Prolonged Exposure Therapy

[Sarg]

My therapist tried several different things...tapping my knees, a "place of refuge" all I could think of is how beautiful the Barrier Reef is and used that, didn't last long. Eventually, it settled back into talk therapy. I was about to pop from pent up emotions and she just knew the buttons to push and now I leave there thinking I've accomplished something.

I won't go into what I think about exposure therapy, not the place for it. I do believe it is very viable for someone that has recently returned (few years time frame). You catch this asshole before he grows roots, you got a hell of a lot better chance of keeping it tamped down.

Sarg

 

[AfricaVet]

Gotta agree with Sarg. I tried PE over 20 years after the event. I'm back in Liberia and everything I ever believed in is broken. I can't save the people that need saving. I ended up in the hospital with chest pains and thought that was it. Turns out it was stress from the PE. There are some experiences that you don't want to make normal. Genocide is it for me. If I can chat about it over a pint and not have emotions, I have lost what little humanity I have. There are times when I think that we are the normal ones. I've seen pure evil and wasn't allowed to do anything but count the number of white people evacuated and black people dismembered and slaughtered. I picked one massacre in particular and it was hell. While it worked for a bit, it was also one atrocity out of a daily cornucopia of evil that lasted for six months. Sort of like today's veterans who are in the thick of the fight for months on end. Which day do you want me to pick? Do I talk about this guy dying or that guy losing his legs? Does that make one more special than the other? After 20 years I had an opportunity to go to Afghanistan. I thought is was going to be therapeutic in that I could make it right. It worked up until the day that Sgt. Bales went and slaughtered the kids. That brought it all down again. PTSD is the gift that keeps on giving but at least we know what's real.

 

[JarHed]

I think that's the key.Great post Red.

If one type doesn't seem to work, don't give up on therapy, find another that will.

Hate to quote myself but there it is. Just saying the same thing, find something that works for you and helps you. PE helped me, so for me it worked. Something else may not have, who knows. It's up to you and your therapist to find the most appropriate one for your needs. But I don't think, and if I'm wrong sorry, saying that it doesn't work in a general sense is incorrect. It might be better to state that it doesn't work for you in particular. Again, if I miss read that, sorry.

I'm just an exponent of therapy; find one that will help you and do the work. It will help.

JarHed

 

[AfricaVet]

JarHed,

Spot on. It worked to some extent for me. The problem for me is that many see any one of the therapies as "the" magic idea that will cure all of his and we will live in a never ending beer commercial.

I haven't given up.

Mark

 

[JarHed]

The problem for me is that many see any one of the therapies as "the" magic idea that will cure all of his and we will live in a never ending beer commercial.

Hey Mark

Yeah, I think we all wish there was a 'magic' cure for what ails us. Being on the beach with a drink and a lot of pretty girls, Hmm, yeah, that's works for me. Sorry, dirty old man here. :D

Jar

 

[Sarg]

Well, a couple of million dollars wouldn't cure my beast, But I would be so deliriously happy with the girls and the beach, the beast would be drowned out by all the happy noises.

Sarg

 

[Ned]

Money can't buy you happiness, but you can be miserable in comfort!

 

[Lee C]

I am neither with the wife sometimes :)