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I have found some neat coloring pages online for free. I use them for embroidery patterns. Try "googling" adult coloring pages, meditative coloring pages, etc....then go to pictures. It's easy to get sucked into spending a lot of time though!

Of the many terms I could find to describe you, I don't think naïve is one of them :)

My experience on this forum (and granted, I've only been here a year), is that people aren't 'de-labeled' or directly questioned about Criterion A unless they directly state something like "I have PTSD from breaking up with my boyfriend" or "I have PTSD from a bad acid trip" and then go on to...

Or the fact that they store the speculums in ice cold water :p.

I don't think these are mutually exclusive. @BlueOrange, I believe you are coming from a compassionate and helpful place and while I think addressing self-harm, nightmares, dissociation, etc. can be helpful, it's like giving a person in cardiac arrest a band aid. As I said earlier, at least...

This. I spent years working on all of these "existing diagnoses" until I finally accepted the PTSD diagnosis (which had been given to me several times over the years, but which I soundly rejected). It wasn't until I was able to recognize that all of these other things (and I had most of the...

I don't particularly like mammograms, but it makes me smile when other women talk about how painful they are because...well...I'm rather large chested, so it's not so bad. The pap smears became painful after my cancer treatment, so between that and the psychological discomfort, I stopped having...

An interesting word indeed. I try very hard to recognize and respect the inherent worth and dignity of every human being. There are times that I fail at this miserably. And there are times I have to just walk away because the struggle to respect that person is too much. Years ago, I had a...

I consider myself Buddhist and I view it more as a spiritual practice than a religion (which may not be semantically accurate, but there you are). Anyway, not trying to proselytize, but some of the Buddhist writings have been immensely helpful to me - one that comes immediately to mind is Pema...

Not to derail the OP's thread, but there is a lot of controversy over the "1 year rule" for pap smears here in the US. The same for yearly breast exams.

I suspect your therapist (and probably your psychiatrist as well) are aware that you are in more distress than you are letting on. When I first started seeing my former therapist it was to work out the stress of being a single parent. When I finally "came clean" about all of my other issues...

I think your thoughts are very wise and compassionate. I agree that there seem to be newer folks who may not have developed the most effective means of interacting and expressing their distress without flaming others or coming across as combative. I try to stay away from those threads...

After a lot of years (and a history of cancer), I finally had my "yearly" exam last year. I also went to the dentist for the first time in 5 years a couple of weeks ago...so I get where you are coming from. I don't know where you are or if you have restrictions on who you can choose (due to...

So...the really important thing about distress tolerance skills (such as distraction) is that they aren't meant to be for the long-haul. They are meant for when the distress is way way up. This was a difficult concept for me, because for the longest time my distress was constantly in the red...

I have different experiences depending on the situation I guess. My "go to" dissociation is total blankness - my brain just shuts down - I've had therapists ask "where did you go" and I just don't know....there are no words, no place, no nothing. Then there is the "two places at once" thing -...

I'm not sure what all of your abbreviations mean...but...it sounds to me like you have multiple "maladaptive" coping mechanisms that are all trauma related. And I think it's a really good step that you recognize that they are related to your trauma. I spent years trying to "fix" all of my...

I don't think anyone here can tell you what to do, because different things work for different folks at different times. I am finishing up almost 2 years of DBT Skills training. For me, the skills I've learned from that (along with individual therapy) are how I now hang in there during...

For me, it has been helpful to get validation that I am struggling and that there is someone there that both sees it and empathizes. Sometimes that's enough to shift things just a little.

Years ago, probably the late 1980's, my company gave a safety presentation that showed that backing into a parking space was so much more unsafe than parking forward into it and then backing out. Since then, I have never backed into a space. That said, you are aware that she is bsc (bat shit...

So, I'm a little too spacey to read all of what you've written @VioletButterfly, but I think your gut is steering you right. Stabilization is first, learning grounding skills is next. Simply writing all of your traumas on slips of paper and tearing them up is so...I don't know...it makes me...

It is very challenging - and I think you've got the hardest part down by recognizing that it's short term pain and you need to work through the feelings - and maybe "work" isn't quite right - maybe just let the feelings happen. Suicidal ideation is my "go to" place when I'm feeling overwhelmed...

I have the book and have started the program a couple of times but never made it through the whole thing. I think having group support would make a huge difference...so count me in!

I really wonder if you are a troll...and I really did try to not respond to this...but as someone outside of the heteronormative spectrum, your post and attitude really pissed me off. Are you bisexual? gay? are you even attracted to women? Or are you just looking for someone to validate...

I agree 100% with @Solara and @Born to Run. Like you, I wanted to be a "good" patient, so I tried "exposure" therapy with a non-trauma therapist who I loved and trusted and ended up totally retraumatized. It wasn't his fault and I know he meant well, but I now have a very healthy respect for...

I'm a little confused about "suspending therapy". It seems to me that now is exactly when you need to be in therapy - maybe extra therapy....but not to work on the past, rather to figure out 1) how to know when you've been triggered and/or are dissociating, 2) how to communicate this to your...