[JayJay2]

How do I stop the flashbacks? I have PTSD and I sleep rough as a result as I cannot sleep indoors, if I sleep indoors I become very distressed, both in my sleep and on waking, I wake in flashbacks and the flashbacks run in vicious circles for the morning. I think I subconsciously feel trapped as I sleep as I have been trapped in the past.
I also have some flashbacks during the day and night while I sleep rough, but not as bad as when I try to be indoors and I can dissociate better when I am outdoors.
I cannot get any real help from the medical services and cannot take anti-depressants because I react very badly to them.
Has anyone had similar problems or any sensible solutions? I have been a rough sleeper for years, I have Asperger Syndrome and PTSD and there has been a great deal of abuse, violence and injustice in my background.

[Open Eyes]

((JayJay)),

I am so sorry that you are struggling so much right now. PTSD is an anxiety disorder, and it can be hard if someone also has Asburgers and can struggle with anxiety to begin with.

These flashbacks "can" be weakened if you work through them after they happen to you. A flashback comes from an experience you had that tramatized you and at the time you didn't know how to gain control of the situation or have a response where you could "protect" yourself.

By working through these flashbacks of events that took place in your past, you can slowly lower the impact of them and weakin them to where they eventually are a memory with a small amount of emotions but not what you are experiencing now.

The reason you have "rough" sleep is because our brain tries to process whatever we experience during the day, so if your day is about experiencing these troubled memories your brain doesn't quite know how to process this at night.

I had that happen with me and I ended up taking Klonopin at night to help me sleep and I worked with a therapist to help me work through the history I had suffered from abuse. You really need to find a therapist that specializes in PTSD and helping patients work through it in a recovery process.

You can also read a book "Trama and Recovery" by Judith Herman who discusses the stages of recovery from PTSD.

You don't have to have this ongoing, you can learn to slowly process these events.
Part of that also includes putting these experiences into words as often some of our trapped tramas are not in a place in the brain that has language. By putting these memories into words/language and discussing how you were hurt/what happened and getting validated as well, you will slowly be able to finally "process" whatever is there.

If you don't have a T right now, perhaps you might want to start a thread where you can discuss some of these tramas "slowly" to at least make an attempt to put them into words. This should be done "slowly" though ok?

We are "not" therapists here at PC, we are all just members who "in this forum" are working through PTSD and slowly making gains in our own recovery. We all try to validate and support each other here and share things we are learning in therapy.

I see you are a new member Jay, welcome to PC, as I mentioned there are a lot of very supportive members here, we try to listen and support each other as best as we can, and we know the "challenge" of PTSD.

(((Welcoming Hugs))))
Open Eyes