[MotownJohnny]

Here is what it says about it on this site:

What is Exposure Therapy? | Psych Central

I am working on it with the blessing/advice of my psychiatrist and therapist. It's kind of rough, but I think it is working, I am getting less anxious about each outing into the dark in the neighborhoods I walked last year during my crisis.

It isn't an extreme fear, just a feeling of being very tense and wanting out of there.

There is one place I am really not looking forward to going -- a local park where I decided that, if it became necessary, I would end it.

[kaliope]

my pdoc had me doing exposure therapy for my anxiety. it was working but I was having nightmares from it. I only did it for about three months and then my pdoc changed so I stopped.

[MotownJohnny]

Originally Posted by kaliope

my pdoc had me doing exposure therapy for my anxiety. it was working but I was having nightmares from it. I only did it for about three months and then my pdoc changed so I stopped.

I've been having a few vivid upsetting dreams, too.

[MotownJohnny]

Is it normal with CPTSD to be kind of fixated on dates, anniversaries, time of day and lighting conditions as a trigger. Those all trigger me, and are a factor in deciding what to work in in ET.

[anneo59]

Hi MotownJohnny, my experience was similar to kaliope's, so I don't know about any long term exposure, but it know it works for some. I do wish you the best!

[splitimage]

Hi MotownJimmy,

I found exposure therapy very helpful in overcoming my social phobia, but I did it within the context of very structured CBT group therapy for 12 weeks. We made a hierarchy of situations that were anxiety producing and started with low anxiety events and start with those and worked our way up to higher anxiety events.

Re your question on CPTSD and being fixated on dates etc. I think it can go either way. Some people are very fixated on things, other people are totally dissociated from them. For example, for years I couldn't figure out why I became extremely suicidal in November, then about 10 years ago I was flipping through a photo album and found my mother's obituary notice from the paper. She had died in Nov., when I was 13 which was incredibly traumatic for me and I'd completely dissociated it.

splitimage

[MotownJohnny]

SplitImage, I am completely the other way, I remember dates, times, places, weather, etc for so many events. Which is probably bad, I can take myself right back to it in a heartbeat.

[worthit]

Maybe that's my problem to an extent. I've been to the same food store for the past 12 years and although no incident happened there (it's my PTSD) it doesn't get easier. Being exposed to people hasn't gotten me through it any better.

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[Gus1234U]

it seems to me that it is important to remember that there are all kinds of PTSD's and each individual has a variety of strengths and challenges. that being said, some advocate going outside of the comfort zone, and some don't. i don't. i prefer the gradual and supported approach.

having overcome and re-acquired various trauma incited anxieties and phobias, i can say that for me, it got harder and harder to erase the damage. like scar tissue, there was less elasticity. fortunately the brain is very full of 'plasticity', and there is always hope of reforming neural pathways.

i just don't push myself as hard anymore, and don't bewail my functional limitations so much either. i have come to a truce: i will make an effort, and if i am overcome, i will sooth myself without unkindness...

best wishes, all who are striving to reshape themselves into an image they prefer~