I just wanted to add something to this. I had a meeting with my therapist today and he discussed one of the methods of therapy that is used with patients. He talked about how the attention is drawn to the patient realizing that they did survive the events that caused the PTSD.

I had a clear reply to him that set him back in his thinking. I expressed to him that I felt that most PTSD victims already know they survived it, of course they are here and functioning on some level. It is not about concentrating on the fact that we have survived it. The therapy must address a few issues. First the person who has PTSD has to bring out the actual experience or experiences. Then, while they did get through it, what must come forward is how they were effected by their part in the survival of it. Because most victims blame themselves not only for the event and how they dealt with it, but that they continue to surpress it and have a circle of emotions they face surrounding it.

Luckily I had a good example for him. In the beginning of our session I asked him about his parents, his mother is still alive but his father passed away when his father was around 68 which is still fairly young. He told me that his father had cancer and they had expected him to suffer for a long time. But to their surprise he fell asleep, and had a massive heart attack and passed. My response was that this was the best most humane way to go verses the other route. He told me that when people told him that it did not sit well with him, after all, he still lost his father.

So that gave me an opportunity to talk to him about people with PTSD. I told him to really think about his response to how his father died and how he did not respond well to that response. That is the same response a PTSD victim will have by simply being directed to the thought that at least they did survive it. And as I was able to do that he began to realize what I was saying and what it meant.

My concern about the treatment of PTSD is that there are a lot of efforts made towards finding methods to further surpress the events that caused the PTSD to begin with. And I can see the struggle my therapist is having with just sitting and listening and not addressing certain methods that are part of the current programs of how to address PTSD that are being tried today.

The focus must be placed on allowing each victim to discuss the events and even the flashbacks and then learn how to morn these events and how it TOOK SOMETHING FROM THEM. And that is what all the circle of emotions are about.
As I have read all the posts that talk about therapy and the fear of the visits and the BIG REVEAL so to speak and all the fears about being able to do that, I get very concerned. And the other posts that concern me are the ones where patients really struggle between sessions with the therapists. As when they begin to discuss the events and THE THINGS THAT WERE STOLEN FROM THEM, they have great difficulty in the time when they now have to deal with bringing the events to the surface. And it is much like having someone there to open a door to a closet that has a big monster in it and then being left alone with the door open until the therapist comes again to look at the monster in the closet. I think that is wrong.

I think that it is wonderful that PC is here to comfort those who are going through this process, but it is just not enough. An hour of standing in front of the door and then leaving it open for several days is not the way to go, IMO.

Personally I feel that this leaves a patient in a state of mind that can have such an impact that they may end up having to be hospitalized because they now are dealing with a rapid cycle of the circle of emotions that become overwhelming. And this is really when a therapist should be present. And I know this from personal experience.

Personally I feel a patient needs to be on a close contact schedule the involves more successive days where the therapist can stand in front of the closet door with each patient and walk them through the PROPER GRIEVING PROCESS WITH TIME TO ALSO WALK THEM THROUGH THE RELAXATION METHODS AS WELL.

I do see the benefits of COGNITIVE THERAPY and other methods of learning how to work through the times where patients deal with anxiety attacks that are part of the circle of all the emotions that are storred BY THE SUPRESSING TO BEGIN WITH.
But that should all take place after the GRIEVING PROCESS. I am concerned about applying methods toward suppression. I would rather see the patient have the time to actually morn the loss first. Once the patient has acknowedged the loss and that has been validated, then they can examine the ways they did SURVIVE and SURPRESS IT and learn new ways to CONSCIOUSLY see how they addressed it and focus on LEARNING HOW TO CONSCIOUSLY ADDRESS IT NOW. But the LOSS HAS TO BE RECOGNIZED AND BE FINALLY GRIEVED.

And as we all know, everyone grieves differently and it does take time. It cannot be a MAN UP approach which just leads to suppression resulting in anger and guilt. A person with PTSD has to be able to talk about WHAT THEY ACTUALLY LOST FIRST.
When that door opens there are events that took place and that was the beginning of the loss. A patient really needs to talk about that in a way that they are recieving comfort and support and feel they are being allowed to greive that event or events. And it has to be done where the patient clearly understands that they are not doing so to experience being re-traumatized. Instead they should be directed that the only pupose for the discussion is to LEARN more about what happend and how they WILL BE GUIDED TO LOOK AT IT VERY DIFFERENTLY.

Open Eyes