Published by Admin on September 13, 2020

PTSD: The Client Diaries, Vol. 3

In PTSD: The Professional Diaries, Vol. 3- I reviewed three different types of PTSD, their commonalities and their differences: PTSD, Complex PTSD (C- PTSD), and Secondary PTSD. Some of these techniques fit the different treatments more effectively, but are still effective treatments. Please keep an open mind and be sure to continually read The PTSD Diaries for both Clients and Professionals because you will gain so much information, resources, and insight. You will also get worse in treatment for PTSD before you get better so it’s a process, it takes time, and you have to be committed and patient.

There are many different techniques for clients with trauma, here’s a quick breakdown of some of them:

Group Therapy– This one has grown in popularity over recent years and, as someone from the other side of the glass, I see both reasons to use it 1) it allows clients to empathize and connect with each other in order to offset some dissociative feelings (dissociation is a disconnection between yourself and the world around you, in short) and 2) you get to bill for multiple people at once and numbers are always being pushed to go up for therapists.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)– (This is one that is commonly taught and commonly practiced because it is effective across many psychological disorders, illnesses, and issues.) The gist of CBT is challenging one’s thought processes, “faulty” logic, and worldview.
- Let’s say, with PTSD: I am always afraid of my ex stalking me. That I will run into him or one of his family members/friends. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities. He stalked me when we were married. If you don’t know how that works, please ask in the comments. Two years ago he reached out to my fiance after we announced our engagement. That meant it was FOUR years after our divorce.
  - The OLD me used to think: here’s what you’ve already survived, so fuck whatever else might come your way. You got this. The NEW me: I’m afraid to leave the house. “I’ll have a seizure in public. What if I see him?” So the OLD me used to challenge her own faulty thinking; she had a confidence to get up, get shit done, and face the day on four hours on of sleep, literally, for most of my adult life. The NEW me feels like she’s gone from Survivor, bulldozing anyone in her way of accomplishing her goals, like, “screw it, I can do it”, to Victim who can barely get out of bed and function half of the time. I don’t know how to have a healthy discussion without it turning into a fight and being scared out of her mind that, one day, her fiance is going to just wake up and be a completely different person because that is what happened in my marriage, as soon as we got married.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)– The main focus of DBT is mindfulness which, essentially, means being present in the moment. You can practice these things with yoga and meditation, but I do use one scenario, because, as someone with PTSD, I know what it’s like to be in a crowded store, like Wal-mart. Don’t we all just love having to go there, especially with COVID-19.
- With hypervigilance, a common symptom of PTSD, we’re aware of everything going on around us. For instance, I hear every conversation, see every item on the shelf in front of me, and become completely overstimulated.
- So, if you’re there alone, which is challenging in the beginning because you might need a person to help keep you grounded, you can do a few things:
  - Play music in at least one ear, something that soothes you (I get too freaked out to put it in both ears because then I’m not aware of any threatening sounds).
  - Focus on your actual grocery list (I recommend having a tangible written one with a pen to keep yourself “grounded” to the moment.
  - When you get to the checkout, while you’re waiting in line, don’t listen to the people around you (I’m always doing this), instead, pick a type of candy or gum and count how many kinds there are. If you’re still in line, break it down into brands, and so on and so forth and you will find yourself becoming distracted, but staying in the present moment.
Exposure Therapy– This one says it in the name. It slowly exposes you to the things that caused you trauma in the first place. If you’re a Veteran, playing videos of war might be an example. This is NOT a therapeutic technique that I used. Not because it doesn’t work, but because many people would not return to therapy after a few sessions who had PTSD (it’s a difficult thing to approach…I’ve been trying myself for years) and this is something that requires a great deal of trust between the therapist and client as well as continued and regular attendance on the part of the client.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)– OK. This one is highly recommended to work for PTSD, HOWEVER, there is less research because it is a newer technique. There must be the utmost trust between the client and therapist. Without this trust, this therapy could cause more harm than good.
- Here’s what it technically does. It basically re-circuits the brain’s map of where the trauma is. It can be very effective OR very damaging. With any ongoing therapy, things will get worse before they get better, so have the same expectation about this therapy as well.
- The reason for my disclaimer about it being harmful is that I saw a therapist three times and, I’m not kidding, she pushed me to start the process on our third session. It screwed with me and brought up more problems than good. She didn’t even know me well enough to know that I had Complex-PTSD (which is generally PTSD caused by multiple sources or over a lifetime.).
Inpatient Setting– If you or your Psychiatrist or even Family Dr. feels that you are a danger to yourself or another/others, they will ask you to go to an inpatient stay, if you don’t agree, they have the ability to have a judge sign off on what’s called a “72-hour hold”, where a psychiatrist and team of counselors will assess you and try some medications to assist you in finding some relief. My recommendation is to seek outside help first because inpatient stays are not somewhere you want to be. My Dad had Bipolar Disorder 1 (defined with more manic events), so I spent some time in my adolescence visiting him there. It was not a good experience for me, or for him, most of the time. However, he attempted suicide so many times, he needed those inpatient stays.
Medications– Seeking assistance via a Psychiatrist is a good idea for some relief. No one should have to live in the darkness, alone. When I worked with Hospice patients, we always emphasized “quality of life” (much like they would do with someone who has cancer). If we don’t have a life-threatening disease, why doesn’t our quality of life matter? Everybody should have a good quality of life. The point is that there is no reason to suffer in silence because you’re not the only one. Get on any social media platform and you’ll see that you’re not alone.