Loving yourself by looking for healing: Do I need trauma or PTSD therapy?
Loving yourself by looking for healing: Do I need trauma or PTSD therapy? The last thing you want is to deal with the anxiety of rejection. Do this for yourself first of all. It’s impossible to love other people when you keep abandoning yourself, ie your mind, body, soul and spirit, or abandoning your life. Start by taking good care of yourself, just as you would a hurt child or pet. Let’s talk about basic definitions next.
Trauma means wound and is like a filing cabinet that holds a PTSD file. Trauma covers both traumatic and stressful events within an anxiety or fear-based context but it can also show up as a place of no pleasure and negativity; anger and aggression; or disconnection from your body and your circumstances. This can be from something that’s happened to you or you hear about (secondary trauma can happen when a child hears a horrific story of a war or accident from a parent).
PTSD is a result of exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence in one or more ways. It can happen at any age, and has a specific set of symptoms from the DSM-5 (Diagnositc and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Ed June 2013 or see www.appi.org). For a PTSD diagnosis the symptoms have to last more than 1 month and cause noticeable distress or impairment in the quality of social and school/work life and sometimes comes with medical issues.. Please note symptoms are different for children under 6 years of age.
For adults, PTSD symptoms are:
Intrusion symptoms associated with the traumatic events(2) beginning after the traumatic event(s) occurred:
Distressing Memories
Repeated Dreams
Dissociate reaction, ie flashbacks - feels as if it’s happening again, lose awareness of present surroundings
Triggers - some real or symbolic cue (can be external or inside of you) of the traumatic event surfaces during the day and causes intense or prolonged distress
Constant avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic events, beginning after the traumatic event occurred.
Negative change in thoughts and mood associated with the event - can be a nagging negative state (anger, anxiety, or depression) or you can’t remember accurately or at all what happened.
Change in arousal and reactivity - ie poor sleep patterns, hypervigilance, reckless or self-destructive behavior.
If you are concerned or others around you are noticing these things in you please go to a mental health professional to get an assessment, official diagnosis and the best type of help for your needs.
If you’re unable to manage mental health care right now, try joining a group of people in the recovery process. The VA runs such groups for military veterans and this is a great first step. Others may want to join a self-help group. Al-Anon family groups are specifically for teens/adults with loved ones who are alcoholics, but it works well for a wide variety of dysfunctional coping skills like being overly controlling.
For those who are isolated for whatever reason, maybe the VA app for recovery is an excellent place to start:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ptsd-coach/id430646302
Coaching for PTSD and substance abuse sounds more like something anyone would use. I understand how going to counseling can to some people feel shaming.
Start loving yourself and give yourself the help you need. You will notice the internal shift when you don’t slam the door on yourself, but instead open your heart to give yourself a little compassion and a listening ear.
Begin trauma treatment in the central Denver today.
If you are ready to start recognizing your anger as a signal of unmet needs, call 720-577-5985 or schedule online for a free 15-minute consultation. For more about trauma therapy in central Denver look here. You can also find more at my contact and home page.
