Recovery from PTSD

[liminal_luke]

[Informer]

He needs to overcome fear. The best way imo is to look death directly into the eyes and try to feel only love.

 

It not like he's not going to die eventually anyway. Death Anxiety.

 

Death is probably one of the hardest phenomena to come to terms with, look at all the inventions created to ease these fears. You know your partner better than any of us, you have to find his terminology and explain it to him. You can use "God" or Selflessness, amongst other things.

 

It's ultimately his own attachement to what he percieves as "his" life that causes this distress, imo. These are pretty heavy topics, and probably would be best done by a professional. If that isn't an option then you have a lot of studying to do.

[Ambrose_Bierce]

Professional Help.

 

Seriously. He needs to get referred to a Clinician by his primary care physician.

After that, then he should explore additional options.

 

If that is not an option, it takes longer. It may be years before he learns to trust people and situations. The extra high dopamine levels cause the heightened awareness.

 

Please review Huperzine A supplimentation with your primary care physician as psychotics can wreak havok on the body. Your primary care physician will know to do the needed tests to see if heightened acetylcholine levels would interfere with the high dopamine levels. At least it would offer clear thought.

 

Supplimentation without supervision is dangerous. If what I am saying is not the problem, how could you be sure Huperzine A would work? Only a doctor could determine this.

[Jetsun]

I thought I might have PTSD for some time and looked into many of the treatments available. The gist of what I came to understand is that you need to build up your support and resources in as many areas of your life as possible then try to confront the trauma. So for support grounding is useful so doing things like connecting with nature, putting your bare feet and hands on the earth regularly, eat root vegetables, have methods to express your feelings like art and dance and talk to people. Animals help to ground too especially horses and dolphins, I saw a film recently about a boy in Israel who had severe PTSD from an assault and he was helped enormously by "Dolphin Therapy" which involved him swimming with and connecting with dolphins every day as a way to gently reconnect him with the world.

 

To confront the feelings EMDR therapy has a proven record of treating PTSD, I think it one of the main methods to treat combat vets these days, it would involve seeing a therapist but only short term. I would get the DVD of Bercelli's work too although the exercises are easy it's pretty useful to reassure you that you are doing it correctly.

 

As for Taoist Methods there is a woman called Sf Jane who cured her own PTSD with Bruce Frantzis "Water Method" dissolving meditation and she wrote a book about her experiences, she used to come to this site a while ago so you could look up her posts in the search bar, also I think she has a website talking about it. Apart from that I wouldn't go too heavy into some things like breathing methods and regular meditations as they may just un-ground and destabilise things further as will some forms of Qigong so only do grounding methods of Qigong and Tai Chi.

[Informer]

Honestly, instead of getting him jacked up on narcotics, there may be a less harmful drug known as marijuana that could help.

 

http://blog.usnavyseals.com/2011/07/marijuana-for-treating-ptsd.html

[Jetsun]

He needs to overcome fear. The best way imo is to look death directly into the eyes and try to feel only love.

 

It not like he's not going to die eventually anyway. Death Anxiety.

 

Death is probably one of the hardest phenomena to come to terms with, look at all the inventions created to ease these fears. You know your partner better than any of us, you have to find his terminology and explain it to him. You can use "God" or Selflessness, amongst other things.

 

It's ultimately his own attachement to what he percieves as "his" life that causes this distress, imo. These are pretty heavy topics, and probably would be best done by a professional. If that isn't an option then you have a lot of studying to do.

 

I don't think saying that sort of thing to a person with PTSD will help at all to be honest, often PTSD is a body based phenomena where the trauma is stuck in your nervous system so sometimes even if you want to face up to it you can't because your nervous system is in a complete overdrive fight or flight state, so be told to just face up to death may just be adding shame to an already distressed person.

[Ambrose_Bierce]

Forgot to mention Huperzine A is not a narcotic. What I was saying was it could be a viable alternative to taking harmful narcotics.

 

Only take it if needed. In healthy people the results are unpredictable.

Edited September 8, 2011 by Ambrose_Bierce

[Informer]

I don't think saying that sort of thing to a person with PTSD will help at all to be honest, often PTSD is a body based phenomena where the trauma is stuck in your nervous system so sometimes even if you want to face up to it you can't because your nervous system is in a complete overdrive fight or flight state, so be told to just face up to death may just be adding shame to an already distressed person.

 

There is much more to it than that, in the process that one takes to actually "deal" with it.

 

How do you "deal" with death anxiety?

[ralis]

He needs to overcome fear. The best way imo is to look death directly into the eyes and try to feel only love.

 

 

Feel good advice accomplishes nothing in the face of PTSD or trauma of any kind. I speak from experience.

 

I would recommend this. It works!

 

http://rapideyetechnology.com/index.htm

Edited September 8, 2011 by ralis

[Jetsun]

There is much more to it than that, in the process that one takes to actually "deal" with it.

 

How do you "deal" with death anxiety?

 

Well PTSD is a state where your mind and nervous system has become completely overwhelmed and the energy of the trauma gets stuck in a loop so when a person gets triggered they get thrown back into the trauma full on, so even if you want to face your fear you can't do so because whenever you go anywhere near the trauma in any way your body goes into full fight or flight mode. Some of the most hardened war veterans who have faced their fear of death head on in battle many times get PTSD so it's not just a matter of looking death in the eye and accepting it, you need a method to release the energy of the trauma which is stuck in your body.

