Quote:
Originally Posted by VoidofCourse
I have been told in the past that I cannot heal these on my own. I don't believe I need to be in therapy the rest of my life and my wallet agrees! Positive affirmations are good, as is having spiritual faith etc. But I believe that there has to be alternatives to dealing with childhood trauma as an adult other than constant therapy and pills. I don't understand why I can't break the cycle of building myself up and tearing myself down.
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I think anyone saying you have to be in therapy for the whole rest of your life probably has a vested interest in saying so. The goal of therapy should be to teach you skills you can then apply outside therapy, not to keep you coming back week after week for the rest of your life!
A lot of people with PTSD find CBT or DBT therapy helpful, since it helps recognize and change destructive thinking patterns. But that isn't a lifetime commitment, and if you can't afford therapy the techniques can be learned from books and applied on your own as well.
There are also lots of alternative therapies that some people find helpful with PTSD, such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and herbal therapies (these should be applied by someone with training in herbal medicine because they can be nearly as potent, and thus dangerous, as traditional drug therapies).
Then there are the basics of taking care of yourself--eating enough healthy foods, drinking enough water, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. These help everyone, no matter what their diagnosis or what other treatments they're using. Particularly with exercise, if you can do it for an hour every day (yes this is more than traditional sources recommend) it can release enough endorphins to be as effective as a chemical anti-depressant for many people, without the side-effects.
I think when people talk about recovery from prolonged trauma, they're really talking about learning to cope well enough to have a fairly normal life. Some of that pain will always be there, but I believe it's possible to learn enough coping skills to have it under control and not interfering with your daily life. You can certainly have lots of joyful moments and happiness! I really believe that.
VoidofCourse and Melita, I hope you will both start searching for whatever techniques--traditional, alternative, or both--will be most helpful for you. I can't really tell you what to do because different things work for different people, but I don't believe any of us have to stay on the PTSD roller coaster forever.
(((((hugs))))) to both of you.