There are times in my life when depression has the upper hand and makes my life miserable. I feel like I need a gold star for getting out of bed. I drag around barely able to function. I do nothing that I enjoy. Life sucks. Self punishment is when I am feeling fairly healthy. I…
One of the interesting things I learned from my counselor was to limit the time I work each day on improving my life with PTSD. He stressed the importance of setting aside only one hour a day to focus on past, journal writing, studying and other activities focused on healing. He explained that I needed…
Life changing experiences should change your life. I am seeing a disturbing trend among PTSD support groups on Facebook. There is a cry of ‘I don’t want this to change me.’ Frankly, I think it is very disturbing if you are not affected by a life changing experience. September of 2001 I was diagnosed with…
I am working on The PTSD Workbook, 2nd edition, Mary Beth Williams, PhD, LCSW, CTS and Soili Poijula, PhD. In their book, they refer to another book, A Clinical Handbook/Practical Therapist Manual for Assessing and Treating Adults with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Meichenbaum 1994) the authors noticed that there are personality traits that influence how much…
I had to look it up because I did not remember the reference to the Star Trek movies. This is a no win test faced by all Cadets in the Starfleet Academy. (Yes, I watched the original Star Trek before it was a rerun.) The meme on Facebook showed a bumper sticker, “My ship just…
Trigger warning for those that are distressed by discussion of suicide. If you are feeling suicidal call the help line Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 September 5 to 11 is suicide prevention week. My opinion is every day is suicide prevent day. For some of us, it is a daily struggle. …
The original title for the workbook I am doing was going to be Slogging through PTSD, which I believe is far more accurate than most people want to admit. One of the stories it asked you to imagine you are in a bog, up to your hips in ooze, and as the day heats up…
This one is needed after the last one. https://ptsd-acceptingcopingthriving.com/2016/09/03/still-in-it/ Should you decide to use the word no and stop taking personally all the words they spew out, they will call in the flying monkeys. Friends, family, acquaintances get dragged in to take their side. They will twist every event into some horrible thing you have done. …
One of the hard things about being raised by a person the violates your boundaries on a daily basis is that you don’t realize when someone else is doing the same thing since it is what you are used to having happen. Thanks to Jonsi and other internet friends I became more aware. In counseling,…
Every once in a while I get a reminder why I started this blog. I purchased a workbook about PTSD. (Not naming which one because I have seen the assumption in more than one.) Chapter 1 “Prior to the occurrence of a traumatic event or events, there are generally basic assumptions that guide your life.”…
PTSD - Accepting, Coping, Thriving 