Trauma victims: What therapy, if any, helped you?

[Ambivalent1]

?

 

[Malaria]

The only therapy for my trauma that has kinda worked for me so far is certain yoga techniques helping me get my mind off flashbacks.

 

[CuriosityAndCat]

Pranayama and meditation is effective for flashbacks.

CBT is good. CPT is a form of CBT that's been adjusted for PTSD.

Going for a walk during a panic attack/ freeze / collapse is helpful.
I created a PTSD recovery discord server. Pm me or dot if you would like an invite

 

[dragonofenvy]

I got trazodone and that helped for a while for sleeping. It eventually became less effective and then I stopped. Mine's a weird case though because I don't think I started having major PTSD symptoms till 5 years later. To this day I still struggle with it a bit but it's been a little more manageable. Not sure what more there is to do other than accept that it's a part of life.

Therapy never helped. I just got used to it. I know real positive. Usually what I do after nightmares is start pacing around my apartment or watch really slow-paced / really exciting (depending on the day) YouTube videos to help ease the panic and anxiety.

 

[CuriosityAndCat]

desvenlafaxine, prazosin, esketamine, TMS

 

[Meteora]

I m still looking for a way to recover....... it's very tough and therapy didn't help at all. Ok, I became aware of many things but that made it almost worse cause the feelings were revealed but no solutuion offered ---> retraumatization.
Pets help, dogs, cats, horses....
As others said, pranayama.
If you go on youtube you can search for "trauma informed yoga". It is very mindful and slow.
There's a lot of other techniques such as Trauma release exercise TRE by David Bercelli or Somatic Experiencing by Peter Levine.

 

[Ambivalent1]

I m still looking for a way to recover....... it's very tough and therapy didn't help at all. Ok, I became aware of many things but that made it almost worse cause the feelings were revealed but no solutuion offered ---> retraumatization.
Pets help, dogs, cats, horses....
As others said, pranayama.
If you go on youtube you can search for "trauma informed yoga". It is very mindful and slow.
There's a lot of other techniques such as Trauma release exercise TRE by David Bercelli or Somatic Experiencing by Peter Levine.

What was the therapy called? How many years?

 

[Meteora]

What was the therapy called? How many years?

Which do you mean?

 

[Ambivalent1]

Which do you mean?

EMDR?

 

[beyondthestars]

I created a PTSD recovery discord server.

Yeah, please invite me!

?

After 1,5 years on the healing path I can recommend the following:

Internal Family Systems
IFS can be practiced alone or with a therapist. It can be learned quickly and is very useful for dealing with overwhelming emotions / flashbacks. I found that tori olds on youtube has some great intros.
Links:
Intro to IFS

Psychedelic therapy
MDMA theraphy is a great start for starting healing. (Legal or illegal, in second case you need a trusted trip sitter and good set & setting)
Small dosis of psilocybin helped me relax and work on wounds.
Ketamine had some huge short term benefits; reduce exhaustion, overcome depression for a few days so I can do other work.

My prefered dosing:
MDMA 80-120: sweet spot, max 150mg (solo and with sitter)
Psilocybin: 0.5g to relax tension, 1-2.5g for deeper work in safe setting (usually solo, would like to go deeper with a sitter)
Ketamine: low-medium dose (always solo)

If the trauma is intense, one should work only with low-medium dosis of mdma for the first dozen or so sessions. You will know when you're ready to go deeper.
Sources:
Reddit MDMA therapy
Reddit Psychedelic therapy


Shaking (for intense freeze)
For intense freeze I found following excercise helpful:
Shake wildly for 1 minute. (This can feel intensily uncomfortable, bodily tension and strong emotions may come up)
30 seconds of balancing on 1 foot
30 seconds of balancing on other foot
Repeat 3 times.

Grounding
(Most of those I don't currently manage unfortunately.)
Time in nature.
Cuddling.
Somewhat healthy food & regular meals.

Nightmares
For intense recurring nightmares I found Image Reversal therapy (IRT) very helpful. Basically you just rewrite the nightmare script just before you go to bed, and also when you wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. In 5 minutes you can read all about it; it's simple and it works.

