How To Help Myself Outside Of Therapy?

[Ice_Fire]

I'm wondering what other sufferers do outside of the therapy room to improve their PTSD symptoms? I get 'homework', cbt exercises, but I don't feel as if I'm doing enough. Is simply going to therapy and working hard for an hour a week enough to get me as healthy as I can be? I'm not sure it is but I don't know what to do on my own outside of my weekly session.

Is it forcing myself to face triggers? Is it making myself write traumas? I feel like I've done all that already with my trauma diary.

I'm frustrated at the fact I still get flashbacks, and I still dissociate. I have come to accept that I probably always will dissociate, but I'm not sure what an 'acceptable' level is for me, or how to reduce the frequency of it.

So...over to you, what do you all do to be proactive in your healing? And how much 'work' is needed?

 

[Jane.l]

I don't know what your exercises consist of but I try ( and quite often fail) to spend some time getting something other than ptsd in my life, sometimes focusing on something you enjoy, find interesting can be more helpful than being stuck in trauma 24/7 - I know it's not always easy when things are not going so well but if you can, a change of focus is healthy. You can work/try too hard to get better, it takes time.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Do you have a lot of skills to help you? Self soothing skills, grounding skills, etc?

It sounds like you could work on the dissociation bit. Flashbacks may never go away, but you can learn how to recover from them more quickly.

I don't know how severe your PTSD is, but for me it really is a 24/7 type of job. I never would be where I am today if I wasn't constantly working on getting better. Now someone with less severe symptoms probably wouldn't have to work so hard.

Are you also getting involved with other activities as well?

 

[Jane.l]

Just to clarify I meant forcing yourself to face triggers and writing out trauma 24/7 is not going to be healthy.

 

[Ice_Fire]

I never would be where I am today if I wasn't constantly working on getting better

If you don't mind me asking, what exactly do you do to work at it?

The dissociation is the main problem really. I think I have grounding skills, I just don't know how to implement them more 'automatically' before I get to the point where I've already dissociated. I guess that takes practise, is it something you can practise when not triggered at all?

 

[Reds]

I often try to do something which allows me to quiet my mind, like painting. It often requires me to focus and shut out all the external and other noises. All that I see and feel is color, I was just writing in my diary this morning about how I enjoy the feeling I get from painting.

 

[Jane.l]

@Reds painting is great, creative stuff uses a different part of your brain, great suggestion.

 

[Ice_Fire]

Okay, so the general consensus is to do thinks I enjoy and make me feel better in myself. As opposed to doing trauma work outside of the therapy room?

:) I can manage that. I often feel like, with uni and therapy, I am stressed enough. But I don't seem to do anything constructive with my free time. Maybe I just need to enjoy myself more and be a happier me in general...

 

[ghotiff]

I think I have grounding skills, I just don't know how to implement them more 'automatically' before I get to the point where I've already dissociated.

With this....I started tracking what happened in the hours prior to my symptoms getting "bad". What I noticed after a while is that there were some themes in my behavior that indicated that I was headed downhill. One main one, sounds silly but ...how I park my car is a clear indicator. Now I know this, if I notice parking my car this way then I need to increase my self soothing before I get worse.

Hope that helps, it took a while to track and notice themes, but it really helped me.

 

[Ocean5]

I started tracking what happened in the hours prior to my symptoms getting "bad".

New here and also struggle with dissociation... I've been kinda doing like you said. Noticing what's going on before. Problem is I don't even know how much or often I disassociate.

Other things I do:
-Walk a lot and try to always be noticing new things. Trying to be in the moment.
-Avoid stresses/triggers when possible.
-I keep a rock in my pocket. Something I can touch to remind me of the moment and presence when I get stressed or too much anxiety.
-Use an app called Calm for guided meditation (sometimes even when walking I use it.) Headspace is also a good app.

Hope this helps some.

 

[ghotiff]

Problem is I don't even know how much or often I disassociate.

Tone is difficult to get correct in writing but this is genuine supportive interest...if you don't know, then how is disassociating a problem? Please understand, I'm not asking with any sarcasm.

 

[Ocean5]

Thanks for your support Ghotiff

- Missing time... not getting things done that needed to be done. But no idea where my time went...causing major problems in last few years. It's rather scary and what I consider most troubling.

- Coming home finding things out of place, thinking someone has been in apartment, but nothing missing. Setting up motion camera on computer, and things on my door to make sure no one had entered (least now I know not to freak out anymore....)

- Finding out from a person in my past how much of an issue this has been in former relationship. I've been told I could have totally opposite views of same matter in the same day (so confused this person.) That my emotional reaction sometimes didn't fit the situation at all. Causing this person to be so worried about me.