Standard Treatment Hell
For many survivors of trauma, the journey through standard PTSD treatment is an endless cycle of frustration, pain, and betrayal. Despite the widespread acknowledgment of trauma’s role in mental health, conventional treatments often fail to address the root causes or meet core needs. Instead, they perpetuate a cycle of dependency on medications, clinical labels, and stigmatizing narratives. This is particularly true for those who have experienced childhood abuse, a trauma that alters brain structure and nervous system function, leading to a lifetime of struggles.
Child Abuse = A Lifetime of Negative Effects and Early Death
Complex PTSD, typically resulting from developmental trauma, is often neglected by mainstream psychiatry. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) only gives a narrow, oversimplified view of PTSD, conveniently ignoring the pervasive impact of early trauma. The American Psychiatric Association’s limited framework suppresses the understanding that virtually all mental health conditions, from depression to anxiety, have trauma at their core. Developmental trauma, in particular, is a worldwide health crisis, fundamentally altering the nervous system and brain structure, leaving individuals unable to regulate their emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and even bodily systems.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as preventable, potentially traumatic events, including neglect, violence, and instability in the home. When children face these challenges, their sense of safety is destroyed, leading to long-term effects on both mental and physical health. The results of untreated trauma manifest as addiction, risky behaviors, chronic diseases, recurrent pain, and ongoing distress, yet the standard treatment approaches only exacerbate the problem.
Fast Track to the Cuckoo’s Nest
The absence of effective psychosocial support means that trauma survivors often seek relief from those in power: healthcare providers and mental health professionals. Yet, far too often, these professionals betray us. When medications fail or cause worsening symptoms, the system often sends individuals to psychiatric hospitals, many of which threaten self-admitted patients with commitment if they attempt to leave before their insurance runs out. This approach, often resulting in iatrogenic conditions—harm caused by medical treatment—reveals the deep flaws in the psychiatric system. Patients are often punished for their distress and their normal responses to abnormal experiences, rather than supported in their healing.
The Psychiatric Ostrich
Mainstream psychiatry is entrenched in a narrow, medication-dependent, and pathologizing approach to mental health. This system perpetuates a shame-based model, focusing on changing thoughts and behaviors–symptoms of an overloaded nervous system–rather than addressing the underlying neurophysiological causes of distress. As Dr. Dan Siegel explains, true mental health emerges from integrated relationships and balanced nervous systems. However, this understanding remains largely ignored in favor of superficial treatments that fail to consider the biological need for integration.
Both “top-down” (cognitive) and “bottom-up” (somatic) approaches are required for trauma healing. However, somatic approaches are rarely available in standard care settings, and even when they are, few healthcare providers are trained to offer them effectively. The emotional incompetence of many clinicians often thwarts their patients’ progress, as they fail to hold space for the patients’ lived experience and somatic needs due to their own impeded integration.
Cruelty, Corruption, and the Profiteering of Human Misery
Corporate greed further compounds the crisis in mental health treatment. Take, for example, Universal Health Services (UHS), the parent company of Rockford Center for Behavioral Health here in Delaware. UHS owns more than a quarter of the psychiatric hospitals in the United States, profiting by cutting staff and services. An investigation by BuzzFeed revealed that UHS routinely held patients unnecessarily for financial gain, even when they didn’t require hospitalization. Despite a $122 million settlement, this case failed to address patient abuse and the prioritization of corporate profits over patient care. This systemic failure highlights how the psychiatric industry often values financial gain over patient well-being.
Standard Treatment
Mainstream behavioral health treatments virtually ignore our fundamental human needs and neurophysiological realities. Instead, they focus on what is deemed “appropriate” by the system, often based on outdated and disproven theories, like the “brain chemical imbalance” model of depression. Trauma survivors, especially, find themselves subjected to harmful psychiatric interventions that worsen their condition rather than support their healing. Moreover, patients are rarely informed about the long-term effects of psychiatric medications, including the extreme difficulty of withdrawal and the harm these drugs can cause to already overly stressed systems.
Ignoring Our Neurophysiology
Trauma is relational, most often stemming from abuses of power. Yet, mainstream medicine and psychiatry continue to ignore the massive neurophysiological components of mental health, perpetuating and compounding it instead. These fields tend to treat symptoms without acknowledging the underlying neurological and relational imbalances caused by trauma, which often leads to chronic dysfunction and distress.
Stomped by Monster Feet
For individuals with a history of childhood abuse, the trajectory through life is often marked by a series of compounding traumas: first, abuse, then further harm from the medical system, and finally, the crushing weight of institutional betrayal. The behavioral health system, rather than offering relief, replicates the very dynamics of powerlessness, conformity, and neglect that trauma survivors already know too well. This one-size-fits-nobody approach to treatment is often just another form of abuse.
What the System Gave Me and What I Need
The “treatment” I received from the medical industry in the past 6.5 years was a mix of harmful, non-consensual surgeries, unnecessary psychiatric hospitalization, ineffective and dangerous medications, and blocked access to the few beneficial procedures it could offer. The standard interventions caused more harm than healing, adding layers of distress and trauma on top of my existing Complex PTSD. I need empathy, compassion, and understanding from my healthcare providers, as well as their understanding of basic neurobiology, or, at least, the willingness to learn it. Unfortunately, the corporate-driven medical system continues to deprioritize these elements, leaving survivors to educate their doctors on what real care means.
Standard PTSD treatment fails in profound ways. It disregards the neurophysiological realities of trauma and focuses instead on band-aid solutions that only exacerbate the pain. The system prioritizes profit over patient well-being, perpetuating a cycle of harm that devastates trauma survivors. What is needed is a shift towards trauma-informed care, grounded in empathy, neurobiology, and community support. Without this fundamental change, the trajectory of hell will continue for many, as the healthcare system chronically fails those who need care most while enriching those who profit from human misery.
