Help coping with PTSD

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

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. 

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. 

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

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.