Best Ptsd Advice In One Sentence ??

[Pixi23]

I am having an extremely difficult time lately.
Disassociation, triggers, insomnia, nightmares, you name it !!

So I'm looking for simple advice. So I can make it through the bad days.
Thanks !

 

[Sighs]

This too shall pass.

 

[Candleflames]

Just breathe.

 

[arfie]

Here and now.

 

[anthony]

I've had too much advice, too much knowledge, to possibly put it down to one thing.

@Sighs point is accurate though... if you really need one point.

Think about any bad day, then think about how you've had a good day after that day or period... which proved it will pass.

The best advice I ever got was: If you want to heal your trauma, then it's going to hurt you more healing it than when you went through it, but you will get through it.

That was the best advice I ever got, and that was from my therapist who was a little old lady, an ex war widow, and who did nothing but help combat veterans for decades x times per week. There is no easy option, even suicide is difficult, because you not only have to do it, all your loved ones are left to pick up the pieces. There is no easy option through trauma, it doesn't exist, and you have to prepare yourself for a lot of short-term pain in order to get through it, for the long-term gain you achieve by healing trauma and working on managing your symptoms.

I've helped people through complex trauma, who some of the worlds experts had written off as untreatable, to help themselves and adopt that approach. They are no longer here for the most part, and back in life to some degree... with far less symptoms and happier daily lives. In other words, nothing is forever and you can get through trauma with a lot of hard work.

 

[risingsun]

Stay strong because you will heal from PTSD which is never a life sentence.

 

[Seasounds]

Choose friends, partners, and teachers, who are emotionally balanced, consistently kind, and respectful; daily, do things to release stress-exercise, practice mindfulness, yoga, writing, etc.; and spend time in nature.

 

[Barberian]

The title of my trauma diary - "No Matter How Hard The Past, You Can Always Begin Again".

 

[Deleted member 1860]

This too shall pass.

Unfortunately this is the one statement that can make a sad man happy AND a happy man sad.... So only use it when you're feeling down!

My old therapist used to have me say "Right now I feel ____. I have not always felt this way. I will not always feel this way." Its an expansion on the "this too shall pass" bit with the addition of identifying your feeling(s), which many of us have a hard time doing.

 

[Me Myself and I]

No matter how bad the day may be, it will come to an end!! The sun will rise again next morning for a whole new day!! A better one perhaps!! :)

 

[RussH]

Stay focused on the present.

 

[Alien Goodness]

My old therapist used to have me say "Right now I feel ____. I have not always felt this way. I will not always feel this way." Its an expansion on the "this too shall pass" bit with the addition of identifying your feeling(s), which many of us have a hard time doing.

I can't quite put my key thought into one sentence, but this comes close.

For me, the key thing is to identify what I'm feeling as precisely as I can, and then tell myself that it is a feeling and not the whole of who I am, and that this feeling will change over time (sometimes better, sometimes worse, sometimes different but equally difficult).

There are three ways of describing a feeling/emotion:
1. I'm anxious (i.e. the whole of me is anxious)
2. I'm feeling anxious (i.e. recognising it is a feeling)
3. I am noticing within me the bodily sensations and thought patterns that come from being anxious. I know that these will change over time and in their own time (i.e. stepping back from the feeling so it isn't the whole of me)

Here's a personal example: "I'm feeling anxious - which comes with the bodily sensations of a tight chest, shallow breathing, tense forearms and a clenched jaw. I'm noticing that my thoughts jump around - mainly thinking about sources of danger or remembering the bad things that have happened to me. I can't stop my brain from focussing on danger. But I can remember that I haven't always felt this anxious. I am more than this set of anxious feelings and thoughts that have currently taken over me. I know that my feelings and thoughts will change. I'm going to try some breathing exercises to calm me down (i.e. try to change bodily sensations) and try to think of some nice things that have happened to me (i.e. try to alter thought patterns). But if it doesn't work immediately, I shall be kind to myself and wait observantly for my bodily sensations and thought patterns to change."

And it is possible to boil down the above long paragraph into just four words "This too will pass" :D