One of the top issues and symptoms of PTSD and CPTSD is Flashbacks. Like many psychological events, these experiences come in a spectrum from the benign Deja vu to the ferocious being dropped back into a hellish memory. It wasn’t until I had an extreme flashback that I finally understood the horrific power that past…
We would all fly off the planet. This past year is beyond frustrating. I pulled back on everything. I dumped myself into full out survival mode. I played video games and crocheted. I also worked on learning Spanish. However, I am living proof that given enough time I would not clean my craft room. I…
One of the struggles I had was the whole Fight or Flight concept. I didn’t run but I didn’t fight either. I felt like a worm or a doormat. The whole concept seemed to be lost to me. Then I read one of Pete Walkers articles about the 4 F’s http://www.pete-walker.com/fourFs_TraumaTypologyComplexPTSD.htm He explained that Fight…
This question was in one of the PTSD facebook pages. I decided to share my answer here too. Q: How does one connect to emotions in therapy? I have a super strong social/protective self which is hindering my progress. A: Wow. That is a tough question. I survived by disconnecting then my counselor wanted me…
One of the things I learned during my years of counseling is depression acts much like a dense fog covering everything and obscuring my view from all else except the smothering depression. Since the mask mandate in our area, I am struggling with the worse depression I felt in a long time. It took a…
This week I started working at work for 2 days. Most people would think, “Why is this post worthy?” First off, my contract doesn’t start until tomorrow. I was called in early. I offered to come in to help with the distribution of computers to students and they decided to take me up on my…
Spent the last 10 days wrestling with what shot my PTSD into over drive. Sleepless nights, anxiety, isolation, fear, raging anger, too sick to exercise, stuffing emotions with food. Finally figured it out, I am freaking mad over having to wear a mask. I stay away from people. I never applied for a job that…
People online complain that their therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist will not use CPTSD as a diagnosis. According to their own manual of disorders DSM-5, it doesn’t exist, so for insurance purposes some other set of letters are used. My counselor wouldn’t even give me PTSD, until my work wanted to know exactly what I was living with. My…
My counselor asked me why didn’t I tell? At first I didn’t know, because I didn’t remember. To help me get in touch with my feelings he gave me a children’s coloring book about feelings to use. Color this page happy and what color is sad and so on then came the page “What would…
Before I started counseling, I recognized that at times I would get raging angry. I knew my anger was out of proportion of the incident. I would send myself to my room. I placed a blood shot eye TV vegetable with fat lip in front of my door. Fair warning I was not reasonable, not…
PTSD - Accepting, Coping, Thriving 