Ptsd Therapy - One Page, As Simple As It Gets

[anthony]

Updated document with minor changes, and major change to document format. Now adopting the new PTSD Forum document format.

 

[HorseChick]

I want to try out your self help. I just don't know how to get the support when my husband has full blown C-PTSD. He won't let me have a day without some kind of arguing. I'm trying to change the dynamic of our relationship by NOT arguing back but I still have him a a stressor constantly. He seems to think that because he was in Vietnam that his stuff is more important than mine.

I won't leave. We live out in the eastern plains of Colorado far from town, I don't drive because of med effects and I'm on disability. Also, I can't have my horses if I move and they are what keeps me together.

Any advice?

 

[anthony]

He seems to think that because he was in Vietnam that his stuff is more important than mine.

Any advice?

Yep. The above is HIS problem which HE needs to change in order for your relationship to change. If he cannot accept that his thinking isn't toxic for his relationship, then there are issues probably outside your assistance, which need therapeutic intervention.

I'm a veteran and seen, and done, nasty things that one should not have seen. That is my past, it is not my present or future. My past is a reason for my illness, it is not a reason for whether my problems are more or less important compared to another.

That is an excuse on his behalf. It's a justification to keep him perpetuating a type of control over being the 'sick one' in the relationship or such. He needs to get his head out of his arse in that regard. Maybe he needs a scare for his relationship to get him motivated about equality!!!

 

[plugged-in]

1. Learn breathing, relaxation and grounding exercises prior to trauma therapy. Excel at them prior. These are essential for anger and dissociation management during symptom severity.

How does one learn these techniques?

 

[anthony]

Google them... there are plenty of sites dedicated to relaxation methods, especially the breathing one. It is the main method in the world.

 

[nimkekaa]

Thank you for putting this together. It's great to have one page reference points.

 

[EvenStrongerNow]

What if someone has trouble labeling feelings? I often don't know which feeling I'm feeling emotionally, only physically.

 

[anthony]

Google list of emotions. Start looking at emotions and then searching the dictionary for there meaning.

That is the best way to understand what you feel, by researching each. There is no point in having a list already written, because the work and learning is in the research. The detail is found within the different explanations. You may also have to review a few online dictionaries to get a meaning that you can relate with best.

That is the best way to understand emotions. To put an emotion to what you feel, based on having that understanding of the emotions definition.

For example, take a look at 3 sources for the emotion, shame:

1. Dead Link Removed
2. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shame?s=t
3. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shame

You can likely learn a little more about defining shame when you combine all three sources.

 

[The Albatross]

Doubling back on this one to see if I can use it to crack the lid/block on the sexual dysfunction. I haven't tried to apply it before.

 

[The Albatross]

Frig... it won't open today (the pdf) Invalid value for registry??? When I either try to save or open the PDF.

 

[cherryblossom]

It will open for me, so at a guess, I would say the problem is your end. (I don't have any fix ideas for you though, sorry).

 

[The Albatross]

It opened before, once. I should have put it in my document files.