🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient PTSD course.
What PTSD Actually Is
Trauma response that didn’t fully integrate. Not weakness.
Learn ItWhy Treatment Helps
Trauma-focused therapy (CPT, EMDR, PE) plus sometimes SSRIs.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Suicidal thoughts with plan = 988. Severe dissociation = urgent. Veterans Crisis Line: 988+1.
Learn ItTriggers & Patterns
Sights, sounds, smells, dates, locations, certain people. Mapping helps.
Learn ItSymptom Clusters
Intrusion · avoidance · negative mood · arousal. All four typical.
Learn ItMedication Discipline
SSRIs slowly. Prazosin for nightmares. Avoid benzo dependence.
Live ItCoping Toolkit
Grounding (5-4-3-2-1), breathing, naming surroundings, safe space.
Live ItSleep Hygiene
Nightmares disrupt sleep, sleep loss worsens everything. Treat both.
Live ItSubstance Awareness
Alcohol and substances numb but worsen long-term. Address together.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring symptom diary, sleep log, trigger events, response patterns.
Live ItYour Care Team
Therapist (trauma-trained), psychiatrist, peer support, sometimes VA.
Live ItApps & Resources
PTSD Coach (free from VA), trauma support communities.
Live ItInsurance & VA
VA covers veterans extensively. Civilian insurance has parity laws.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Survivors-helping-survivors is uniquely effective. Peer support.
Share ItFight Stigma
PTSD treatment works. Silent suffering is the disease, not the symptom.
Share ItResearch & Trials
MDMA-assisted therapy, ketamine, neuromodulation, novel SSRIs.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
PTSD treatment works but takes time. The ladder is about recognizing crisis vs the regular hard days.
Handle at home
- Manageable triggers with your coping tools
- Nightmares and flashbacks occasional, not constant
- Following therapy and meds
Log it. Use your tools: grounding, breathing, support people.
Call the office / message the portal
- Symptoms worsening for >2 weeks
- Sleep disrupted nightly
- Avoiding more things than usual
- Substance use creeping up
Same day. Therapy and meds can adjust.
Urgent / Acute care
- Flashbacks becoming daily
- Major dissociation episodes
- Self-harm thoughts without plan
- Major life impairment
Urgent care or crisis appointment.
ER NOW / call 911
- Suicidal thoughts with plan — call 988
- Severe dissociation lasting hours
- Psychotic symptoms
- Plans to harm self or others
Call 988 or 911. Veterans Crisis Line: 988 then press 1.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Nightmares have been worse for a week, a 7 worst, started after I heard a song that triggered me, sleep is destroyed, talking to my therapist’s assistant by phone helped, and I’ve been skipping meals.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for PTSD:
- “Am I on the right trauma-focused therapy — CPT, EMDR, prolonged exposure?”
- “Are my meds (SSRI, prazosin for nightmares) at the right dose?”
- “Is alcohol or substance use part of how I’m coping — should we address it?”
- “What’s my crisis plan for severe flashbacks at 2 AM?”
- “Are there peer support options — especially veteran or trauma-specific?”