Anyone dealing with PTSD husband?

[unsure7]

Just that really. My husband has PTSD, it's getting worse and we have next to no support. Nothing much seems to be offered on the nhs and I'm booking him in for CBT but I have no idea how quickly we can expect to see an improvement.

He is normally a sweet, steady man but he becomes volatile and argumentative. He'll rant at me for hours. We have a 7 week old baby and I just cannot cope with taking care of them both as well as listening to the barrage of abuse.

I've spoken to mind etc and haven't got anything of any use. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Have NC for this.

You can't carry on like that for long. No one should be expected to put up with that, regardless of the fact that he's got MH issues, and it's not good for the DC. Rant at you for hours? Ffs! Tell him he risks losing everything if he carries on like this.

CBT might not be helpful because the trauma response is a primal subconscious reaction rather than a set of behaviours to observe and change. PTSD symptoms are not so controllable or managed in the way something like an eating disorder or panic attack might be. EMDR might be more helpful in processing the trauma alongside psychotherapy. Different therapeutic counselling could help support him through it as suffering from PTSD in itself is very traumatic, frightening and difficult to live through. Regardless of the cause you have to protect yourself and your child from harmful behaviour.

Sometimes there can be support from a cause-specific organisation, e.g. veterans, domestic abuse survivors, victims of crime, survivors of childhood abuse etc.

my partner has ptsd stemming from a traumatic childhood. he’s never been aggressive in any way but he suffered for a long time from panic attacks and nightmares. he got a course of counselling on the nhs which helped but now he sees a therapist privately after the nhs funded sessions ended. his therapy sessions help him massively and are definitely worth the money.

Thank you for your replies.

@tasdee the therapist he's booked in with does emdr as well as cbt so I think she's going to assess and decide what will suit him best. I think he'll struggle with anything that involves talking about the past in detail at this point so I'm not sure he'd manage psychotherapy. Maybe at a later date.

@sunshineandshowers21 my husband's stems from childhood too. What kind of therapy does your husband have?