[garden gal]

Thanks for everyone's support with my last post. It has been kind of a rough week. I was feeling overwhelmed and quite depressed after that difficult conversation with my boyfriend, then I had a couple of rough days at work. Then I started reading this book for a grief and loss class for my master's program. It is an incredibly intense story about this woman's grief process after her husband dies... the book describes her suicide attempt and her process of coming to terms with her childhood abuse. The book has been quite triggering for me... I only got an hour of sleep on Wednesday night, after reading the first half... and was up all night with racing thoughts. I called my therapist and talked with him on Thursday, which was helpful. I need to finish the book, but have been putting it off for obvious reasons.

Any thoughts on dealing with things that you need to deal with, but that you suspect will be triggering?

[Christina86]

Darn, that's a tough situation to be in! I've not had to read books that were triggering for me because of academic stuff, but I have read them for my own "self interest".

Mostly when dealing with my triggers I've got to take it slow, first and foremost. Reaching out to a therapist is also really helpful - I've called my psychiatrist and therapist when I'm spacing out and just hearing even their voicemail machine is incredibly helpful.

Otherwise, I'm learning "grounding techniques" to deal with triggers. Since you're not exactly able to spend any amount of time desensitizing yourself to the triggers, you only are able to spend an amount of time re-assuring yourself that you're in the present, NOT in the past, and that you ARE safe in the current time/place.

I "borrowed" this from another website, but maybe this would be a good place to start:

Grounding skills can be helpful when a person is anxious, having flashbacks, or having difficulty staying in the present. Grounding skills are used to help a person stay focused, using all five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
Sit in a relaxed position, with your eyes open and feet flat on the floor
Consciously become aware of everything you see around you, and take inventory of each item, naming what you see aloud or quietly in your mind.
Notice every sound around you and identify what you hear.
Describe what you taste. Sometimes chewing gum or sucking on hard candy can help you focus on your sense of taste.
Identify what you smell and describe it
Describe what you are touching with your hands and your body, being aware of the details of texture, hardness, temperature, and shape of what you are touching.
Stamp your feet on the ground so that you remember that you have feet and can get away now if you need to. (As a child, you couldn't get away. Now you can.)
Practice this exercise several times a day, so that it becomes very familiar to you. Make use of grounding whenever you feel anxious or have difficulty staying in the present.

http://www.angelfire.com/il2/figskat...es/coping.html

Another thing that I either read somewhere or someone wanted me to learn (I forget ) was to create a "toolbox" of stuff that you'd do to deal with triggers and dissociation when it happens. You put together a box/bag of things, things that have positive thoughts/memories/feelings associated with them, for starters. Things that engage your senses (not necessarily all of them all at once!). So you could put pictures, a fuzzy stuffed animal, smelling salts, something smooth/rough/feathery, something heavy, a bunch of suckers/candies ... anything that you think will help you to stay present and focused.

If I've got to do something that I know will be triggering, I do go out of my way to avoid it if possible. But since you're right, and it's not always possible to avoid things that NEED to be done... I get "allies" as well. People who know me well enough that if I'm not dealing with things well will call me on it - will ask me how I'm doing, will accept a phone call from me if I need to reconnect... anything like that.

How many more pages is the book? Finding a way to pace yourself would be your best bet and perhaps after every chapter or every few pages you take a break, take a breather, call your therapist, or do something fun as a reward.

[*freak*]

I too have had to read extremely triggering books at school. It was an experience I don't want to repeat ever again.

I'm sorry I don't have any advice... I just wanted to say I know how you feel and to offer my support

[lommar]

I'm glad I found this post. I'm in the same situation--I am translating a book on parenting which also brings up the issue pregnancy and bringing up a child. I think I have a lot of issues there and I really felt bad yesterday. I thought I had licked depression and anxiety--no way. It's always there, around the corner. Thanks for the grounding ritual. That makes a lot of sense.
I found that talking with friends helped ground me. I just called everybody I knew and spoke to my son and his girlfriend. They were very understanding. A friend of mine came over and talked with me for two hours. He made me laugh. That helped me a lot. Also connecting with my pet.

[garden gal]

Thanks for the posts, especially the ideas about grounding skills. It is odd how a book could cause me to feel so overwhelmed that I feel physically ill. But, I've started reading just a little at a time, NOT right before I go to bed, and try to do something that grounds me in the present after I read. (Today I planted tomatoes with my neighbor's 5-year old. ) It is frustrating, however, that I'll get to a point where I think I've worked through an issue, and then something will come up and hit me like a sledgehammer.

[SophiaG]

if you have to do something negative, then i reccomend you do something positive to counteract the negativity

[Perna]

I would have at hand another book or two that I know comforts me and read some of each, back and forth.