Medicine
I rarely use pyrazolam for anxiety.
Anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medicine that the doctors prescribed never worked for me.

**Things that barely helped
meditation
yoga
variety of coaches, doctors, psychologist & psychiatrists I saw

**Things that were too intense
Trauma release exercise.
(I did it once and cried and cried, and had super intense somatic release. After a long while I experienced ego death, I couldn't find myself anymore. It took me a while to even remember how to walk. This exercise was just one of many in a retreat. With how intense my trauma is I'd have needed much more intense after care by a professional. )

**Things I want to try after reading this thread
Trauma informed yoga

YMMV, good luck!

 

[lita-lassi]

meditation, yoga, art, writing for catharsis, ive had temporary luck with ketamine and psilocybin at times but that should really be done under the guidance of a professional with strict routines, boundaries and safety settups in place otherwise it tends to just be a confusing waste or a small escape instead of new processing method

 

[sserafim]

How do you resolve freeze mode? I think I'm in that right now. I'm in flight mode when I go outside though, seeing/talking to/interacting with other people fills me with immense anxiety to the point where my body (shoulders) aches from the tension. My defense mechanism is avoidance, but that can only last so long and do so much…

 

[lovelydeath]

I havent gone to therapy

 

[beyondthestars]

How do you resolve freeze mode? I think I'm in that right now. I'm in flight mode when I go outside though, seeing/talking to/interacting with other people fills me with immense anxiety to the point where my body (shoulders) aches from the tension. My defense mechanism is avoidance, but that can only last so long and do so much…

Immense anxiety + shoulder tension + avoidance - those are all great qualities I have! Freeze has most likely been my biggest hurdle to overcome.

Try the shaking and standing on one foot, for when you're at home and feel the freeze. It creates a different energy, and you might be able to jump out of freeze.

If Freeze is a recurring symptom (and it usually is), IFS can be helpful. You were a child once that decided freeze was the best solution. That protection mechanism saved you fromsooooooooo much pain. It was an excellent survival skill to have back then.

The energy of that child still lives inside of you, at the age when you developed that survival mechanism. You'll need to go back to that child and rescue that inner child. Be with them, talk to them, give them compassion.

Unfornutately all those childhood wounds and survival mechanisms will live on, as long as we don't go back and heal them. We've got to be the loving, caring parent to ourselves. It's a crappy deal, but it's what've got. Good luck!

 

[CuriosityAndCat]

How do you resolve freeze mode? I think I'm in that right now. I'm in flight mode when I go outside though, seeing/talking to/interacting with other people fills me with immense anxiety to the point where my body (shoulders) aches from the tension. My defense mechanism is avoidance, but that can only last so long and do so much…

Grounding techniques and then going for a walk have helped me.

 

[grandeur.egg]

Ive heard a lot of trauma victims sing praises for EMDR. It helps process the memory with a neutral stimulus to keep you centered undissociated (such as tapping or moving your eyes). Heard a lot about DBT as well. CBT only works if your CBT therapist is good

 

[CuriosityAndCat]

Lots of complex PTSD victims do badly with emdr due to high number of repressed memories. See a experienced psychologist or therapist and ask their opinion on what treatment would be safe for you.

 

[nevergoodenough91]

Schema therapy helped me, but I never went to an actual therapist for it.

Theres tons of videos about it on this womans channel she explains things very well.


There is also somatic therapy

 

[sourpink]

Lots of complex PTSD victims do badly with emdr due to high number of repressed memories. See an experienced psychologist or therapist and ask their opinion on what treatment would be safe for you.

this was exactly my experience with emdr. I have cptsd and cpt was also a big no for similar reasons; also cognitive therapeutic modalities as a person who over - intellectualizes feeling, not great, ime.

 

[CuriosityAndCat]

this was exactly my experience with emdr. I have cptsd and cpt was also a big no for similar reasons; also cognitive therapeutic modalities as a person who over - intellectualizes feeling, not great, ime.

CPT works well for CPTSD, but it takes an experienced professional to work with you. Repressed memories get unraveled pretty consistently for a long period of time for me 2 yrs.

I went through CPT, but it was difficult.