Treating PTSD: What Don’t You Know?

It’s easy to stall your healing if you don’t have the facts. For example, the details of what, exactly, PTSD is, and what treatments exist to relieve it. It’s time to become a PTSD P.I.

If you don’t understand yourself, your situation, how PTSD affects you or what you need in order to heal then you put yourself in a powerless position trying to fight something you don’t know enough about. Even for those of you who think you’re hip to PTSD info, trust me, there’s always something new to learn. Research keeps evolving. I’m a PTSD infomaniac and I still learn new things all the time.

Think of it this way: Look back on your life, there’s been something that has captivated your attention. Maybe it was a sport, maybe a hobby or a scientific fact. Whatever it was, there’s been something you read up on, Googled, studied, researched and talked about so you knew all there was to know. Or at least, half of what there was to know. For you, maybe it was make up or model airplanes, a movie star or musician. The point is, over your life you have focused your attention on something because you wanted to know more.

PTSD is now your favorite rock star. Just the way you would track a celebrity’s path to fame you now need to read up on PTSD publicity. What does that mean? It doesn’t mean you have to know everything about PTSD. However, it does mean you need to know enough to understand what you’re struggling with and where to find help.

Case in point: There was a time my own PTSD recovery hit A VERY BIG DEAD END. I mean, there was NOWHERE TO GO. I was done. I couldn’t do anymore. I gave up. I just didn’t have the energy to fight for my freedom anymore. I accepted it wouldn’t ever be won.

And then a couple of months went by and a small voice in me fussed and nudged and then demanded I look for a new way out. So, I began looking around again. Traditional therapy hadn’t worked for me. Alternative therapies like EMDR, EFT, TAT and TFT failed me. CBT didn’t free me. What the hell else was there? And then I heard an ad about hypnosis curing nicotine addiction, and I thought, “Can it cure a trauma addiction?” Because after all, isn’t that what PTSD feels like?

I decided to do some research. I poked around on the net and the library, I made some phone calls to practitioners and I discovered hypnosis actually has a really great track record for healing trauma. “Hook me up!” I thought.

I made an appointment. I went to try out this thing I had researched but didn’t even believe in. It became my path to wellness. It led me to the door of freedom.

Tip #6 for Staying on the Healing Path: Don’t ever get complacent with what you know. You must always advocate for yourself; this means doing the work to educate yourself as best you can. The more you know about PTSD the more power you have. The more power you have the more creative you can become in your healing approach. The more creative you are the less stalled you’ll be. The trick to overcoming post-traumatic stress is never giving up. Knowledge is power; as in, fuel. In this case, it’s FREE fuel for your healing train. Fill ‘er up!

Think you know all there is to know about PTSD? I challenge you to jumpstart your healing by discovering something new. Find your weakest point or toughest symptom and dig a little deeper than you ever have before.

Don’t know where to begin broadening your PTSD knowledge? Our Education page has a full overview. And check out our Educating Ourselves series. Start here.

BRIDGE THE GAP Exercise:

This is a group exercise today. Let’s pool our knowledge. In the comments leave the #1 fact you discovered in your own PTSD education. I’ll go first:

The fact that really relieved and awed me was the fact that PTSD can affect the frontal left lobe of the brain, which is the language center of the brain. At last! An explanation for why I didn’t have words to describe how I felt about my trauma, or what I experienced.

I love facts that let us know we aren’t crazy, aren’t alone, and aren’t at fault!

(Photo acknowledgement on Flickr.)

Tags: healing, ptsd, recovery, Staying on the Healing Path, trauma