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The SUDS scale etc is a crude attempt to look at stress hormone levels. THe reason for this is that there's an optimum level f these hormones that stimulates neurogenesis (brain rewiring). If there's no stress (ie complete avoidance of the stress trigger) then there's no stimulus for new brain...

Part of having a therapist is to learn appropriate boundaries..... which means becoming aware of what is problematic in our own lives around boundaries and being able to live life to the full. The therapist offers to be present for their client for a fee. It is not a friendship, it is a...

The crucial thing is all jurisdictions I have come across is that statutory disclosure only applies if there is a present danger to humans or the state. I have not come across laws in first world democracies where a therapist would be legally required to disclose information around historic...

I've found my ability to be intimate has changed. Because of my upbringing one problem was that I found I didn't have any sense of what intimacy could be. It's not something that one can talk or read about, it has to be experienced with another. Conventional therapy has been important in the...

I wonder if the reaction might come from a visceral sense that we are "Not OK", if someone we have placed significant trust in says we are "OK" then they are not as "OK" as we need them to be.... this kicks off a feedback loop in the brain as it tries to solve this conundrum and find a stable...

It sounds like it triggered a lot of past stuff and I am saddened that your old therapist treated you the way she did. I don't believe in this thing about therapists needing "trained" in particular types of trauma.... yes it helps a lot, and is a part of a therapist staying one step ahead of the...

IF you found a therapist you were comfortable with then stick with her. One thing to check though.... if the therapist is already a trained therapist and is adding EMDR to her list of skills that's a good sign. If she's only training in EMDR and is early in her career then maybe move on...

I know it's hard to do, but it's important not to get too hung up on the "diagnosis". The label your therapist gives you is for the insurance form, nothing else. One big problem is that the labels used for behaviours are constantly changing, and the symptom checklist used in the DSM doesn't map...

There's a pattern where one thinks a new therapist is great, then find they're human after a while and then, as therapy runs into a slow spot, take the opposite view and move on. Not saying this is happening here, but pay attention if you begin to criticise your new therapist somewhere down the...

I've found that writing to your MP does work.... however doing so requires considerable background research to put one's own situation into the context of the legislation/guidelines. Becoming part of a campaigning group is a good way of understanding how one's own experience fits into the...

You are talking about 2 separate things.... the seeking of support and the personal records. The records thing only matters within the NHS, and is a battle probably best left for when you're on top of your game. You are unlikely to get "support" from within the NHS as the NHS is geared up to...

One thing one can do is read around/research the subject. This means that when psychs and therapists talk rubbish, you know they're talking rubbish and have the choice to call them on it. I have found that reading and learning about mental health has been the most powerful way of addressing my...

I'm sorry, I had made an assumption based on the source being Paste Magazine rather than a peer reviewed publication. It would be great to have the original journal reference. The quote also counters an Nov 2015 article in Science drawing from an article in the Proceedings of the National...

When reading this type of summary of a neurological paper, it's worth remembering that brain structure is the result of environment, genetics provides the template for development, the feedback between self and environment provides the process that develops the brain, it's structure is a...

Shock treatment isn't the only solution. There are many options, and I'm not surprised just talking to a counsellor hasn't worked. PTSD is a deep brain thing..... talk therapy relies on language and cognition, which operates on only a small part of the brain. PTSD and particularly C-PTSD need...

The US and the rest of the world are different. The thread has been started by someone in the UK looking for practical advice. You may have had a great TRE experience in the US, my comments come from a UK perspective where training and accreditation are very different. Yes there are many dodgy...

Unfortunately in the UK one has to know the system in order to "present" in a way that gets the appropriate assistance. Now you have a C-PTSD diagnosis you can read around the subject. I would recommend Bessel van der Kolk's book "The body keeps the score" It's a bit academic in places but you...

Clear goals can be part of therapy.... there is a kind of therapy called "Transactional Analysis" that has a thing called "contracting" at its core. This is an explicit contract about the therapy, what the goals are, what the sessions are about, what the business arrangements are.... the whole...

You write........."you try to state everything in a positive non-judgemental way. For me, that is not direct. I need direct communication and quick resolution of issues." It sounds like you think being "direct" can involve being judgemental and negative and you want your therapist to validate...

"Self-medicate" is a therapists word for using substances (or activities) to alleviate sub-conscious or conscious feelings of distress. This means it's a symptom of a problem rather than the problem itself, which is why many therapists don't react the way others do when this sort of stuff is...

If you have a defence of always trying to look calm and collected, and you say your body language doesn't match the emotion you feel or the situation you are talking about it seems natural that an outsider will see you as getting worse when you begin to express more of how you are feeling, both...

I am interested in you saying that you didn't have a problem in China when you were young. I wonder if part of the "autism" thing is that you were well-adjusted to Chinese culture, then moved to a new culture with totally different language, body language, way of being, subliminal messages and...

Because the core messages are at the body/non-verbal level I find using bodywork works well but it takes time for the body/child to discern whether the group/leader/space is safe enough. Of the types of dance I've tried I found Tango and Five Rhythms suit me best, but I've noticed much depends...

The three stage process is contained in the draft treatment guidelines from the ISTSS (International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies). These things are often iterative..... each step in therapy contains the process in a smaller form, right down to the session level.

Don't talk about "it", talk about the block that stops you talking about "it". The key is not to be forcing yourself to talk about "it" because then you'll get what is sometimes called "script blowback", which is a mental loop where you convince yourself never to talk about "it" again...