Hope For Healing From PTSD
"My son, is dealing with PTSD after all his time in Afghanistan."
Sadly yesterday I read about a solider that was both a father and a brother that has been struggling with PTSD from Iraq who killed himself.
PTSD is real.
You are not CRAZY. You feel like it, but you are not loosing your mind permanently. What we feel and think are often not lasting reality. Yes, it is so very real today, at the moment, at the trigger point, when everything is blazing and seems uncontrollable. BUT you can get lasting healing.
The word needs to get out that there is TREATMENT!
Healing from trauma is never easy. It is one of the hardest things in life you will ever have to do, but our brave military need to be given the hope that they can recover from PTSD. I speak from great experience, from a very long road of healing. There is not silver bullet or magic pill to take. The body is suffering from recorded memories imprinted through intense trauma.
Many times after we physically endure torturous situations, our adrenaline rages, sleep is hard to find, and at the base of our being is a felt sense that stores events that are too traumatic to ponder.
Our beings are beautifully built to help us survive the most pressing, inhuman situations. But when we return to life as normal or have a place of relative safety, the traumas start to resurface. The night terrors become day terrors. We can be walking in one day(the present) but experiencing the life of another (past).
TRIGGERS
Triggers are sense related: smells, tastes, touches, sounds, feelings, and sights. An odor that flashes a horror. A swinging object that unnervingly will not be ignored. A look on a face or response that mimics those seen at gut wrenching experiences. A spice or texture in food from a hellish place. A slashing statement or one of indifference that echoes one of intense fear, dread or hatred.
Triggers are all around. We cannot control them. We don't know when they will occur. We can't plan for what each a new day might bring. BUT we can learn how to desensitize triggers, to identify what they are attached to and begin to respond to them in healthy healing ways. Triggers stop when brain therapy takes place. Behavior and talk therapy is not deep enough for trauma triggers.
THERAPY
EMDR is a therapy that started by working with VIETNAM WAR vets. For years it has been developed and used for severe trauma. It helps for all levels of trauma. EMDR uses the ingrained natural method of dreaming. By simulating the right to left movement of the brain as in REM (Rapid Eye Movement), seen in people who are dreaming, the body/mind/soul processes the memories and 'beliefs held to those memories' on a very deep level... a level within the unconscious brain. What might begin as a felt sense of 10 can gradually over a few sessions be lowered to a 2, 1 and finally not there.
This WORKS! But you must find a very well trained and experienced therapist - get references and call them. Don't let someone work with you in therapy that is not highly prepared to handle what comes out in therapy. This is why I prefer to work with someone who has experience with psychosis, treating people with serious mental illness. They won't be shocked by any response and they will know how to help a client get grounded and they will be able to explain what a patient is experiencing... instead of just be a witness/bystander. Information on what is taking place can often be very settling, and bring a person to a place of functioning.
BRAINSPOTTING followed EMDR and was a more relaxed, client-led approach dealing with trauma. Personally I found EMDR too controlled, scripted and contrived, but I am not a left brain person (list oriented, organized, scheduled person). I am strongly right brain (creative, random, spontaneous). I also have an independent personality and I don't need to be led so much through processing. I want to understand where I am going and to be able to trust the counselor in the room, but I don't need a lot of prodding. For me (and the fact that I have faith in God) I want to trust the session to naturally go where it needs to go.
Brainspotting is a concept the tapped into the fact that memories are stored in specific spots of brain memory that can be found through eye scanning right to left and up and down. Often it could have been the exact spot the trauma occurred while experiencing it and looking at it. Once the brainspot for the trauma is identified then the desensitizing/reprogramming similar to EMDR takes place while keeping ones eye on that spot. Often a headset with music is used that fades from right to left. The music is background music of nature sounds and similar, at times, to movie tracks. This really helps the dream-like (even nightmare-like) sequences to flow out of the memory. Resources of "what do you need" can be brought up and help can be added into the dream sequences.
In many aspects it is re-experiencing the event through the random felt/recorded version that is stored in your memory. No two or alike. When our trauma impressions is tied to our childhood or other life traumas, the psychological damage is larger. Sometimes a non-stable childhood or teen life can complicate war memories by becoming entwined. In the same way the war trauma if not processed can become entwined into future traumatic events like loss of job, house or marriage. Death of a love one, illness, and long term unemployment compounds PTSD, because coping methods are already working at maximum.
