Learning To Describe What You Are Feeling

[willing]

Since realizing I have PTSD (it happened only in Jan of this year) and that there are other individuals with the same affliction, I find these forums particularly helpful because often I read what others are experiencing and they use a word to describe a feeling, emotion, action, situation. I can say oh yeah and relate. Most times unfortunately I am comparing what I don't do or have but it is when I read something that rings true it is such a relief to feel not alone.

An article on DES-NOS which was recently posted by Maus, has really changed me again. I particularly loved it because it felt official (written by formitable doctors) and I was able to find more ways of relating to things I previously would thought of as just normal. Particularly helpful was the realization that dependent on the time of trauma suffered (ex. child, teen or adult) I react in different ways. For instance flashbacks may be of an emotional base not nessecarily a visual memory. Previously, I thought I didn't have flashbacks but now after looking up the definition in Wikapedia I can see how I have been having flashbacks for years.

I guess really what I am saying is that I am having to drop my previous ideas that I understand the meaning of words like manic, flashback, nightmare, delusion etc and look them up or ask in the context they are being used. It is so helpful to know and perhaps will allow the professional a clearer understanding into my head which leads to perhaps a better treatable diagnosis.

Just reflecting,
Patty

 

[hodge]

I find this really interesting because I too am learning to pay attention to what I'm feeling at any given time and finding words for it. Could you post a link to the article on DES-NOS you referred to?

I've had experiences that I think of as emotional flashbacks because the dominant feature of the experience, to me, is that I feel emotions in a way I'm not used to. They are horrifically intense periods of time in which I feel totally helpless and clueless, as if I were a small child instead of a (youngish:-)) middle-aged woman. I was always just plugging away through life until a few years ago when this all hit. Anyway, through work with my therapist, I've been learning that there are often triggers in my environment that bring these experiences on, and I'm realizing that they probably sort of bring back to the surface feelings I had when I was much younger and didn't have a vocabulary to identify them or the wherewithal to process them. So, oh well, I've had to do that now. Better late than never, right :-)

 

[anthony]

[DLMURL]http://www.ptsdforum.org/thread4287.html[/DLMURL] is what is being referred above.

 

[anthony]

Placing our feelings into words is one of the most important aspects of healing trauma. Emotion is the core root of the problems, where people tend to try and fix the surface of the problems, being anger, agression, rage, etc... surface emotional responses, instead of the feeling, the emotion truly causing the problem.

 

[hodge]

Thanks, Anthony, for posting the references. I think I know what you mean about the emotions that are the core of the problem; I think of this as the old unprocessed emotions that were never dealt with. Then, some of the emotional responses to situations or stimuli I may have in my life today stem from the unresolved emotions deep down. Does that make sense?

I'll have to go slow with that article, but it looks like it will help explain some things about myself. And it's really comforting to see that the knowledge base on all this stuff continues to grow and develop.

 

[anthony]

That makes perfect sense to me. Very well said actually.