I need help in figuring out practical ways to deal with post-traumatic stress. My therapist has a lot of suggestions on this and they have been very helpful. My first round of therapy was totally non-directive, which was pretty damaging for me, since the main thing we did was bring up all these memories of trauma and then I floundered around having absolutely no idea what to do with them, and no idea how to take care of myself, and my first therapist seemed averse to even giving me any hints.

I also need compassion from him, which has been surprisingly useful as a means to start being kinder to myself. And I need a lot of space just to express myself and figure stuff out. Plus I need to feel like he's willing to help me, which he is.