Coping Mechanisms

[Deleted member 1860]

I agree with much that has been said! I think that negative coping mechanisms tend to work fast. We use them simply because they work fast. The good coping mechanisms can take months (years even) to master, and that's why many don't stick with them. It took me the better part of a year for meditation to even begin to start helping me, and now I am to the point that I can calm myself in seconds. However, the tricky part is knowing when to turn to these skills, as my mind KNOWS I can use meditation, but when I am suck in an emotional state of mind, I don't sit here and think "now its time to meditate!" I don't know what symptoms you are suffering with the most, so I don't think I can say which skills may help you the most. However, I think that it is helpful for everyone with PTSD to learn about self-soothing and meditation. I suffer with obsessive, runaway thoughts as well, so I find CBT skills to be helpful as well in coping.

 

[Chava]

Not to sound lame, but baby steps...or 2 steps forward, 1.95 steps back, is all that seems to work for me quite often. It's great if you've gotten rid of lots of self-destructive habits. But I know my body felt a lot worse when I got rid of some of the self-destructive stuff that was probably actually helping regulate me...maybe in a bad way, but I still struggle to find the good way. I am "healthier" and taking better care of myself, but I've had more panic attacks, more physical pain, more intolerance to lots of stuff, like my nervous system is just out-of-whack and "normalcy" feels like crazy.

Not sure if that makes sense or helps. But I know how good coping can feel difficult. I just dropped into depression when I started taking better care of myself, and that's also roughly when the chronic pain started. I don't think there was really a better option, since I was burning myself out. But it's been a weird, careful, slow process. I'm not patient, but that's how it has to be for me. Hang in there. Not hurting yourself is a good step, even if it takes a while to learn how to replace what that did for you..