Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disorder that can affect every aspect of your life. It can ruin your relationships, take away your sense of well being, and make you think that you are generally losing your marbles. I know because this is what happened to me. How does one cope with this disorder in a manner that brings then back to sanity and restores balance back into their lives?
PTSD has common or typical symptoms that can be identified and addressed. Memory deficits, anxiety, depression, and a high startle response are just a few examples. People who suffer from PTSD are hyper vigilant, become triggered easily, suffer from panic attacks, and tend to fall into dissociation easily. Some suffer nightmares and can�t sleep for more than a few hours at a time. This is mentally exhausting. The symptoms of PTSD are mentally exhausting for everyone involved and often take a very negative toll on relationships.
When you have PTSD, it is important to identify how you experience these symptoms and tackle them one by one. What is your interpretation of what is happening to you? For example, it is one thing to say that you are suffering from nightmares, but how does this affect you personally? When you awaken from a nightmare how do you deal with it? What can you do to get yourself back to sleep? If you can not go back to sleep, what productive or positive thing can you do to make yourself feel better? How does the lack of sleep affect your stress level? How is this affecting your life and those around you?
This is a very personal disorder in that what works for one person may not work for another. One strategy might not be as helpful to you as it is to another person. This is why it is important to evaluate what is happening to you, evaluate your responses, and develop what works for you. The bottom line is that you have to design your own strategies and skills in order to deal with this disorder. Coping with PTSD means that we adapt to a new life that is tailor made for us.
Coping with PTSD means that we learn new skills, even if we have to invent them for ourselves. The events that led to this disorder have changed our lives forever and the only way to alleviate symptoms is to take a personal approach in order to learn what is helpful to us. Yes, there are common strategies just as there are common symptoms, but you can not take a one size fits all approach to this disorder. Coping means that we learn to adapt, to minimize, and to eventually overcome that which negatively impacts our lives and those around us.
Erin Harrington, BHSM,MSP. I have worked in the field of mental health for many years. In addition to being a sufferer of PTSD, I specialize in helping those who also have this disorder as well as the people that love them. Want to know how to manage and minimize the symptoms of PTSD and regain control of your life once again? Are you looking to help someone that you love through Post Traumatic Stress and have the best possible relationship with them? Visit my website below to read a free sample.
http://www.eclecticerin.com
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