bellbird
MyPTSD Pro
As the title states, I'm becoming afraid of the dark. Or perhaps rather, I'm already there.
This is a new thing, more recent than PTSD. In fact in the beginning, I used to go for spontaneous walks at night as a coping mechanism. At some point, I would feel the occasional twinge of fear on my walks, which I decided was probably a good and normal thing, as opposed to the contrary.
That was a fair while ago, I stopped going for walks in the dark as I've been working on developing healthier coping mechanisms.
Now I feel afraid in my own house at night, even when all the windows and doors are locked and checked.
I think it may be partly due to a recurring nightmare recently of being hunted, general danger theme. Other than that, I don't really understand it. I've never really had a fear of the dark, before this, and now it is very strong.
I've talked to my T about it.
The two ideas we have for coping so far are internal dialogue reminding myself I'm safe, and recalling happy/funny moments to take the power away.
But it's still there, strongly. Hence me lying awake in the middle of the night after having got up to use the bathroom, and feeling scared enough to finally push myself to write this post.
It's worse when I am up and moving around the house, compared with just being in bed, but still not great here. Which is quite inconvenient as I often get up to use the bathroom after a nightmare, and as I said they're often about people trying to hurt me.
I can't really sleep with a night light on as it's too bright for me, and I don't like to turn lights on when I get up in the night else I wake myself up completely.
I wondered if anyone else has any experience with similar, or any advice? I'd really appreciate it.
This is a new thing, more recent than PTSD. In fact in the beginning, I used to go for spontaneous walks at night as a coping mechanism. At some point, I would feel the occasional twinge of fear on my walks, which I decided was probably a good and normal thing, as opposed to the contrary.
That was a fair while ago, I stopped going for walks in the dark as I've been working on developing healthier coping mechanisms.
Now I feel afraid in my own house at night, even when all the windows and doors are locked and checked.
I think it may be partly due to a recurring nightmare recently of being hunted, general danger theme. Other than that, I don't really understand it. I've never really had a fear of the dark, before this, and now it is very strong.
I've talked to my T about it.
The two ideas we have for coping so far are internal dialogue reminding myself I'm safe, and recalling happy/funny moments to take the power away.
But it's still there, strongly. Hence me lying awake in the middle of the night after having got up to use the bathroom, and feeling scared enough to finally push myself to write this post.
It's worse when I am up and moving around the house, compared with just being in bed, but still not great here. Which is quite inconvenient as I often get up to use the bathroom after a nightmare, and as I said they're often about people trying to hurt me.
I can't really sleep with a night light on as it's too bright for me, and I don't like to turn lights on when I get up in the night else I wake myself up completely.
I wondered if anyone else has any experience with similar, or any advice? I'd really appreciate it.