Discussion Dealing with traumatic memories...

[sleepy dog]

seriously derailed the thread

 

[Ruffian]

Well that escalated quickly into irrelevance. I think we do need a cheers emoji for the entire thread.

 

[Sweet emotion]

I walked into a mental health clinic 16 years ago looking for help with many shocking and horrible memories coming to me one after another. I am still looking for help. There seems to be a myth of "THERAPY" created mostly by Hollywood. Think about it. Have you ever been told by somebody in your real life that they "got therapy" and really got helped a lot and don't have the same problem anymore? I haven't. I am 53 and have never heard anybody say that or anything similar. The mental health system just wants to put drugs in your body. I have come to believe there is no therapy to be had, it will never happen.

When I was 15 years old my OCD really got out of control to the point where it was interfering with my life. So I went to see a bunch if shrinks and therapists. After a while I finally landed on the right one! She helped me tremendously. And my problem went away. It took 2 years but we got there. With the combination I meds plus all the tools I was taught she helped me overcome my problem.

 

[Ruffian]

When I was 15 years old my OCD really got out of control to the point where it was interfering with my life. So I went to see a bunch if shrinks and therapists. After a while I finally landed on the right one! She helped me tremendously. And my problem went away. It took 2 years but we got there. With the combination I meds plus all the tools I was taught she helped me overcome my problem.

Yes,I have gotten a lot of help from my current therapist to get over the abuse of my former therapist. Unfortunately a lot of it has hurt and it's combined with the fact I haven't been the same since I got off Lithium. An estranged childhood friend once described me as a female Hunter S. Thompson. I get why he loved explosives, they were probably his therapy.

 

[GreyMonkey]

Finding a good therapist is rare but possible if you know what you are looking for.

Therapists with an understand of somatic therapies and complex trauma are the only ones that people on this forum should be seeing.

Modalities to look for are:
- NARM (neuro-affective relational model) a model that deals specifically with c-ptsd, shame, self-sabotage and basically what I believe to be the roots of all mental illness which is attachment trauma
- Somatic experiencing, generally more used in PTSD however asking the therapist if they understand complex trauma there will be ones who know how to work this way
- Hakomi, a presence based relational therapy with a rigorous training
- EMDR, unless your symptoms are acute specific PTSD I would only approach if they understand AF-EMDR, attachment focused. I found EMDR way too intense for my nervous system and it retraumatized me as my therapist processed much too hard for me to cope.

I went through 5 therapists before I found one I liked. A couple of them had me feel worse than not seeing them. One retraumatized me. And one was useless.

I found someone however who is amazing. They do exist but it takes effort to find them, and more than likely they have a private and non-government funded practice.

 

[Ruffian]

Thank you for the EMDR review, as I refused it during my recent treatment. I thought it sounded like some MK-Ultra shit. Plus just being in a trauma focused group pushed me way too over the edge. I had a spiritual trauma, the worst kind out of all my traumas that I had managed to regulate, and I would have preferred to not have met it head on again. I truly believe some stones need to remain unturned or brushed off a little before revisting them. I never thought to make a thread about it because I only know with certainty that 2 other people on the Earth went through it, and they both died by suicide.

 

[GreyMonkey]

Thank you for the EMDR review, as I refused it during my recent treatment. I thought it sounded like some MK-Ultra shit. Plus just being in a trauma focused group pushed me way too over the edge. I had a spiritual trauma, the worst kind out of all my traumas that I had managed to regulate, and I would have preferred to not have met it head on again. I truly believe some stones need to remain unturned or brushed off a little before revisting them. I never thought to make a thread about it because I only know with certainty that 2 other people on the Earth went through it, and they both died by suicide.

Yes. Big trauma needs to be approached very gently with skill and care.

EMDR is too brutal and impersonal for my liking.

Finding a therapist who works relationally and somatically is the best I think.

 

[Ruffian]

Yes. Big trauma needs to be approached very gently with skill and care.

EMDR is too brutal and impersonal for my liking.

Finding a therapist who works relationally and somatically is the best I think.

I have been up on night going back and forth from here to Netflix. A lot of life stress. I'm going to see what those therapies are. I really do work well with my current therapist.