Best Advice I Can Give Is: Find A Therapist Who Has Ptsd

[permban0069]

Sound strange? Of course it does, but let me share something with you. I've been reading hundreds of threads about how therapists don't get it, that they drag you through your emotions over and over and how you walk away more upset than when you got there.

I'm a Clinical Hypnotherapist/Psychotherapist....and I have PTSD.

No-one. and I mean no-one can truly understand what you are going through, unless they have been there themselves. You see, I can describe to you about my journey to the top of mt everest. The cold, the air, the journey, the map to get there, the gear you should take. I can show you pictures and draw diagrams. But you can not, truly understand what I went through on that journey; until you have climbed it yourself.

A therapist can read all the studies, case notes and research on PTSD, but unless they have experienced it themselves, their are very few of them who can truly understand what is coming out of your mouth. (-Don't get me wrong here, most therapists do have amazing tools and treatments and with great success in the management and treatment of PTSD. )

I went through the 'system' and can recall sitting there, with one of the psychologists saying 'Now, feeeel the almond in your mouth... notice the texture of the almond...bla bla' and all I could think what WTF!

It's difficult for me to articulate this in a short thread, but if you're interested I am more than happy to share with you some valuable tools and insights that I learned first hand, which brought me back from the land of waking nightmares, physical illness and depression. About triggers, understanding, and feeding my brain, putting a stop to regurgitating the event for well meaning therapists, as I realised that the event was actually almost irrelevent. It was what the event set up in my brain at a survival level.

I realised that I needed to take control of my own body, brain and future.... and it worked.

I have had 15 years of taking those tools, and using them to help other PTSD sufferers, which even included my own son who was medivacced out of afghanistan a couple of years ago. I work with and specialise in victims of crime and PTSD clients, returned vets, ex police and so on.

I'd like to help you find that peaceful place again, from walking my own talk.
So, please feel free to ask questions in this regard, and I'll answer them. ( I do have a huge workload at present, so be patient and I will get back to you.)

Cheers :)

 

[anthony]

Hi @Anjiibe, I have edited your thread to remove your promotional context, and thus warned you for it, breaching our community policy.

Whilst I agree with your entire statement, that a therapist with PTSD will do better with a PTSD client, it doesn't mean that "only" a therapist with PTSD can help.

I appreciate you're a psychologist, but please be careful and do not advertise / self promote yourself in the course of interacting here. Therapists are more than welcome, just please keep the rhetoric self promotion out of things please.

 

[permban0069]

Hi Anthony, I Would like to clear this up so that I don't mistakenly do it again. I'm not sure how I promoted my business. But to explain my point, which is finding an effective therapist who actually has Link Removed, and how it has helped me as a therapist, it was important that I identify where my experience comes from in my life. Is that ok? Theres no actual business or self being promoted so if you could just clarify what was the self promotion, I'll ensure that I write so that I can actually help if writers want to ask questions, without promoting myself in future. And yes, I didn't mean to elude that only these therapists can help. You are correct in that. I'm not sure how to edit my thread as I will definitely correct the mis-statement.Thanks, I'll really appreciate the guidance. I'm fine if you want to remove the thread. I am here to share what I have learned from recovering/managing PTSD

 

[shimmerz]

A therapist can read all the studies, case notes and research on PTSD, but unless they have experienced it themselves, their are very few of them who can truly understand what is coming out of your mouth.

I agree that therapists who have a 'working experience' with PTSD come with a whole different set of tools .... they have the capacity to truly 'get' the emotional part, which I believe is really important. Not necessary, necessarily, but important.

You may have a hard sell on this board for this stance as there seem to be many people who stand by the belief that we will never to healthy enough to counsel others. I myself don't believe that to be true, but just to warn you, there may be quite a controversy here. I hope you ride it out and continue to post. It is very possible you could be a help here given the sufferer/therapist POV that you can bring to the table.

