Topic Tuesday // Supporting someone dealing with PTSD // Tues. 27 Feb. 7pm - 9pm AEDT

[Adge]

That's a very good point @Former-Member

Dissociation is often a frequent survival mechanism (or response) in people with childhood trauma.

That was one (or the main) reason that I was told that EMDR was not appropriate for people with CPTSD (or me).

Adge

[DeanYates]

Really sorry to hear that @Adge

[DeanYates]

Great that you stay in touch @Former-Member
Vitally important for people who have PTSD to know that others care about them

[Hillsy]

Thanks @DeanYates. He does want to be home but struggles massively with sensory overload now which he didn't have before. He is unable to help with the kids (or anything) at night when he has taken his medication, nor in the morning until the medication has worn off and he has been able to get up when it is quiet. We have 4 kids, including a 7 month old so getting them organised in a morning isn't calm!

He also does not have the energy for the gym, gets light headed, short of breath and dizzy easily. Very fatigued. Avoids all social situations and can't have noise at home. This has been going on 3 months now and as a family it is extremely hard. I feel like a single parent, but also a carer for him. He didn't used to be like this

[Former-Member]

I had not heard of moral injury before, had to look it up.

[DeanYates]

Hi @Former-Member
It has to be an individual decision. You have to feel comfortable sharing. When I tell people about my PTSD and say I got it from working in Iraq, covering the Boxing Day tsunami, the Bali bombings, losing three staff in Baghdad, everyone gets it. What I mean is that in a sense, my experience is an easy one to share. I really understand that for others it can be very difficult given the nature of the trauma. That said, I believe that sharing with people who will listen with empathy and try to understand is worth doing. I will be forever grateful to a former colleague from Baghdad who said to me, when I was at my lowest point, that I was not alone. He had gone through the same thing. Until then, I have told virtually no one.From my experience, sharing helps the healing process and moving on. I just don't think bottling up works. By sharing, talking, journaling and processing - I think you get control of the narrative. You get to have more control over how you feel. You give yourself a chance to heal.

[DeanYates]

I get what he means @Soozasaur. Seeing faces on strangers.

[Shaz51]

Interesting @DeanYates

some tips of Supporting someone dealing with PTSD

[Former-Member]

Yes, that makes sense.  Thanks @DeanYates.  

Sherry

[DeanYates]

Thanks @razsbags -- The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma in New York says the following: The “act of articulation — writing, drawing, painting, talking or crying — seems to change the way a traumatic memory is stored in the brain, as if it somehow moves the memory from one part of the hard drive to another. Child survivors from Guatemala to Bosnia have begun to heal by drawing or coloring out images of attacks. Especially when the act is coupled with the opportunity to grieve, articulation often provides a release of the emotions associated with the event and leaves its author able to recall the memory in the future with less or no pain.”

Some of my journalist colleagues in New York attend a drawing class once a month to deal with stress.

Sounds like by REM you mean EMDR. There is a few earlier references to this.