How To Get Help When Therapy Is A Ptsd Trigger

[Okec]

Take a mindfulness class, and start to learn how to get grounded. If you can't/won't take a class, work your way through 'Full Catastrophe Living' by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

^^^ there have been studies done on mindfulness meditation that prove that it heals a traumatised brain over time.
I'm not a talker either and talk therapy doesn't help me but mindfulness meditation did help. It took time, but it really has helped my nervous system. I do it every day and probably will do for thd rest of my life.
Have you tried art therapy? That's the other thing that helped me. I couldn't/ can't/ don't want to talk about it, but expressing my feelings creatively and being heard really helped me!!
We are all different. Keep exploring and you will find what works for you. Don't give up!

 

[Ego]

emotional freedom tapping is pseudoscience. I'd be very afraid of anything that claims to cure everything.

 

[Ulav]

They are researching MDMA (ecstasy) as a very effective treatment for people who have had no luck with other forms of therapy. I am putting this here in the hopes that nobody will even think of considering using drugs unassisted. If interested, get in touch with the researchers or wait for the drug's approval. That said: Treating PTSD with MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy - Home

 

[Kujit]

I don't want to explain why, but any form of therapy or otherwise trying to discuss things forces me to have a full on P...

Wondering if a group where you don't have to talk would help. I went to a lot of therapists and although it didn't trigger me, it never really helped. They all said the same thing: "Let's focus on the here and now." Meanwhile, I knew my problems stemmed from childhood traumas that had never been addressed or even discussed in any way.
One day after (yet again) vainly searching for help online, I came across the website for ACOA Adult Children of Alcoholics. I learned that this is a program for anyone who experienced family dysfunction of any kind (not just alcohol.) It's a twelve step group. I learned that although some of the people involved might be religious, the program itself is not and although it does suggest that you consider a "power greater than yourself" - whatever you may think that is (it could be the group itself, it could be your dog.) I say this because I know a lot of people think that the steps are a religious program. There are as many non-religious people in the groups as religious.
Anyway, I found a group in my area and started going to meetings. I learned that you are not required to share. You can just sit and listen. I learned a lot from other people's stories and I found a whole new way of thinking about my situation. A way of compassion and common sense and freedom to be who I was meant to be. This program helped me waaaaay more than any therapist. I finally found relief from the weight I was carrying around my neck. I no longer go to meetings because I don't feel that I need them any more but I know where they are if I do.
I would highly recommend that you try a meeting of ACOA or Alanon or CODA or some other 12-step meeting. Give it few tries and see if it's for you. I'm so glad I did.

 

[Eka]

If you're going let them poison you with mdmA, I'm sorry, you'd have to be very very very stupid. But good luck with that, you'll need all the luck you can get.

 

[Ulav]

@Eka, I'm sorry, how is MDMA worse than any other prescription psychopharmaceutical on the market? Just because some kids use it in large quantities to get high doesn't mean it's rat poison or something.

Check out the studies - you take it a few times under supervision. Sounds less "poisonous" to me than the lithium they've been prescribing for other mental health issues...

 

[Uhafif]

I don't trust their studies. I don't trust big pharma.

 

[Ulav]

I trust that big pharma wants to make big money. So big pharma won't spend millions on researching a controversial drug if they haven't had success with it. I'm not a fan of prescriptions for mental illness. This is different. It's a few doses under supervision and not a drug they want to hook you on for life. So take it or leave it, but it sounds pretty darn promising to me.

 

[Zuson]

Meds not working if you're D.I.D. -alone- is pretty common.

Because severely dissociative brain's chemistry is just changing way too often, for these medications to work properly.

So it says zero about how messed up you are - or that you can't be medicated. It only is one of many fun side effects to actually having D.I.D.

 

[Obidup]

Here's my understanding. Some types of therapy will trigger you. It has to. PTSD is an avoidance problem and you can't process something you avoid. So. The only way to deal with it is to tackle it with help.
In some ways it's going to trigger you. The trick is learning how to manage that.

 

[Nelic]

Human, I hear you. I think you need to work with a therapist first who just works on emotions management techniques and grounding, before even getting in to the trauma. Throwing yourself into it as has been suggested is just going to flood you. Working slow is often recommended so if its so intense you need help building up your coping mechanisms so that when you are triggered you have a way to cope and prevent full blown flashbacks.

 

[Wezi]

First things first: work on your coping skills. There can be no trauma therapy without strong coping skills leading to stabilization.

1. DBT might very well be the best place to start. You will learn, among other things, that feelings come and go and so are not to be feared.

2. How about Thought Stoppage? You seem permeated with negative words (no, can't, always, everything...) and concepts, and this is holding you back. Do a Google search on Thought Stoppage and get your therapist to help you get started. Thought Stoppage will teach you to stop every time you make a negative statement, reality test the statement, and then restate the message in a positive healthy way.

3. Crawl out of yourself and into the life of your community. Donate some time at a local soup kitchen, do so volunteer tutoring at a local elementary school. Crawling out of yourself will help you understand that your issues are just a tiny bit of the world. You will fear your issues less as a result.

4. Make a list of emergency coping skills (holding ice cubes, placing a cold soda can against your neck, going to your predetermined Safe Place...and practice using those skills when triggered until they become second nature. Learn to control your triggered rather than allow them to control you.