Exposure Therapy Questions

[8888]

Thank you everyone! Was thinking of starting a trauma diary actually.

 

[Deleted member 34328]

That being said, I'm not even sure if I should be here. I've been mostly hanging in the social section here since I've joined.

@8888 I hear you. When I first joined this site, I felt as you do. I seemed to be being triggered everywhere I turned. I did have to take a step back at first. I had to protect myself first. For me, I wanted and want to keep in touch with others who speak my language. I want to feel as though I might have something that might help even 1 person. PTSD feels like a nightmare that will never go away, but maybe it can help me to be more empathetic towards others.

I chose to receive only the weekly emails and chose 1 day a week to come online. It also helped me to respond or browse threads that I felt would be safe for me. Now over time, I can come back a lot more often. I would encourage you to try something similar along with a trauma diary if you feel it might help. I think you're a very strong person or you wouldn't have posted this thread at all.

Maybe that's what the problem is. I feel like an idiot. Embarrassed even.

Me too. There is no trauma any better or worse than another. They're all nightmares that we have to work so hard to heal from. But using baby steps, we can and will.

I've been working with exposure therapy for 3 years now. It does work (for me). But it is one baby step at a time. The car accident is a great example.

I really hope I haven't offended anyone with my opinions became that's what they are. My opinions.

 

[RavenGirl]

@8888 go for it! When you're ready write that diary and let that poison out, I think you'll feel better. But only do it when you're ready. :hug:❤:hug:

 

[RavenGirl]

@Zoogal my PTSD was under control too (as a matter of fact I didn't know I had it) until my kids grew up and I had "time to think about me, free time on my hands and mind." That's very common I think, we can fool ourselves but for only so long.

 

[8888]

Thank you both!

 

[Friday]

Think about it like someone who has a fear of driving after being in a car crash who now can't even watch TV because the image of a car might come on TV, let alone drive in a car again. The goal is not to think car crashes are great, but to be able to safety drive again.

This!

@8888 This might help. Breaks down both exposure therapy & using a trauma diary for exposure therapy in clear & concise steps :)
Link Removed

I can't write it anywhere. Not here not there. I don't know why. It wasn't as bad as so many people here I don't know why I have such a hard time with it

Very much the same, here. My SUDS just spikes & I shut down / meltdown / or blow up. Since the goal is to be able to keep SUDS at a just barely there level? Just enough to feel it without losing control? >.< Vexing. So I take a step back to where I can manage my SUDS, and just flirt around the edges of shit, pushing the boundaries as much as I can; spiking. It's slow as f*ck, and vexing as hell, but it's still moving me in the right direction. Took me 2 years to even get a rough timeline down. And we're not talking details. But that's better than still,just staring at a blank page (or throwing the notebook at the wall, or saying f*ck it and heading out for some seriously unhealthy coping mechanisms). Just by flanking shit instead of a frontal assault. It's why I respond to threads on here waaaaaay more than I post. It let's me sneak past my own defense mechanisms, and get comfortable talking about certain things that if I were just trying to write them straight? My mind would blank. Best case. Worst case were talking 10/10 meltdown. But as I get more comfortable talking about shit for other people, I'm slowly becoming able to talk about shit for myself. Sometimes. Other times just still ain't gonna happen.

 

[8888]

Thank you Friday!

 

[JP Bailey]

I'm a counselor at a mental health clinic. Exposure Therapy is a huge NO-NO!!!! We NEVER talk about their abuse or try to get them to talk about it. We talk about their recovery and stay in today.. IF they want to talk about it we listen with empathy and validation.

The only time I would do any Exposure "Therapy" is with EMDR or with EFT Tapping to help the intense emotional charges that come up.

Exposure bullshit really pisses me off, it's the one way you can guarantee hurting someone and maybe them not ever coming back.

 

[8888]

Thank you for the info @JP Bailey! I looked into EMDR once and was told I wouldn't be a good candidate. I think I'll just stick with regular therapy.

 

[joeylittle]

This is a good (short) article addressing some pros and cons of PE:
The Facts About Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD

This is a good description of the PE process: Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD - PTSD: National Center for PTSD

There are aspects of Prolonged Exposure (PE) that can seem brutal. The trauma is addressed by going through the narrative over and over again, essentially feeling all the feelings until you are simply left with a story, a memory - something you might have a normal level of sadness/regret/anger about, but that you are no longer experiencing as an event that has knotted itself up into a PTSD trauma.

I personally believe that EMDR (and EFT) work on the same core principal, although they use different approaches.

In EMDR/EFT you work on aspects of the narrative in very small pieces one at a time - in PE, you're doing bigger chunks.

EMDR/EFT focuses on distress reduction for each of those little bits; so, the process can seem gentler because you are chipping away at it a piece at a time, and achieving relief/neutrality with each piece. PE, you're living with more tough feelings for longer, but then it's all slowly becoming neutral at the same time.

EMDR has the bilateral stimulation aspect - which seems to push the client somehow into a more acute memory state for the duration of that 'target'. EFT has the 'tapping', which is either affecting your meridians (if you believe in energy psychology) or creating a distraction layer which allows the loaded feelings to become merely words while occupying the client in a task so they can't get too stuck in rumination (if you are more cognitively oriented).

But the core notion - that to process trauma, you will need to revisit the event in narrative form and desensitize yourself to it, so that it incorporates into the rest of your memory and no longer hijacks your amygdala - is the same, in my opinion, regardless of the actual process you are using to get there.

I think figuring out what is best for you is a combination of trial/error, and knowing your own pitfalls and how your cognition works, overall.

And all this is why the forward moving science right now (in terms of PTSD treatment) is about finding ways to decrease the level of stress experienced by the individual when they are doing the necessary relaying of the trauma event. MDMA, Ketamine, the stellate ganglion block...these are all meant to ameliorate the distress we experience when scraping off the topmost layers of these traumatic memories.

 

[Friday]

We NEVER talk about their abuse or try to get them to talk about it. We talk about their recovery and stay in today.. IF they want to talk about it we listen with empathy and validation.

That sounds like the difference between general mental health counseling & trauma therapy. Similar to how EMTs and Paramedics (and even most doctors) NEVER perform major surgery, because it would be reckless & dangerous, but surgeons specialize in surgery.

 

[8888]

Thank you for the info @joeylittle.