Body Centered Self-help?

[JohnD]

Hi,

I'm newly diagnosed with PTSD. I'm getting a lot of therapy, but I'm also wondering about some of the body-centered self-help stuff I've seen. I'm wondering if anybody's had good experiences.

One is the iRest Yoga Nidra

Another I'm looking at is David Berceli's Trauma Releasing Exercises

There's also EFT and EMDR and there's trauma informed yoga.

There's a lot of stuff to look at. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[deer_in_headlights]

Hi John!

I'm sorry you have PTSD! Welcome to the forum!

That's great that you're researching many avenues of treatment and what you can do to help yourself!
That's great Survivor skill!

I really like breathing techniques, grounding, getting present skills. These are most effectively taught by a trauma specialist. Once you have the technique, then you can practice on your own.

Yoga can be exceptionally helpful.

Somatic Experiencing is a very good skill to learn - again with a competent trained Trauma Specialist.
(I'll come back and put some links here.)

I would say EMDR is something to not do on your own. I would not recommend going alone on that.
It's a very powerful therapy, and I have loved it - but I have one of the finest EMDR specialists, trained by Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk. You do it with a poorly-trained therapist, or on your own, and you can get into serious re-traumatization.

Others here will have great info. for you.
Welcome, John!:)
Deer

 

[Deleted member 28942]

Welcome @JohnD,

A very useful resource that has been evaluated clinically is the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program:
http://palousemindfulness.com/selfguidedMBSR.html

It is free and you can do it at your own pace.

 

[Hope4Now]

All good stuff...meditation, yoga, somatic experiencing, emdr, internal family systems therapy...

But just be very careful about doing stuff on your own. All of these can release pretty powerful stuff and are best done with the guidance of someone trained in both the approach and in trauma therapy. Sometimes people who have been diagnosed with "simple" PTSD have other traumatic stuff that can come up related to whatever the incident was that caused the simple PTSD and that can be really destabilizing. Sometimes even working with single incident/simple PTSD on your own can be too much as well. Talk to your therapist about it.

for somatic experiencing see: Link Removed
for internal family systems see: http://selfleadership.org/

Also, DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) is somatic/mindful based and there are lots of therapists and groups around for that.

I wish you the best on your healing journey!

 

[Biz]

Hi John,

Welcome. It seems like you've got some ideas with the body-based stuff. I'd encourage you to go with whatever you're most attracted to. I think people have a good, if sometimes unconscious sense for their bodies and what will be most helpful.

Body work has been a huge part of my recovery. I go to a practitioner that is trauma-informed and uses both reiki and Rosen Method. For me, even though I hate people in my space and constantly fear being touched, I knew something touch-based would help, and it really has. Rosen Method is amazing if there's anyone in your area who is trained in it. I hear the Alexander Technique is similar.

I did Yoga Nidra for almost a year when I first started trauma therapy. It was mixed iRest and traditional style. It was so helpful for my anxiety; I felt like it wiped my brain clean each week. The teacher moved, but I still go to random classes every now and then. I'd highly recommend it. Also, check out yin yoga classes. That's my current favorite. They are about centering your energy and focusing on breath.

FYI, not all EMDR practitioners bring in somatic components. Mine has and I think most trauma therapists encourage awareness of the body to help with stability and staying present (without flashbacks or dissociation), but it's not necessarily a part of the technique.

Last thing: my practitioner says that often, when our pain is deep, deep bodywork can do more harm than good. She said particularly deep-tissue massage may be overstimulating or bring up too much too quickly.

 

[Tina J]

Hi,

I'm newly diagnosed with PTSD. I'm getting a lot of therapy, but I'm also wondering about some of the...

I've been through EMDR. It sounds hokey but it works.

 

[Deleted member 28942]

It sounds hokey but it works.

Haha, that's what I told my therapists. It looks very silly like hokus-pocus but it works amazingly well. I love it.

 

[edward333]

I agree with responses so far. I am a big fan of Bessel van der Kolk who published "The Body Keeps the Score" a couple year ago, on amazon et al

His organization, The Trauma Center, has a site and among the many publications there is a good one, "The Limits of Talk" that I recommend (I am not permitted by this site to post links, sorry)

Good luck!!!