Therapy hang over and heightened symptoms after a session tips (small essay, sorry!)

[WorldWanderer]

Hi guys!

It's been a little while since i've posted here, things are going fairly well and i've been checking in on here regular for tips and advice.

Since i last posted I have a new T, and what a difference it's made!
There always felt to be like a coldness from my old T, like they weren't really interested. We'd gone ove the CBT basics and started working on things, and then i get told they're on leave for the foreseable, which therw me totaly off balance, but hey ho. 3 weeks or so later i got a call from my new T (NHS based in the UK btw) and we scheduled our first session.

It's been a total flip. My new T instantly put me at ease, cracked jokes, said i should bring a brew (cup of tea) next time lol,took the time to get to know me outside of trauma before heading into therapy work. They have the notes from my previous sessions and it was clear they had read them and fully understood them, they'd even taken the time to learn about the medical condition that caused my NDE (which is how i ended up in this mess)

We had our first heavy session yesterday and did an excersise in which i had to close my eyes and talk about one of the areas of my trauma that i find most difficult, in the first person. I have a tendancy to talk about it all as if it was someone else. Not gonna lie, f***ing difficult! That being said, i had constand reassurance from my T that they were still with me, and i was safe. The odd question to push a little deeper.

They were aware that i can dissociate and shut down and i have hyperphantasia (that's basically a really, really strong and vivid minds eye, which can sometimes make flashbacks and going over memoeries a bit too much) They seems to have picked up on signs i'm shutting down or dissociating and catch it fairly quickly which is also a huge help and allowed me, even if only breifly, to talk about something i haven't spoken out loud about in nearly 2 years.

As we brought that to an end and made sure i was fully back in the room they asked if it'd crashed, not wure what gave it away, but i was honest and explained how tired and drained i felt.

Which leads me on to the reason for posting (said it was an essay, sorry!)

Towards the end of the session, and even now over 24 hours after, i'm knackered, headache, feeling sick. I sort of understand there can be links between trauma work and physical symptoms. - What's the best ways to work through those? I try resting, but the moment i try and let my guard down i feel, emotionally flooded and vunerable, i think that's the best way to explain it, and if that goes too far then i just shut down, and then i feel back at square 1. I've also found my ptsd sysmptoms are so much more hightened after a session. I could really use some tips to work through the 48 hrs or so after when i feel like utter cr*p.

Thank you for your time peeps.

 

[Movingforward10]

It's really tough, the therapy hangover.

What I needed changed as my responses changed.
Initially, I marked a 'nonmeeting day's in my work diary to avoid having back to back meetings and needing the brain power to engage with people and be ok top form. That helped. I could have a slower day as I wasn't fully functioning.
Overtime, I found that sometimes having meetings helped just to get out of my head for a bit and focus on something else.

I journal on here. I write all of my sessions down. It helps to process. And getting people's feedback helps too.

Being aware of the rythem of therapy and it's impact helps. Working out I feel like this because of therapy. Trying to just accept it (so hard!). And trying to settle into it (equally as hard!)..

Exercise? That's always a challenge. As after therapy and being emotionally heightened, exercise is difficult (means connecting with the body and if you're avoiding connecting with the body.....hard).

And: it (eventually!) gets easier. Or you get more used to it.

 

[mszl]

an excersise in which i had to close my eyes and talk about one of the areas of my trauma that i find most difficult, in the first person

Did that as well. Plus we recorded the session and then I had to listen it back at home for exposure therapy. Not a pleasant experience.

 

[WorldWanderer]

Did that as well. Plus we recorded the session and then I had to listen it back at home for exposure therapy. Not a pleasant experience.

We record my sessions too, but not tried anything like listening to it back. That doesn't sound fun!

 

[Quassus]

I asked a similar question recently. When we do EMDR I notice the next few says are rough. Some suggestions I received were helpful, such as doing prep work to make life easier. Premake meals, set out clothes , work ahead on chores, plan distractions. I'm still figuring out what I need but it do think it's a very helpful suggestion.

 

[Wendell_R]

There's a "window of tolerance" in working on trauma. If you don't poke the bear much at all, it's hard to make progress. But if you go too deep, then the process becomes overwhelming. We think the first thing to do is to be honest about your post-therapy experiences with your therapist so that the two of you can decide if you need to reduce how much you tackle in one session.

For coping, we find that it's really helpful to walk in nature, to do grounding exercises, and to do activities that we have found to be calming and soothing. Journaling and art also help. Just napping or sleeping doesn't help us at all.

 

[WorldWanderer]

There's a "window of tolerance" in working on trauma. If you don't poke the bear much at all, it's hard to make progress. But if you go too deep, then the process becomes overwhelming. We think the first thing to do is to be honest about your post-therapy experiences with your therapist so that the two of you can decide if you need to reduce how much you tackle in one session.

For coping, we find that it's really helpful to walk in nature, to do grounding exercises, and to do activities that we have found to be calming and soothing. Journaling and art also help. Just napping or sleeping doesn't help us at all.

Thank you. I'll let them know what it's been like after the session for sure and see what they suggest

 

[OM_™]

Towards the end of the session, and even now over 24 hours after, i'm knackered, headache, feeling sick. I sort of understand there can be links between trauma work and physical symptoms. - What's the best ways to work through those?

Dissociate, Dissociate, Dissociate. I give in to the flashbacks and the hyper vigilance and in due course I come back to calm (unless I resist). I don’t know if this helps but even after quite a few sessions of psychology and psychiatry I still have ‘therapy hangovers’ and they are unpredictable. I have given in to them but lately I’m on an SSNRI which has ameliorated the intensity.