barefoot
MyPTSD Pro
Title is a big question!
What I'm really pondering is...Unless I am feeling an intense, extreme feeling e.g. anxiety is off the scale, high levels of panic and fear, raging anger etc I don't really ever know what I'm feeling.
I think part of the difficulty is that, unless I am feeling these kinds of extreme feelings, I don't believe I am feeling anything.
But I'm just starting to think, that can't be true, can it? It can't be that I'm feeling nothing. I must be feeling *something* even if it is only a mild feeling?
And this maybe explains why I am so bad at noticing when I am gettig dysregulated. I hardly ever notice when I am feeling slightly anxious or when my mood starts to dip...I only seem to register it when my anxiety has rocketed and I'm in a bad state or when I have a full-on depressive crash. If I could notice these things earlier, I could take steps to try to nip things in the bud as opposed to having to try to drag myself back from where it's already all gone to shit.
If I try to "tune in" and think about how I feel (if there isn't an intense feeling happening) I am just at a loss. I don't have a sense of feeling anything. And I often can't even think of words of emotions to then think of a list and go through them to see if any of them seem to click in the moment.
I'm just curious....what has anyone else done to try to identify/connect to feelings that are more just every day, not extreme feelings? I feel a bit....hollow...not being able to do this.
I'm thinking body scans may be one way but they have always tended to make me panicky and anxious. I also journal and, while I find it easier to express myself in writing, I still find it just as difficult to identify/name/connect to feelings during that process.
Any ideas gratefully received. I would like to be less hollow! And I think it would be helpful for therapy too if I could have more awareness of - and a greater connection to - how I am feeling any given time (not just when I'm having a meltdown!)
What I'm really pondering is...Unless I am feeling an intense, extreme feeling e.g. anxiety is off the scale, high levels of panic and fear, raging anger etc I don't really ever know what I'm feeling.
I think part of the difficulty is that, unless I am feeling these kinds of extreme feelings, I don't believe I am feeling anything.
But I'm just starting to think, that can't be true, can it? It can't be that I'm feeling nothing. I must be feeling *something* even if it is only a mild feeling?
And this maybe explains why I am so bad at noticing when I am gettig dysregulated. I hardly ever notice when I am feeling slightly anxious or when my mood starts to dip...I only seem to register it when my anxiety has rocketed and I'm in a bad state or when I have a full-on depressive crash. If I could notice these things earlier, I could take steps to try to nip things in the bud as opposed to having to try to drag myself back from where it's already all gone to shit.
If I try to "tune in" and think about how I feel (if there isn't an intense feeling happening) I am just at a loss. I don't have a sense of feeling anything. And I often can't even think of words of emotions to then think of a list and go through them to see if any of them seem to click in the moment.
I'm just curious....what has anyone else done to try to identify/connect to feelings that are more just every day, not extreme feelings? I feel a bit....hollow...not being able to do this.
I'm thinking body scans may be one way but they have always tended to make me panicky and anxious. I also journal and, while I find it easier to express myself in writing, I still find it just as difficult to identify/name/connect to feelings during that process.
Any ideas gratefully received. I would like to be less hollow! And I think it would be helpful for therapy too if I could have more awareness of - and a greater connection to - how I am feeling any given time (not just when I'm having a meltdown!)
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