How Do I Find My Way Out?

[Stephen]

Dear Mercy,

Thank you for your note. It is much appreciated.

Do you have any thoughts on cognitive behavioral therapy? I am given to understand that it might be the next step for me in conquering my terror of going back to work.

Will CBT help to reprogram me, so i get me back to work again and lead a relatively normal life?

:wall:
Stephen

 

[UmightKnowMe]

CBT is good....and so is Exposure Therapy. Read all the stuff you can about these and I would try to find a therapist to work with you on this. I am doing Exposure Therapy with my therapist and it is the hardest, most difficult, painful work I have ever done with a therapist and I have been in therapy a LONG time. But I am still at the beginning. I do see small changes though. And I trust my therapist and the process so I know that things will keep getting better and better.

 

[midi]

I am sure you have had friends ask why you can't just let go of your past, or it's over so you should put it behind you. I may be way off base, but in my own personal experience, I have found that only another who suffers with PTSD can fully understand PTSD.

That's it exactly. And a lot of people just don't want to talk about it--maybe because they can't. While some are more patient than others, they still often try to 'fix' us.

 

[Mercy]

Dear Stephen,
I don't know about cognative behavioral therapy as such but I think my therapist tries sometimes. I'm am trying to de-fuse some of my triggers by facing them straight on with another person beside me. I hope that if I can put some present pictures in my mind I might lessen the impact of my horrendous memories. I don't know if this will work but I feel more like my own advocate than the perenial victim.:think:

 

[FlameTachiku]

Hi Stephen,

I found cogn. behavior therapy (CBT) to be an approach that I could benefit from without being traumatized like exposure therapy. My sessions were about 90% CBT and 10% exposure therapy. For me I needed the CBT to deal with the exposure because I had to stay in the present or get to the present (not disassociate) before exposure therapy could benefit me. I believe exposure therapy requires a therapist to have a deep understanding of PTSD to be effective and not result in harm. Just talk does not help it is retraumatizeing. CBT teaches us to change our perspective and response to triggers or the the environment around us. It teaches us how to respond to nightmeres. How to modify our behavior in response to increase heartrate and the instinct to fight or run. I found CBT and statistics helpful, meaning what are the chances of....is this response of terror warrented or is it in response to a chemical inbalance. If I am safe then it is ok to stay or implement learned copeing stategies to keep me in the moment without making a fool of myself in front of others, again. It is how I make it through a day at work. It is how I experience a the nightmeres and am able to fall back to sleep so I can function the next day.

Stephen those are examples of how CBT help me. The therapist was very experienced. PTSD and our symptoms are to serious to be someones learning project. It seems to me she should experiment with people that have had experience with the treatment so that they could benefit from each other. My concern is the depth of pain involved with our symptoms for the therapist to make big mistakes. Then there is our trust/mistrust challenges.

Best to you,

Flame