20 years ago, repression was the ruler of PTSD, in both the dominant culture and in the living rooms of the nation. Now the lid is off and the victims who suffer from a cluster of symptoms that have been with us since the Pelopenisian Wars are accepted in polite company and afforded any number of avenues for validation of their experiences without the stigma and the support of peers without shame.
Imagine what life on the home-front would, or could have been like after WWI, WWll Korea, and Vietnam, had we known what Dad was going through in his private moments.
Agree or not with the modalities of treatment and the paths to healing for PTSD for both the vast array of the origins of PTSD, like Michele, or the more commonly known symptoms where war is the genesis, the very fact that the dialogue is open and ongoing and the door is open to talk, will make us a more caring, and therefore and stronger people.
God bless you Michele for stepping up to speak to the masses about ways to heal of this most intractable and often resistant syndrome. Carry on!
Virtual PTSD Support Groups: 5 Reasons to Reach Out
When I was clawing my way out of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) darkness I didn’t have the first clue about how to organize my recovery experience. Thoughts scattered in every direction at once – and no good direction more than once. Emotions whirled like an unhinged compass so that I reeled from one experience to another without control. My body, overwhelmed by the stress, crumpled in ways that stumped the medical community and left me jobless, unable to participate in the functional world.
Alone in my pain, without guidance to find healing, and completely debilitated by PTSD symptoms I spent an enormous amount of time drifting deeper and deeper into posttraumatic stress. I didn’t have the energy or the desire to reach out for help. Plus, I was convinced: 1) no one would understand, 2) my PTSD experience was worse than anyone else’s, and 3) no one would be able to help alleviate the state in which I existed. All of these thoughts, while real in the moment, were completely false. It would have helped me to have been able to talk with others survivors so that I could learn from those who were walking the PTSD treatment and recovery journey beside me, and even, ahead of me.
Despite the difficulties, I did eventually find my healing path. The years of work included more than one therapist and ten PTSD treatment modalities. Now that I’m 100% free of PTSD symptoms, however, I look back and see that there are benefits to engaging in a positive and nurturing PTSD support group that could have helped ease my solitary struggle and would have definitely helped my family understand how to help me. For example:
1 – Connection. No one heals in isolation, we heal in community. Being able to talk to other survivors and learn of how ‘normal’ the PTSD experience is relieves the stress of feeling alone. Plus, since similar PTSD symptoms are experienced by all trauma survivors, regardless of the trauma itself, there’s a lot to be learned from how each other handles them.
2 – Support. When we feel lost it helps to have someone reach out a hand. PTSD symptoms can be so overwhelming it’s easy to get lost in them. Having a network of compassionate, empathetic and understanding people helps build a sense of meaning that can offer guidance, tips and a safety net when the going gets particularly tough.
3 – Innovation. Stabilization through management techniques and coping skills. There are so many different ways to cope, manage and strategize the daily PTSD symptoms experience. Alone our creativity and education have limits; together the power of one transforms into many ideas for how to get through every moment.
4 – Empowerment. Becoming more assertive, organized and focused. It’s easy and completely natural to become lost, despondent and feeling increasingly helpless and powerless in the midst of posttraumatic stress recovery. Being a part of a team of survivors dedicated to taking back their power helps build a framework that adds clarity and strength to the PTSD recovery process.
5 – Proaction. Identifying things to do that will progress recovery. PTSD recovery does not occur from sitting around and waiting for it. Changes come from doing the work. The benefits of having a group to check in with include keeping you accountable, on track and having people to troubleshoot with when things don’t go as planned. Plus: having a resource group of others who have taken actions that might help you, too.
When I was in recovery I didn’t necessarily want to be required to show up anywhere outside of my house on any kind of consistent basis. There were days it was all I could do to move from bed to couch. I could have, though, committed to the type of meeting that didn’t require me to leave my house. The type of meeting, say, that all I had to do was dial the phone and listen in. So much time is lost in PTSD recovery because we don’t have the help we need. But when we do find it, so much change and relief can occur.
Michele Rosenthal is a PTSD Coach and the founder of www.healmyptsd.com. She launched the first Virtual PTSD Support Groups in February 2011. For more information and to join, visit http://healmyptsd.com/healing/support-groups.