Help coping with PTSD

Loz

Only just saw your reply with the links. Thank you very much.

Yes, I find that, that you do sometimes quite a lot of work and it all ends in a bloody good cry. I've one big cry i could do with releasing but seem to be some way off from still. It's hard to tap into i think because of the autism but i,ve learnt not to push the crying away but to bring it on, albeit it happens at most every six months.

Sorry for the wait. Here are the links mentioned:

https://novopsych.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ies-r_Impact-of-Event-Scale.pdf

https://www.westlondonpractice.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/PHQ9-and-GAD7.pdf

I've also just found this website which I wasn't aware of. There might be useful information on there that could help you?

https://www.ptsduk.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA962BBhCzARIsAIpWEL01A0g5vmI7KkLjABfQK-sgnHbclB-vC7RmgWrAPbvV9O6vb064uC8aAjvzEALw_wcB

Turtle 

I can't remember that far back in terms of anxiety and depression (my memory is absolutely awful about most things.) All I know is that I was a super shy and sensitive kid. Neither me or my family had even heard of autism back then. 

Like Loz you make good points. Thanks. 

Advice would be different for each individual. Did you have anxiety, depression or a diagnoses of Autism before your trauma ? There are many variables that could be very important in determining the steps to your specific healing. 

In general though, the advice that @Loz gives in this thread is excellent. Books, advice, counselling and diagnoses will be helpful or necessary for some while others with a different make-up or processing constitution may only find healing alone in their own way or through a combination of the above but the most important aspect is commitment to do so. Effort will always pay off even if you don't feel or think like that at the time. Having experienced pain, it is the body's natural instinct or reaction to avoid it which can play-out in different forms including ; resistance, shut-down, melt-down, confusion, overwhelm etc etc which at the time, can appear to lead nowhere or to more pain. Stick with it.  I am talking about confronting or re-visiting pain or trauma here.

The only thing I could add to the incredibly sound advice from @Loz is - do whatever it takes for you. 

I'm about to leave work for the day but I'll try and get it for you tomorrow. 

I did try it for quite a while. It wasn't triggering. Just completely ineffective and extremely confusing and irritating.  

That questionnaire sounds very informative and useful!

Was there anything about it particularly that made it harder?

If it's what I'm thinking of, than it was a similar situation for me. When you start the therapy, it actually gets worse at first and feels like it isn't doing anything other than bringing up bad feelings that you'd rather forget. 

The truth is, you need to push through it. Having healthy practices like healthy eating, exercise, meditation, hobbies. All of those can help but in order to deal with the PTSD, you first have to confront it head on. I really had a hard time of it and there were many times I wanted to quit. It got really intense but overtime (which is why the healthy practices make a difference), it began to subside. 

I filled out a PTSD and Anxiety questionnaire every week, and I could physically see in my scores how it got worse and then got better to the point that it was far lower than when I'd started. 

For some reason the website won't give me a reply button under your big reply. Sorry. 

Oh my goodness. That sounds like a very distressing situation for you. I am glad you had such a good therapist. You should be proud of all the work you have put in as well as the progress you have made. 

We tried CBT but it actually made it harder for me. 

That's really the hard bit. I was fortunate I could access specialists in my area but I still had a substantial wait before they had a slot available. 

In terms of my PTSD, it was related to a motorbike accident.

The way my counsellor explained it, and the way I understand it; is that I can tell myself that I'm safe, it won't happen again, roads aren't terrible places, etc. But there is a part of my brain that hasn't caught up. For example, I had a major trigger on a train journey late last year. My train had just pulled out of the station, my destination was next. The train suddenly came to a stop. While we waited, we found out that someone had been hit by a freight train at my destination! As we waited, it brought back a lot of feelings from my accident which was entirely unrelated, by the time I got to work I was shaking uncontrollably, crying and struggling to keep myself together. A part of my brain was convinced I was in danger, even though I knew I wasn't. A colleague of mine sat with me and we simply talked about what was happening, as it happened. That helped me to settle and 'convince the crazy part of my brain' that I was ok. It also helped to find the person who was hit had survived with minor injury. Even though I was exhausted for the rest of the day, I was able to take the train home without further anxiety.

My Counsellor took me through Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT). I'm sure there are books on the subject, I also find that Buddhism has a lot of similar attributes whilst also providing additional support like meditative practices and practical perspectives to draw from.

We also did something called reliving. She asked me to tape it so I could refer to it outside of our sessions. We did it a number of times, over and over again. It brought back different memories and helped me to bring order to what was happening in my head. I didn't find the reliving itself helpful in the way it was intended. We suspected that might be where the Autism was creeping in. I did find the process helpful in that it helped me to see how different things fit in and that in turn helped me to make sense of the situation.  There were also grounding techniques, such as having little objects that gave me comfort, training myself to associate being on the road with something if not pleasant, than at least normal. 

Part of the PTSD treatment is designed to reintroduce what happened in small doses so that the brain has a chance to deal with what has happened. You also need to try not to avoid it, like pushing your boundaries just a little each time rather than avoiding it completely.

The defining moment for me, was actually the hardest. We had a heavy session and I left feeling really upset. I had to get across a super busy bridge surrounded by traffic, over the motorway so I always put my music on. I'm a Ludovico Eunaudi fan, and a piece of music called 'Experience' came on. It brought up so much emotion that I'd struggled to tap into and for the first time since the accident, I just stood there and cried with relief, I honestly felt like I was going to get through it. 

I don't know how much of that is helpful to you, PTSD is different for everyone. I too have Anxiety and Depression disorder so I can appreciate how difficult it can be. The first instinct of most people is to tell you it will all be ok. The hardest bit, is for you to convince yourself. I promise you though, it's not impossible.

I have a therapist who knows that I have PTSD. However, she is neither a specialist in PTSD or autism so can only help so much. (There are no specialist services for either 'condition' where I am.)

I'm not officially diagnosed but it was my PTSD counsellor who referred me. Have you been through counselling for your PTSD?

Not for ASs but I found The Body Keeps The Score really helpful.

I was impressed how NLP worked for a phobia in a few sessions, and have heard good things about EMDR if the PTSD is related to a one off incident or just a few incidents, but other therapies needed for chronicly occurring traumas.