You may as well have a hard time with some who don't believe in 'recovery' from PTSD. I myself feel recovered and am currently working on attachment disorder stuff. I, myself, would be happy to hear about your journey. I do believe in recovery. I think sufferers will always have to retrofit their lives to manage a potential relapse, but I believe we can come out of this alive by and large.

Welcome @Anjiibe .

 

[Hope4Now]

Welcome @Anjiibe. And thanks for your offers of support. I hope you can find support for yourself here too. I think you have a unique perspective to offer as a therapist who has done her own personal work and also worked with others. I'll look forward to your posts. What @shimmerz says is true...hang onto your socks. Take what you want and leave the rest in terms of what others say. BTW I am aware of several people in my 3D life who are psychiatrists and therapists with PTSD. I think they DO have much to offer, so long as they are highly skilled at managing their own issues with transference and counter-transference, etc. The people I know are good at this.

 

[permban0069]

Yes, I totally understand what you're saying Shimmerz, and I agree as well. We will always have PTSD. This is a fact. By recovery I believe/know that I personally (lets stick to that) recovered from the debilitating effects of the trauma. I have had recurrences several times over the years, triggered by new traumas. My ( yes we shall have to find the right word for moved beyond the symptoms) quite quickly with the recurrences, and I am grateful for that. Your last paragraph, I couldn't have said it better myself :) And one of the greatest keys is to be able to recognise triggers, and be armed with tools to manage them at the point of incidence. :)
PS: Now I'm almost regretting the offer to share, I didn't do it to get hammered by strangers lol. So thanks for the heads up xx

 

[shimmerz]

Now I'm almost regretting the offer to share,

Please don't. This is a really emotional thing for many. We are all at different stages, have differing opinions. I am giving a heads up - just in case. I, for one, would be very interested in how you got to where you are. I am currently reassessing my life, as I have known it for the past 10 years or so. I am thrilled to have someone here who can speak of what happens after the trauma symptoms relax or (dare I say) subside completely. Not much talk of that around here. Thanks for coming.... :hug:

 

[illusionist]

Welcome!

I was one of those people who believed that people who had experienced do not make good therapists/ counsellors...from the point of view that the ones I did know as friends had obvious problems with coping with their own issues. I've opened up my mind to the fact that I can't judge everyone by my limited experience, and it does not make them a bad therapist. My partner does a fantastic job, doing what he does in the workplace, but does he do any of this at home?....no....only when the door is falling off its hinges.

 

[anonymous]

I am one who will not associate with another sufferer in real life in any way, shape or form because I need the pull of normalcy more than I need to be understood. (I gave up on being understand as I believe acceptance is by far more important.)

 

[anonymous]

Eta

To each their own though!

 

[WillyKat]

@Agjiibe, you make a very good point, but how many therapists are there like you in the world. A friend of mine is a psychologist (research, but has some clinical experience) and says that in most areas, there are simply not enough therapists period let alone decent ones. Finding one w/ PTSD is like finding El Dorado. Besides, how many would advertise that they have PTSD? That would I think turn away a lot of potential clients.

You're right though, only those that have it can understand someone else that has it. And even there it's difficult.

 

[permban0069]

I need the pull of normalcy more than I need to be understood

Perfect! This is exactly where I started. I got so mad at being dysfunctional all the time, feeling inadequate, like I had to qualify myself to everyone who looked at me sideways because my body shook all the time. I had to get mad. I had to get mad to get out of what I knew was just a big spinning vortex. I had to . 'I' had to take back the control of me, and my world. Some people are going to scream and yell about this, but you know what, this was my personal journey so I can say it how it was for me.... I had to stop feeling, thinking, walking and acting like a victim! Because I realised in that moment, that that was what I was doing. - I had to stop trying to be understood.... And wow, here you are.
It was my the first giant step away from dis-empowerment,
such a simple step.
Just one foot, out in front of myself.
It was the first, tiny tiny step toward my own self RE- Empowerment...

It's such a freedom isn't it, that first tentative breath of your own air.
Well done