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No clue which therapy to choose

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can you say what your hardest trauma event is? Is there one that stands out? Was it repeated over and over for a period of time? Was it in childhood, teen, or adult years? Did it involve betrayal? These are important questions when looking at options. If you can give one name to the event what would it be?
You can do yoga or martial arts, or therapeutic horse back riding while doing the other forms of therapy and I would encourage this! You will need these other therapies to deal with what comes up during the one--on-one talk therapy, whether that's EMDR or CPT!
Cognitive Processing Therapy: combat, rape, some childhood sexual abuse, accidents, catastrophes --make sure the person really knows how to do this. This works best if the dissociative symptoms are not intense as dissociation can prevent this treatment from really breaking through to what needs to happen.
EMDR: combat, sexual abuse, rape, childhood abuse, domestic violence, EDR does work with dissociative people
Also, I have used all of these models at different times.
Step number one is build rapport with a therapist. They all work but the caveat is good relationship with the therapist.
If you have repeated over long period of years (complex) that will require a longer therapy than cpt in my opinion. But CPT helped me with one specific trauma that I'm glad the intensity of that is subdued --
I hope this made sense, I'm kind of out of it right now.
 
What about finding a trauma focused therapist and then letting them help make a decision. For example, the new one I found and am considering specializes in trauma and can offer many of the recommended therapies. He's partial to EMDR, but I know that if that's not a great fit or he thinks another way would be better, he can offer it. It just feels more like a joint decision rather than like choosing which type of soda pop to buy (I'm on a soda pop kick lately lol).
 
finding a trauma focused therapist and then letting them help make a decision.
I agree this is the best step to take. Since you have been in therapy, at an earlier date, and have been told that you have PTSD, then this seems to be the most logical thing to do. Restart therapy with a trauma/PTSD based specialist and take time with the new psychologist or therapist and explore your recurrence of PTSD symptoms from March, seeing what types of therapy to embark one. You may want to try a couple of them or stay with one. I know that we are customizing my therapy and I have done CBT, EMDR, and some talk therapy. You may be jumping the gun in trying to figure out what path to take. Looking for someone who uses some or all of the options you have listed would be what I would look for and then be comforted that there are options for you once you get past the intake period of seeing a new therapist.
 
thank you so much everyone.
Tonight is the worst. I cannot sleep at all. The moment I drift off I am woken up in terror. It's already happened 10 times and at one point I was screaming HELP in my sleep only seconds after falling asleep.
I'm so ready for some relief from all of this terror nonstop.
I just feel like the worst case ever. My brain and body is stuck in absolute TERROR.
Michelle
 
This is spot on advice:
If you’re new to therapy, start by finding a therapist who will teach you stabilization and coping skills.
Look into finding a therapist that does trauma focused-CBT or DBT. Those are two well tested treatments that will help stabilize, and many therapists who do them will know how to help beyond that or where to direct you if you need other treatment modalities, if they don’t do those treatments themselves.

I’d suggest speaking to a couple of therapists over the phone or in person, if you can, and then picking which one you click with the best. If you can’t find a good TF-CBT or DBT therapist, then look into someone who specializes in trauma and they can help find other ways to stabilize symptoms.
 
thank you so much everyone.
Tonight is the worst. I cannot sleep at all. The moment I drift off I...
I don't have anything to really offer you except this reminds of about 20 years ago how every single night it was just like that for me. If I didn't suddenly wake up kicking and screaming, I woke up believing someone was in the room and it 's the worse fearful feeling ever. Or, I would awaken and be on the floor in an entirely different part of the room than my bed. I would take my pillow and move to a part of the room on the floor and sleep, and I did this while I was asleep so I wouldn't remember doing that. It did eventually calm down and happen only a few times a year. Recently this started up again, but I was doing some therapy specifically on a particular trauma. So I am sleeping pretty well these days. So the only thing I can say is it will get better and the more quickly you connect the dots to what your body and brain are trying to work out the faster it will calm down. This last spell of waking up fighting, and kicking I used the terror/fear and that "state of mind" to "relive" the trauma - I connected what I was experiencing in the present to the trauma in the past, I detached from it and watched it like a movie in the night, and kept myself calm while lying in my bed, during the "episode" and I showed myself that I got the f*ck out of there, and I am safe now, and I am happy and I am healthy. I made myself feel my comfy bed and cozy house and look around and feel comfy. I used to think about getting stuffed animals that are really soft and pillow sized to sleep with. I never did, but I know that would have helped. There's this therapy doll called "therapy buddy" which you can hold and either a man's voice or a women's voice says, "everything will be alright" I still want that thing, I think it will help actually. It was designed by a police therapist to treat ptsd of police officers. I did get lots of pillows and put them around me like fort so if I rolled over there was a pillow up against my back. I think that made me feel "safe" or more "grounded" while I tried to sleep. I have a friend who would sleep with every single television on in the house. It helped her. I couldn't do that, it didn't help me.
 
thank you so much everyone.
Tonight is the worst. I cannot sleep at all. The moment I drift off I...
I have had nights where I just keep ending up back in the same nightmare. It is really hard. I have used guided imagery recordings and a weighted blanket to try to help when that happens. Since the weighted blanket is a bit too hot in the summer, I am going to try taking apart a stuffed animal and weighting it to see if that would help too. I am also extremely lucky in that one of my cats has decided she is a therapy cat. When I get a nightmare or a bad flash back, she parks on me purring very loudly until I calm down.
 
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