PTSD Professional Perspective: Help Yourself & Reclaim Your Power

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During this month of our focus on how to cope with trauma anniversaries (and other very bad days) my goal is to bring you ideas and voices from many sources in order to compile a range of strategies you can use to help ease post-traumatic stress. Today, Kate McLaughlin outlines 5 simple actions to help tame the chaos.

Help Yourself & Reclaim Your Power

1. Investigate and pursue available treatment options. Talk therapy is the most recommended, success-driven treatment approach available for PTSD, and there are lots of options within this category. Individual counseling, group therapy, guidance from clergy and support groups all offer good results. One key component to look for: Cognitive Behavioral Modification, wherein the goal is to understand your triggers and reactions and then learn to respond differently.
2. Set realistic goals for yourself. Regarding your wellness, your work, your daily activities and relationships, create goals that meet your needs, not someone else’s.  Aim for betterment, for improvement; but avoid self-sabotage by demanding too much, too soon. Understand yourself, your needs and your wants, then plan accordingly, one day at a time, for slow, steady progress.
3. Get moving! Engage in mild activity or exercise to help reduce stress. Nothing will make you feel better, faster, than regular exercise. Buy a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps a day.  Head out your front door with your watch on, refusing to come home until you’ve hit the thirty minute mark. Ride a bike, play basketball, join a soccer team, practice yoga, swim, jog, whatever! Just MOVE for at least 30 minutes every single day.
4. Identify and seek out comforting situations, places, and people. Be aware of how you feel in certain locations and with particular people. If you can relax, be yourself and feel safe and comfortable, make sure you visit those places and people regularly. If you feel anxious, frightened, out-of-sorts or uncomfortable, reconsider the need to be there.
5. Expect gradual, steady improvement. No matter how bad you feel today, remember that you will feel better. It won’t happen overnight. It won’t be immediate. But as days, weeks and months go by, if you take good care of yourself and follow your plan, you will continue to improve. Be patient, give yourself some encouragement and know that you will continue to move toward wellness.

Kate McLaughlin, author of Mommy I’m Still in Here: One family’s Journey with Bipolar Disorder, combines personal experience and a positive attitude with current research and proven strategies as she writes and speaks about all things mental health (and other equally important stuff). She is a member of the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and Mental Health America; and she participates in several mental health speakers’ bureaus, frequently presenting to students, educators, parents, and mental health consumers.

Kate welcomes contact via her website at www.katemclaughlin.net.

The opinions in this post are solely those of the author. To contribute to ‘PTSD Professional Perspective’ contact Michele.

Tags: post-traumatic stress, ptsd