[Informer]

Feel good advice accomplishes nothing in the face of PTSD or trauma of any kind. I speak from experience.

 

It does sound a bit off keel, but when you think about it, there is no room for fear when there is only love.

 

How did you deal ralis?

[Ambrose_Bierce]

ralis is right.

 

Speaking from my own PTSD it takes time to learn to trust and feel comfortable in ones own environment. It can take decades depending upon the experiences and how one copes.

 

I wouldnt ask someone how they coped with PTSD because the flashbacks can put someone back in that state.

Edited September 8, 2011 by Ambrose_Bierce

[Informer]

Well, if you guys diagnose someone who is suffering paranoia from a death threat as Authentic PTSD then have at it!

Edited September 8, 2011 by Informer

[Ambrose_Bierce]

Well, if you guys diagnose someone who is suffering paranoia from a death threat as Authentic PTSD then have at it!

 

We are just trying to be empathetic.

 

I had a friend whos mother would wake him up to a gun to his head everyday. If you havnt been in a combat situation or the like, how would you cope?

[Informer]

We are just trying to be empathetic.

 

I had a friend whos mother would wake him up to a gun to his head everyday. If you havnt been in a combat situation or the like, how would you cope?

 

Hows about a dunk mother who only comes home to beat your ass and put you to bed?

 

I simply goto the relative void to desintegrate the root of the problem now-a-days, and I am left with love. No attachements. I love my mother to this day to the max still, and will always.

[Informer]

What about being molested. I was molested as a child by the baby-sitter. Who was a pervert that liked to jack-off while watching me and a little girl naked. I've dealt with it. All of those events are inconsequential to me.

[Ambrose_Bierce]

Hows about a dunk mother who only comes home to beat your ass and put you to bed?

 

I simply goto the relative void to desintegrate the root of the problem now-a-days, and I am left with love. No attachements. I love my mother to this day to the max still, and will always.

 

I understand. My father would beat me within an inch of my life. I dont share that.

I do empathize. After a while though the fear went away.

 

I don't care to share my experience but it wasn't due to physical abuse.

[Informer]

I understand. My father would beat me within an inch of my life. I dont share that.

I do empathize. After a while though the fear went away.

 

I don't care to share my experience but it wasn't due to physical abuse.

 

The emotional ones are the hardest, especially in an egotystical dominated society. It would be unbecomming to cry in front of your friends, would it not?

[ralis]

I just finished watching the 6 DVD series, 'The Pacific'. The interviews of the Marine survivors in the last DVD were sobering. Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie both stated that they never healed from the horror they faced as Marines during WWII.

 

I object to the New Age feel good notion, that "love and light" will save anyone. That is an illusion. There are no easy answers for dealing with trauma.

[GreytoWhite]

PTSD is a bitch and a half. I fight it every day. One of my main techniques is to relive the experience but try to detach myself from the emotional load. It's not always successful but it is helpful with progess.

[Birch]

I think the more we get to understanding reaction to trauma as an involuntary process, the less hardship folks will have around it and the easier it will be to heal. I believe there's still a bit of the 'blame the victim' hanging around in various parts of our culture. Don't worry! Victims blame themselves so easily anyway, IMO, they don't need reinforcement:-)

 

Yes IME/IMO PTSD is a physical process as much as a mental one. Ironically IMO it provides an understanding of mind/body/emotions/cognitive interactions that insight meditation methods might find hard to match, but I digress.

 

IMO I figure anything that takes the mental pressure off it is going to help so the EFT anchoring stuff is good. The EMDR stuff is an interesting one that apparently hooks into the way short and long term memories are processed and stored. The emotional desensitization stuff that Mithstrike mentioned apparently works but it seems like a hard slog. The TRE exercises seem pretty good but I worry a bit about them setting off a cascade of unwanted panic in the very traumatized. They kind of remind me of what I read about the Kunlun stuff.

[liminal_luke]

[GreytoWhite]

Last year I had a flashback to something I had suppressed for a good 12 years. As I've mentioned before I am recovering from a stroke. I noticed after a good hour of chansigong and zhan zhuang that I had a red line going across my forehead from the upper left of my forehead at the scalp all the way to the bridge of my nose. When I put my finger to the red line I felt a noticeable ridge underneath. I then relived running from my stepfather into the bathroom. He picked me up by my collar and belt line then battered my face into the porcelain soap cubby. I had no idea for all these years that's what caused my deviated septum and come to think of it I started getting migraines shortly afterward. After this discovery I have been working through it by intentionally triggering the memory. I put the blade of my hand over the ridge and try to relax as much as possible. Systema breathing seems to help me more than natural or reverse breathing in these instances.

[Ambrose_Bierce]

The emotional ones are the hardest, especially in an egotystical dominated society. It would be unbecomming to cry in front of your friends, would it not?

 

showing grief did not bother me then, its been a couple of decades.

After a while i just expected being called worthless and being beaten. In fact to elaborate i didnt fear it because i expected it.

Usually i would get a few in anyway. Against a father who is numbed by alcohol it didnt do a bit of good.

 

I did not get PTSD from that experience. Back then I operated at a lower level and if I took offense I settled it by taking it out on the next unsuspecting target.

 

I guess the only thing I can say to console you Informer is that it wasnt our fault.

At least you didnt spend your time the past 2 decades trying NOT to be a monster