Flashbacks & Intrusive Thoughts

Hi Everyone

I suffer from debilating flashbacks and intrusive thoughts associated with childhood abuse and recent traumas sustained 7 months ago.

They debilate me to the point I have to take a sedative just to get outside to control the anxiety. And sometimes they are so overwhelming that I sleep too much just to cope.

I am in therapy......but I need to learn coping mechanisms that will retrain my mind that I am no longer in danger.

HELP

Here's some info you might find helpful. It is a difficult journey for sure.

Your triggers may be known to you, dormant for years or difficult to identify. Identifying and analyzing your triggers gives you power. The triggers lose their secrecy and mysteriousness once you understand them.

Reducing the number of triggers in your life may make it easier to deal with your automatic reactions. Also, eliminating stimulants may help. Counseling and support groups are essential.

The following steps provide a format for you to analyze and master your intrusive symptoms:

Stop and become aware: Acknowledge what's happening. Say to yourself, "I'm having an automatic reaction." Assume you have hit a trigger.

Calm yourself: Tune into your body. What are you feeling? Tell yourself something reassuring. "I'm safe, no one can hurt me." Take slow, deep breaths. Relax your muscles. Go to your "safe place".

Identify past situation: When have you felt this way before? What situation were you in the last time you felt this way? Try to identify the trigger.

Identify similarities: In what ways are this current situation and your past situation similar?

For example, is the setting, time of year, or the sights, sounds, sensations in anyway similar to the past situation when you felt this way? If there is a person involved, how is she or he similar to a person from the past who elicited similar feelings?

Affirm your current reality: How is your current situation different from the situation in the past in which you felt similar feelings? What is different about you, your sensory experience, you current life circumstances and personal resources? What is different about the setting? If another person or persons is involved, how are they different from the person(s) in the past situation? Affirm your rights: "The abuse was then. This is now."

Choose a new response: What action, if any, do you want to take to feel better in the present? For example, a flashback may indicate that a person is once again in a situation that is in some way unsafe. If this is the case, self-protective actions should be taken to alter the current situation.

On the other hand, a flashback may simply mean that an old memory has been triggered by an inconsequential resemblance to the past such as a certain color or smell. In such cases, corrective messages of reassurance and comfort need to be given to the self to counteract the old traumatic memories.

Adapted from "Resolving Traumatic Memories" (p. 107) by Y.M. Dolan, 1991, New York: W.W. Norton and from Wendy Maltz's "The Sexual Healing Journey", Harper Collins Publishers, 1991, Chapter 5.

Copyright Michael J. Sturm 5/95

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Hello Pilatus.
I am happy to hear that you are getting therapy to be able to function at a better level with anxiety. I hope things get better with time for you with thte anxiety. I hope the struggle gets easier as you progress with therapy. Take care Soidhonia

((((((((((((((Everyone))))))))))))))))))))

Thank-you for your thoughtful and heart felt comments!

thanks, pet, for that post.

pilatus, i hope you're doing okay today..........xoxoxo pat