Treating PTSD: What Bothers You Most?

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In the comments to last week’s posts about belief (have you taken a look at what your fellow readers had to say? Lots of interesting ideas and perceptions here and here) the topic of whom to believe was lightly touched on. I want to expand one idea that came up in the comments: the idea of how important the  belief of the therapist is in your healing.

It seems like it should be a no-brainer that every therapist should believe in your ability to heal. However, as Mike pointed out:

As for professionals. Well….. “It cannot be healed,” is easier than “I don’t have a clue how to help you,” but it’s hardly honest or helpful.

Certainly, there are really dedicated professionals who DO believe in healing and do their best to help. For the others, if their belief is not rock solid it’s even more up to you to take control of your healing and, more imprtantly, your therapy.

What do I mean by this? Simple: it’s up to you to be conscious enough of your issues to guide the therapeutic process to where you need it most.

Whether your therapist believes in PTSD recovery or not you still have to participate in each session to the best of your ability. Letting someone else decide what to work on and when to address something leaves you out of the process. Therapy should be a partnership. Sure, you don’t always have the answers but you should have ideas that help your therapist know where you need to concentrate in order to change perceptions, heal old wounds and find relief.

Today’s BTG Big Question: Are you doing whatever it takes to be in touch with what’s bothering you?

It’s easy to let depression, anxiety, lethargy, fear and exhaustion slow down your healing efforts. It’s up to you to be your own coach sometimes, to notice, “Hey, you’re not pulling your weight!” and to say, “Come on, you can do it. One more try!”

It’s easy to let the PTSD fog lull you into inaction and a lack of mental activity but: More healing progress can be made if you force yourself to snap out of it for a few moments, take stock of what, exactly, is driving you crazy, and make a note of it to bring up in therapy.

There were times on my darkest days that it was a real struggle for me to think consciously about what was bringing me down. Sometimes, I could grasp a clear thought. Other times, I could only grip a jumbled feeling. Either way, the therapeutic process made more progress when I made the effort to be aware of what was really getting to me. Sometimes, it was the fear my trauma would happen again. Sometimes, it was the feeling I didn’t deserve to survive. Other times, it was just the feeling I was now so completely, utterly LOST.

Whatever drives your pain in any moment is something worthy of noting, and then bringing up in therapy so that — in the best case scenario, you parther with your therapist; in the worst case, you bring attention to places you need it the most with someone trained to help you find a resolution.

BRIDGE THE GAP Exercise

When you think about your trauma what aspects of it really nag at you? Are you haunted by what you could have done? Or should have done, or would have done if you had time to think things through? Take a very close look at what you’re feeling every day, and throughout the day, so that you are in touch with the source of your angst.

Make a list of all the things that bother you — about your trauma itself, and then about your PTSD experience. Keep a running tab.

Take a look at your list. Number each item in its order of importance.

Healing has no straight path but this list highlighting your major issues can help you stay on the right path so that each day and each therapy session makes at least a tiny bit of progress.

(Photo: Elle Moss)

Tags: Doing Whatever It Takes To Heal, healing, ptsd, therapy