[Alishia88]

I feel like I´d like to help myself more but I don´t know how and I always run into the chance of making myself MORE anxious when I pick up things... :/

What have you done that helped yourself (besides therapy etc.)

Also, I´m starting to get the feeling that for my therapy, I mainly need to talk things through from the past and process them, instead of, like my T often
initiates talking about the present or asking me what would have helped me back then/made it better? But i feel like I just need just someone to listen to me and help me just talk and talk and talk and talk and make sense of it all until I have understood it and talked it out.

Can I just ask my T do that? I think I have done so multiple times, but somehow we always end up her "way" of her talking

[bluekoi]

Alishia88, How long have you been with your therapist? You have every right to tell your therapist what you feel is important to talk about.

[Teacake]

Stabilise your blood sugar. You have to work out and build muscle. No way around IRL
Look up Mikal Vega Vital Warrior.

[Alishia88]

haha, I´m a dancer. I have plenty of workout and plenty of muscle.

But Teacake, I wanted to ask you about gaba, I think you told me about it...
Do you take it just for sleep, or also for anxiety, during the day? Will it make you tired during the day? Thanks

[SkyWhite]

I guess the first thing to look at is whether or not your T's techniques are working for you. You sound frustrated with her. Your profile indicates PTSD among other things. It's important to have a trusting relationship with your T with these diagnoses or it won't work. I know this from experience. My T back then was like yours, wanting to not focus on the trauma and pull me to the present to "learn new coping skills." You can't move forward without processing the trauma. If you want to review your life, you should be given an opportunity to do that but in a structured way. You don't want to dwell on the past, but you don't want to ignore it either. I found it very, very helpful to let my T know my whole story. I left no stone unturned. Now we can move forward with healthy life skills. Is your T trained in trauma? Not all Ts are trained to treat people with multiple diagnoses either. I find these kind tend to fall back on the type of thing your T seems to be doing.

As for helping yourself. The first thing you may want to do is find out more about your conditions and how they can affect you and your life. That's where I started. But don't bombard yourself with too much information. It can be overwhelming. You're a dancer, so the exercise thing is covered. But also learn relaxation techniques if you don't already do this, eg. self soothing, etc. Journaling has also worked wonders for me. I also found this forum to be very helpful in providing support and suggestions.

[Teacake]

Originally Posted by Alishia88

haha, I´m a dancer. I have plenty of workout and plenty of muscle.

But Teacake, I wanted to ask you about gaba, I think you told me about it...
Do you take it just for sleep, or also for anxiety, during the day? Will it make you tired during the day? Thanks

Dance is great. You have to watch the temptation to pick up your blood sugar with juice and other quick fixes.

GABA feels normal. It's an inhibitory neurotransmitter. I would take it evenings to make sure it doesn't cause drowsiness to start. ome people take amino acid theonine during the day. It increases GABA and alertness together. It's found naturally in green tea or you can buy capsules.

Please do read Billie Sahleys little book on Gaba and anxiety. She was a pain researcher and practitioner. Also google and read what is available. I am reading now that GABA can make depression worse and is contraindicated for bipolar. I don't know I'd these are credible sources or big pharmacy shills. If you undertake to treat yourself you really do have to do hour own reading.

I have heard that an hour of yoga increases GABA. For a dancer adding restorative yoga and maybe TRE (david bercelis method) to pm routine might kill lots of birds with one ztone ..terrible metaphor that it is.