Help Ptsd dreams advice?

[colormesuprised]

I'm on the path of recovery, but it seems my brain won't let go of my elementary school experience when I was severely bullied and sexual assaulted and physically assaulted.

I keep thinking I'm getting better but everytime I go to sleep it's a reimagined day of going back to school, multiple ones of my classmates asking if I thought I could ever run away and my teacher finding out that I filed the sexual assault claim on him.

I really really want to get better but everytime I go to sleep I never have peace. It's never nightmares that are so scary they wake me, it's always awful situations and I'm forced to watch and sit in the pain and uncomfortable and taboo.

It's lead to me avoiding sleeping which cause the nightmares to be worse in severity, and memory loss.
I can't remember basic things yet I remember every detail of my classmates faces, my hometown, the hallways etc.

Any advice?

 

[Tesha]

Do you have these memories while you're awake as well? Can you control your dreams to any extent?

Something I tried with mine was to gradually change aspects of the story - who was there, what was said, another teacher coming and taking you away before anything bad happened…. basically change it to more manageable, less harmful scenarios and do this repeatedly. You may be able to reprogram your memory while your dream is processing it.

It didn't always work, but for certain aspects it gave me some relief. I feel for you as it's a shite situation to be in. Insomnia is so hard.

 

[todienomore]

look into trauma release exercises /somatic therapy

 

[colormesuprised]

Do you have these memories while you're awake as well? Can you control your dreams to any extent?

Something I tried with mine was to gradually change aspects of the story - who was there, what was said, another teacher coming and taking you away before anything bad happened…. basically change it to more manageable, less harmful scenarios and do this repeatedly. You may be able to reprogram your memory while your dream is processing it.

It didn't always work, but for certain aspects it gave me some relief. I feel for you as it's a shite situation to be in. Insomnia is so hard.

I think my brain has been trying to do this already, but moreso im just so sick of dreaming of these people in different alternate scenarios because my brain won't let it go, you know what I mean?!but thank you for the advice, I'll take it to heart

 

[burn]

PTSD nightmares are terrifying. What I did was let myself fully explore the memory while awake. That could entail writing it down, everything I remember about it and what triggers me to remember it, then throwing away or destroying the note. And gradually letting myself forget. I believe it's possible to make them go away.

 

[colormesuprised]

PTSD nightmares are terrifying. What I did was let myself fully explore the memory while awake. That could entail writing it down, everything I remember about it and what triggers me to remember it, then throwing away or destroying the note. And gradually letting myself forget. I believe it's possible to make them go away.

I'm glad I'm not alone, in my experience, I haven't felt validated that the things happened to me even happened because everyone around me is very dismissal about it, I feel my brain is forcing me to think about it, draw about it, talk about it all the time because I didn't feel closure around the things that happened, I don't think before I can do that I'll be able to stop having these dreams unfortunately:( but thank you for the advice, I will definitely try it.

 

[Kit1]

Ptsd nightmares, flashbacks and disossciations are scary and horrendous. If you are going to therapy, it might be a good place explore your past.

 

[colormesuprised]

Ptsd nightmares, flashbacks and disossciations are scary and horrendous. If you are going to therapy, it might be a good place explore your past.

I don't have access to therapy unfortunately, I do have a social service counsler, but she's not too qualified imo.
Thank you for replying though means alot

 

[Kit1]

I don't have access to therapy unfortunately, I do have a social service counsler, but she's not too qualified imo.
Thank you for replying though means alot

If you don't mind me asking, which country do you live in?

 

[Dot]

look into trauma release exercises /somatic therapy

Thre = info on bth on therpy thred wth sme diffrnt exrciss

Therapy Methods & Alternatives Explained

"If you want to help someone you need to know something about them" - 'It's A Wonderful Life' Considering therapy but don't know where to start? Hopefully this can be a starting point about what all those different terms mean, and help to pick the right therapist. There are also options further...

sanctioned-suicide.net

 

[CuriosityAndCat]

CPT therapy (CBT based) helped me stop having the ptsd bad dreams. Also a weighted blanket helped.

 

[Dot]

CPT therapy (CBT based) helped me stop having the ptsd bad dreams. Also a weighted blanket helped.

Wht = CPT therpy