There are so many treatment options in PTSD r... - Heal My PTSD
There are so many treatment options in PTSD recovery. What method, approach or modality have you found most helpful?
The biggest key for me was meditation. Even though I had meditated at other points in my life. I began again as a new student and learned all over again, a new style. Meditation taught me to sit, with my own mind. I began the process, (which continues) to understand what the mind does. I never really understood what the mind does for a living....produces thoughts!
Next, I learned that not all of my thoughts are true. There is kind of like a trickster within, based on some horrible people I was subjected too in childhood. So I learned to not attach to the negative thoughts. Ok, that is sometimes. I learned to turn and hear it all. And say to myself---
"Ok that is not true. Thanks, but go away now. You no longer serve me. Yes you were a part of me, and you may come, and try to surprise me, but now I am protecting me". I tell this part to go on now. Go out the back door. Much like realizing that there are toxic people in your life, as children we don't have a choice over many toxic situations and people in our young life.
Now---we can learn to retrain our minds. This technique is called insight meditation or Vipassana. It's an ancient technique that others have used for hundreds of years. Guess what!!! We really aren't alone, learning to live this precious life!! Namaste~
The best help for me has been writing about what happened. I write through many different avenues, journaling, novels, and my memoirs.
My current therapist has been the most helpful in getting me to write my memoirs. I was kind of stuck because I wasn't willing to share my emotions during therapy sessions. My T found an article which stated that there are other ways to release emotions. It doesn't necessarily need to be a good cry as I was always lead to believe. Together we ventured on this new leg of my journey where I write about topics which are given on the spur of the moment at the end of our sessions. The topics emerge from my writing and sharing what I wrote.
My therapist told me two weeks ago that I'm making great strides in my healing.
My provider is a big fan of EFT - emotional freedom tapping, and we are also working towards EMDR therapy, which she favors based on new brain research, and she is a specialist in Trauma. There are different combinations for different experiences....they are basing these kinds of treatments on advancements in neuroscience understanding, and meridian tapping is supposed to "reboot" your wiring, and break the PTSD shortcut to the animal brain (Amygdala or fear center) that is causing the current emotional experience - the focus is to treat the physiology triggering the mental state. I was skeptical, because tapping seems too easy, but it does seem to calm me, and it apparently has shown amazing clinical results. Easy, free, safe and very effective for many, and you can find loads of guides on how to do this just by googling. Worth trying it to have another tool in the coping toolkit!
