Good Workbook for C-PTSD & Dissociation

Has anybody here read or used either one of these workbooks:

Coping With Dissociation-Related Trauma?

Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving?

I'm thinking about going through one of them with my t, if she thinks either one of them would help me. At the moment, we are reviewing DBT chapters. I understand the DBT concepts and coping skills. But dissociation seems to take away the benefit of learning DBT coping skills. Once I get triggered and dissociate, I can't seem to think or reason like normal, and can't adequately use the coping skills I learned when I was not in a triggered state.

Because of this, I am wondering if I should be working more on the dissociation problem?

If any of you are familiar with those two workbooks I mentioned, or any others that would be helpful for this issue, please let me know!

they are both great books and I have used them. they can be used for any one whether they have a dissociative disorder or not, whether a person has trauma that is complex or not, what is in these workbooks is the same things I learned with DBT, CBT therapy (learning what your problems and symptoms are and learning coping tools that the person using the books are expected to use to keep their problems on track, self regulation, self grounding, self nurturing... you all that stuff that is all about changing your thoughts and behaviors from negative to positive and continuing to do so long term, not just for therapy purposes.

in these books complex doesnt necessarily mean the mental disorder that some locations call complex ptsd and america now calls Acute stress disorder and others dependinng upon each persons own combination of problems. in many places in the books the term complex means having many problems, many symptoms, my point in each chapter/ section it may get a bit confusing if you dont pay attention to the wording and definitions being used for that section/ chapter and the wording of each of the questions.

example if you go into one chapter thinking complex disorder when they want you to think about the complex issues (the many things like work stress, family stress, deadlines, running a home, how you handle how you feel when you are paying your bills, ....) you go through on a daily basis, it makes a big difference. I answered one question based on my complex PTSD not complex as in the many different elements in my daily life which threw the rest of the questions and answers completely off and didnt make any sense and was actually harder than it was supposed to be. my therapist had to tell me to stop over thinking and keep it simple rather than on my complex PTSD. to think in terms may daily life functioning, and what causes me anxiety in my daily life...

you will be working on things like making up your own treatment plans that work for you like whats a good nutritional diet for you, a good sleep routine for you, what you can do when you do have a panic attack while doing your every day activities, not letting past memories and problems interfere with your day. thinking about your life and where you want to be in the future and how to get it, positive self talk (the book calls it inner dialogue, inner communication examples instead of thinking I am so stupid and fighting with your self with negative self talk, it teaches you to do things like when thinking to your self I am so stupid and having your own little internal conversation with yourself on how stupid and why something was, to turn it around to a positive... instead of calling yourself stupid think something like...well that didn't go so well, next time i think I will try something different...)

the books have a definite layout but can be used out of order too. so dont worry if your therapist decides to skip a few chapters. it doesnt mean you are not ready for what they are skipping, just that they feel the order they have in mind fits the problems you are having that day or that week. At least thats what my therapist told me.

I think you will like the books but be ready to challenge yourself and after using the books if your treatment provider is like mine you may be expected to use what you learn in the books even when you are no longer using the books. any time my therapist and I use workbooks the future is always including the information and skills from those books...

you might even want to not actually write in the books but rather make photo copies so that the books can be used more than once for reviewing after you have learned the skills in the books.

oh yea I went into these workbooks expecting to work on things like communicating with my alters, and other DID specifics and boy did I have a big let down when we actually got to work. the dissociative things in the books are things like how you can ground yourself when you feel numb or spaced out (basic dissociative symptoms)

anyway if you are ready for making changes in your life around your thoughts and behaviors, how you handle your stress and so on in your life and make changes so that the past is no longer your focus in life but moving beyond just surviving, the books will help you. they were very helpful to me.

on the second book for me it wasnt so helpful I read it for what it was.. one mans journey and problems. it wasnt a workbook per se. its a continuation of another book that he wrote called the Tao of fully feeling, harvesting forgiveness out of blame. maybe i would have gotten more from Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving if I had read the first book first. there was a lot in there that I didnt understand what he meant because he was referencing the first book.

my suggestion is read the first one then the continuation, it may make more sense to you that way.

Is the coping with dissociated trauma one by Kathy Steele and Onno someone? It has flowers on the front or something? I have their corresponding book for therapists but not the dissociation workbook. The therapists book I find really helpful. I wanted to get that one because that is what both of my therapists have used, although primarily they use the haunted self (but I don't have that one).
I think I will get the workbook too though. My T recommended it to me and from what I saw on the amazon look inside it really did seem helpful for practicing grounding skills, learning about the function of dissociation and the parts and working on inner communication. What appeals to me most about it is keeping on track and maintaining progress in different areas. I think I will get it. If that isn't the one you mean can you tell me more about the one you are thinking about?

Amyjay,

Yes, that the author is Kathy Steele and two others. Thanks for your input.

I read parts of The Haunted Self- my therapist had it it. When she was dying from cancer, she was giving a lot of stuff away from her office. I never thought of asking for that book- I just wanted her. I do wish I had the book.

I didn’t know America calls complex ptsd “acute stress disorder “. That explains my last billing codes. I couldn’t figure it out.

That's weird as they are very different entities with different causes (although some obvious overlap as with PTSD).

yes. the APA threw out the diagnosis .............Label................of CPTSD back in 2013. they made many new trauma and stress related disorders names and also added CPTSD symptoms / problems to many other mental disorders...

now they do things more individualized based on each persons own combination of symptoms and problems........ for some people like me its now called "Acute Stress Disorder" for some its PTSD with no word complex in front of it, and for others it can be one of the other trauma and stress related disorders or can now be part of their other mental problems like depression, anxiety, ......even dissociative disorders got new disorder names, diagnostics and some disorder labeling threw out.

your treatment provider can tell you why they renamed your CPTSD Acute Stress disorder, and can read more about the trauma and stress related disorders America uses now in the book... the DSM 5

it may sound weird carmina considering your location (the UK) here in america we had a change in our health care system in 2013 where lots of names for disorders got discontinued, but not given up on. you know kind of like how DID used to be called MPD but then there was a change in the health care system here so it was renamed...

well line in the sand is here we went through another change in the health care system where the name CPTSD was discontinued and all its diagnostics and symptoms were added to new names and other mental disorders...

kind of like a person can have a cold but yet it be called upper respitory disease, or a viral infection or a bunch of other names too.

now what CPTSD is called in each person in america is based on each persons own symptoms and problems. its no longer just called CPTSD. sometimes like in me its called acute stress disorder. in my wife its called PTSD, in my niece its called reactive attachment disorder, in another relative of mine its called major depressive disorder. its all the same thing just our CPTSD problems show in different ways so we are not all called CPTSD. its a better matching system then we had before, more individualized.

I see what you mean, Carmina, acute stress disorder is more like the immediate after effects of an incident of trauma, something that may become PTSD later on if not treated, whereas complex PTSD is like PTSD+ all the compounded affects of trauma on the developing personality. So quite different altogether.
I wonder what your T meant, Kiya. It would be interesting to hear what they say.

Yeah the whole point of CPTSD as opposed to just PTSD is it's not necessarily related to a discrete event or events but rather a systematic pattern of abuse, neglect, trauma over many years and often going back to early childhood before conscious memories can be retained and processed.

It seems to me that this issue should be approached more seriously.