Brainspotting also WORKS! And this therapy is often very rapid in how quickly it can resolve very horrific experiences in a few (even one) session depending on how many different traumas and how entwined it is.
Again, please find a very qualified therapist with a lot of experience who understands various levels of psychosis. Go to this site for a place to start in finding professionals.
Some advanced therapist are developing a freeform of brainspotting. In this type of therapy, you do not even identify a spot. You simply place the headset on with bilateral music being played and focus on what is either disturbing, a pain area in the body or where you naturally feel like you need to explore. Once you have a trust relationship built with a therapist this can be the quickest, most thorough, completely releasing forms of therapy for trauma.
MEDICATION
I will caution you that there are times when medication is needed to stabilize your body and chemicals while you are getting therapy. Don't be afraid of taking medication. Also understand that it is not always easy to find the medication that works best for you. Alcohol does not mix well with medication. Do yourself a big favor don't endanger your life or the life of others by mixing it with meds. Don't give up too quickly when finding the right medication, and don't fool around with stopping and starting your meds on a whim.
LIFE IS WORTH LIVING
Be a fighter for your life, your family and most of all do not let trauma defeat you!
Suicide often feels like an answer when you feel like you are hurting those you love, but I promise it is not!
Even though it feels like the best thing possible would be for you to get out of the way so that everyone could move on with life, trust me, this is not true!!! What everyone wants most of all is for your healing to occur. You have a purpose in life. As you push through the healing, keep in mind that you will be able to turn back to those who need help as you did. You will be able to be a beacon of hope, an encourager.
This is what I am today! I am a LIVING example that trauma can be overcome. Healing is possible. And no matter how convincing the voice of suicide is that it is the best answer, that voice is lying to you!
Don't listen to the voice of death, shut it out, blast it, refuse to let it have a voice in your presence. Run to Life!
You will not always be living in trauma. You can be healed. The biggest question you need to ask yourself is: "Am I willing to endure the healing process to be able to live life to its fullest?" It is a choice everyone has to make. I hope you choice healing and a fulfilled life worth living. I am so happy I did.
Sadly yesterday I read about a solider that was both a father and a brother that has been struggling with PTSD from Iraq who killed himself.
 |
| Many Paths to Healing PTSD |
You are not CRAZY. You feel like it, but you are not loosing your mind permanently. What we feel and think are often not lasting reality. Yes, it is so very real today, at the moment, at the trigger point, when everything is blazing and seems uncontrollable. BUT you can get lasting healing.
The word needs to get out that there is TREATMENT!
Healing from trauma is never easy. It is one of the hardest things in life you will ever have to do, but our brave military need to be given the hope that they can recover from PTSD. I speak from great experience, from a very long road of healing. There is not silver bullet or magic pill to take. The body is suffering from recorded memories imprinted through intense trauma.
Many times after we physically endure torturous situations, our adrenaline rages, sleep is hard to find, and at the base of our being is a felt sense that stores events that are too traumatic to ponder.
Our beings are beautifully built to help us survive the most pressing, inhuman situations. But when we return to life as normal or have a place of relative safety, the traumas start to resurface. The night terrors become day terrors. We can be walking in one day(the present) but experiencing the life of another (past).
TRIGGERS
 |
| Memories Bring Triggers |
Triggers are all around. We cannot control them. We don't know when they will occur. We can't plan for what each a new day might bring. BUT we can learn how to desensitize triggers, to identify what they are attached to and begin to respond to them in healthy healing ways. Triggers stop when brain therapy takes place. Behavior and talk therapy is not deep enough for trauma triggers.
THERAPY
EMDR is a therapy that started by working with VIETNAM WAR vets. For years it has been developed and used for severe trauma. It helps for all levels of trauma. EMDR uses the ingrained natural method of dreaming. By simulating the right to left movement of the brain as in REM (Rapid Eye Movement), seen in people who are dreaming, the body/mind/soul processes the memories and 'beliefs held to those memories' on a very deep level... a level within the unconscious brain. What might begin as a felt sense of 10 can gradually over a few sessions be lowered to a 2, 1 and finally not there.
