected person refuses to seek therapeutic help, an increase in psychological and emotional stress can be expected in addition to a lowered quality of life. The prognosis worsens, since in many cases the self-help regulation of the organism is not sufficient to process the experience. In addition, the healing process is prolonged. Depending on a person’s personality, the experience of mild trauma can improve over time even without the help of a doctor or therapist. Nevertheless, affected individuals rarely report freedom from symptoms.
Prevention
The symptom of intrusion can be prevented only to the extent that causative psychotrauma can be avoided. Traumatic events can hardly be prevented. It is estimated that 90 percent of all people have experienced at least one trauma in their lifetime. Although intrusions can be prevented by strictly avoiding key stimuli, this approach is counterproductive to trauma management.
Aftercare
For patients suffering from an intrusion, it is important in the aftercare phase to avoid the triggering stimuli. The psychological and emotional stresses in everyday life are enormous. Therefore, patients must receive ongoing medical and psychological care. Music and art therapy, design therapy approaches, light and aroma therapies, and reminiscence and behavioral therapy treatments are crucial strategies in aftercare. Living with intrusion may well be made possible over time by helping patients to help themselves. Positive changes in the patient’s life can contribute to this. However, the complete shedding of a traumatic experience remains relatively impossible for the patient. However, if medical and psychological aftercare does not take effect, the patient’s quality of life remains massively limited. In order to achieve inner peace in the patient, drug treatment is necessary. In this way, symptoms of intrusion become controllable in the long term. Restlessness and sleep disorders are treated. Homeopathic remedies consisting of lavender, valerian, passion flower or St. John’s wort are helpful. These can then be taken by the patient without hesitation in the form of capsules or tea.However, if the mode of action of homeopathic remedies is not sufficient, it is necessary to resort to the prescription of drugs for sedation and sleep.
What you can do yourself
In addition to drug therapy, intrusion is managed by means of various behavioral therapy methods. Guided by a therapist, many of these strategies can be used yourself to avoid an intrusion. For example, eye movement desensitization, in which the sufferer uses sounds, touch and eye movements to process memories, has proven effective. Apart from that, it is important to avoid key stimuli or to learn how to deal with them. Again, a guiding therapy is indicated, which is continued by the affected person in everyday life. This is intended to overcome the post-traumatic stress disorder in the long term and thus also to restore the mental health of those affected. The causal treatment can be supported by symptomatic therapy of the individual symptoms. Inner restlessness and nervousness can be treated with the help of natural sedatives from nature and homeopathy. The medicinal plants valerian and passionflower, for example, have proven effective and can be taken as tea or in the form of capsules or dragées. Homeopathy provides the preparations Argentum nitricum, Arnica, Chamomilla and Aconitum napellus. However, if the symptoms are severe, the doctor should prescribe a medical drug.
