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…
Before I started counseling I learned that to change your actions you need to change your thoughts. I intellectually got it but something seemed missing. I didn’t realize the thing missing was my own connection to my emotions. Counseling shed light into the dark parts of my mind and helped me start to connect my…
A friend posts excellent stuff on line for CPTSD. One of the topics that I struggle with is toxic shame. https://blogs.psychcentral.com/psychology-self/2019/01/toxic-chronic-shame/ Hard thing is when I do something wrong there is regular shame which is Jiminy Cricket reminding me what I need to do to correct my poor choices. If I hurt someone I feel…
A friend posted 8 things kids do that are actually anxiety in disguise. I read the list and decided I do most of them at different times. I followed the link on the meme to find the original posting. 8 Ways A Child’s Anxiety Shows Up as Something Else I like that they have linked…
We had several dogs in our home. One dog was very unusual. A beautiful German Shepherd flunked out of the seeing eye program. The dog found a forever home with us. Before I knew I had PTSD, looking back I realized our dog behaved like a PTSD trained dog without the training. He would nudge…
One of the biggest obstacles I had to over come was my own rejection of my emotions. My hero in high school was Mr. Spock because he had no feelings. I felt totally betrayed when one episode showed him raging with anger. I was told over and over again stupid people got bored. I was…
Shared on Facebook by my friend in Australia…. I learned that website readers can’t read a picture so here is the text: Six little stories with lots of meaning Once all villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of the prayer, they all gathered together, but only one little boy brought an umbrella. …
Living is fear is not new to me. My counselor pointed out I lived a fear based life. My childhood revolved around jumping through ever changing hoops to avoid some punishment. Then there were the weirdness of some punishments I preferred. If I complained about eating a meal with bell pepper in it, I would…
Quick definition of emotional abuse: http://dayoneservices.org/what-is-emotional-abuse/ This one is the hardest to recognize for me and the slowest to heal because of the constant erosion of my self worth; I felt their assessment was me. Took many counseling sessions to start breaking through the abusive fog of self doubt, self condemnation, and believing their view…
Resentment is an emotion that puzzled me. Was it a hiding emotion that hid other emotions? It was linked to bitterness but some how different? I felt it, but wasn’t sure how to heal it when I didn’t know the source or whence it came. Like many epiphanies that I have, it came while I…
PTSD - Accepting, Coping, Thriving 