This WORKS! But you must find a very well trained and experienced therapist - get references and call them. Don't let someone work with you in therapy that is not highly prepared to handle what comes out in therapy. This is why I prefer to work with someone who has experience with psychosis, treating people with serious mental illness. They won't be shocked by any response and they will know how to help a client get grounded and they will be able to explain what a patient is experiencing... instead of just be a witness/bystander. Information on what is taking place can often be very settling, and bring a person to a place of functioning.
BRAINSPOTTING followed EMDR and was a more relaxed, client-led approach dealing with trauma. Personally I found EMDR too controlled, scripted and contrived, but I am not a left brain person (list oriented, organized, scheduled person). I am strongly right brain (creative, random, spontaneous). I also have an independent personality and I don't need to be led so much through processing. I want to understand where I am going and to be able to trust the counselor in the room, but I don't need a lot of prodding. For me (and the fact that I have faith in God) I want to trust the session to naturally go where it needs to go.
Brainspotting is a concept the tapped into the fact that memories are stored in specific spots of brain memory that can be found through eye scanning right to left and up and down. Often it could have been the exact spot the trauma occurred while experiencing it and looking at it. Once the brainspot for the trauma is identified then the desensitizing/reprogramming similar to EMDR takes place while keeping ones eye on that spot. Often a headset with music is used that fades from right to left. The music is background music of nature sounds and similar, at times, to movie tracks. This really helps the dream-like (even nightmare-like) sequences to flow out of the memory. Resources of "what do you need" can be brought up and help can be added into the dream sequences.
In many aspects it is re-experiencing the event through the random felt/recorded version that is stored in your memory. No two or alike. When our trauma impressions is tied to our childhood or other life traumas, the psychological damage is larger. Sometimes a non-stable childhood or teen life can complicate war memories by becoming entwined. In the same way the war trauma if not processed can become entwined into future traumatic events like loss of job, house or marriage. Death of a love one, illness, and long term unemployment compounds PTSD, because coping methods are already working at maximum.
Brainspotting also WORKS! And this therapy is often very rapid in how quickly it can resolve very horrific experiences in a few (even one) session depending on how many different traumas and how entwined it is.
Again, please find a very qualified therapist with a lot of experience who understands various levels of psychosis. Go to this site for a place to start in finding professionals.
Some advanced therapist are developing a freeform of brainspotting. In this type of therapy, you do not even identify a spot. You simply place the headset on with bilateral music being played and focus on what is either disturbing, a pain area in the body or where you naturally feel like you need to explore. Once you have a trust relationship built with a therapist this can be the quickest, most thorough, completely releasing forms of therapy for trauma.
MEDICATION
I will caution you that there are times when medication is needed to stabilize your body and chemicals while you are getting therapy. Don't be afraid of taking medication. Also understand that it is not always easy to find the medication that works best for you. Alcohol does not mix well with medication. Do yourself a big favor don't endanger your life or the life of others by mixing it with meds. Don't give up too quickly when finding the right medication, and don't fool around with stopping and starting your meds on a whim.
LIFE IS WORTH LIVING
Be a fighter for your life, your family and most of all do not let trauma defeat you!
Suicide often feels like an answer when you feel like you are hurting those you love, but I promise it is not!
Even though it feels like the best thing possible would be for you to get out of the way so that everyone could move on with life, trust me, this is not true!!! What everyone wants most of all is for your healing to occur. You have a purpose in life. As you push through the healing, keep in mind that you will be able to turn back to those who need help as you did. You will be able to be a beacon of hope, an encourager.
This is what I am today! I am a LIVING example that trauma can be overcome. Healing is possible. And no matter how convincing the voice of suicide is that it is the best answer, that voice is lying to you!
Don't listen to the voice of death, shut it out, blast it, refuse to let it have a voice in your presence. Run to Life!
You will not always be living in trauma. You can be healed. The biggest question you need to ask yourself is: "Am I willing to endure the healing process to be able to live life to its fullest?" It is a choice everyone has to make. I hope you choice healing and a fulfilled life worth living. I am so happy I did.
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