Time for a New Year: Healing from PTSD

A New Year is coming fast, and maybe you are thinking that this is the year to get help for your PTSD. Awesome! Let's talk about how to get help.

It's likely that you've received lots of unsolicited advice on how to best handle your PTSD symptoms, and it's possible that this advice was not completely helpful. Most people aren't being malicious when they say, "you just need to PT more" or "just cut out gluten" to fix your PTSD, but often this is one person's opinion or personal experience rather than a no-kidding solution based in sound science.

Blogs and books? Those are often opinions, too. According to Norcorss et al. (2013) self-help books appear at a rate of 5,000 per year, and 95% of them are published without any research documenting their effectiveness. So how do we know what is based in science and what is a gift from the Good Idea Fairy?

Enter: Evidence Based Treatments.

Evidence-based treatments (EBTs) are based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence. This means that researchers have conducted rigorous studies using scientific methods, documented their extensive research in peer-reviewed publications (such as medical journals), and then other researchers conduct additional scientific studies to see if the treatment is, in fact, successful.

There are three EBTs approved by the VA for treatment of PTSD at this time: Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) - and the data are clear: they work. There are other EBTs for PTSD, but, because these three are supported by the VA, they tend to be widely available. Moreover, the data indicate that they work for the long-haul.

While PTing more and eating better is always a good idea, when it comes to beating your PTSD symptoms, EBTs are proven to work and they do so in about 12 sessions.

Don't give up - get smart. You know you better than any treatment team and you deserve your breakthrough. Start your research journey and ask your treatment team for smart solutions. We can find an EBT provider through the Strong Star Provider Network at University of Texas Health Science Center or even through Psychology Today or Google.

Have you tried an EBT? What worked for you? We value your feedback and ideas! Reach out on our Community Facebook Page!

*****

“If you believe change is possible, you want to change, and you are willing to do the work, you absolutely CAN get your life back.”

Get your copy of The Soldier's Guide to PTSD, The Soldier's Workbook, 

or Acknowledge & Heal, A Women's-Focused Guide to PTSD

The Annual Boundaries Pep Talk: Because Homicide is Illegal

Okay, Team - here we go! It's our annual boundaries pep talk (because homicide is illegal). To keep us from acting our our murderous fantasies, let's get back to square one:

Toxic relationships feel awful and boundaries protect us. Good boundaries let the people around us know how we define what is acceptable or unacceptable. For people who have been through traumatic experiences, however, this task is a tough one. Experiencing trauma makes us feel unsafe, and can challenge our sense of self-worth, and lead us back to placating or maladaptive tendencies to avoid conflict. 

Healthy boundaries are the ultimate form of self-respect. They say to us and the world, “I deserve to be honored, respected, and valued.” Boundaries denote confidence. Since confidence is often one of the casualties of PTSD, we have to relearn (or maybe learn for the first time) how to make a healthy, reasonable boundary, how to maintain it, and what to do if someone chooses to ignore it. 

Making healthy boundaries seems like it should be easy and intuitive, but it definitely is not. Let’s start here:

Ground Rules

1. Healthy boundaries make healthy relationships.

There is no such thing as a healthy relationship without boundaries, whether it is a marriage relationship, a friend, colleagues, or the relationship you have with your children. Healthy boundaries say, “I deserve to be honored, respected, and valued” and this is important for any healthy interpersonal relationship. 

      2. People do not know our boundaries unless we state them clearly and succinctly.

Yes, in a perfect world, people “should” know how to act, but suffice it to say that not everyone is great at adulting. Some people do not know that racist comments are not okay. Some people do not understand that unsolicited touching is creepy. Let’s not waste time getting mad about what “should be.” Instead, let’s remember that half the people we meet are below average and common sense is not common. Boundaries are not intuitive. We must state our boundaries clearly and concisely - out loud - to other people.

3. Reasonable people respect reasonable boundaries.

The inherent problem with this is that not all people are reasonable. Sad news of the day: the world is full of psychopaths and assholes. When people choose to ignore reasonable boundaries, they are sometimes the former and usually the latter. The problem is not our boundary, it is their choice. 

      4. Our boundaries, their choice.

We create healthy boundaries, and we have absolutely no control over other people or how they act. When we state our healthy boundaries - out loud - clearly and concisely, other people then choose whether they want to respect our boundaries or not. 

*****

“If you believe change is possible, you want to change, and you are willing to do the work, you absolutely CAN get your life back.”

Get Your Copy of The Soldier's Guide to PTSD, The Soldier's PTSD Workbook, 

or pre-order Acknowledge and Heal: A Women-Focused Guide To Understanding PTSD