Experiencing trauma in your life can leave deep marks. It can feel like you never "get out" of that moment because you have to think back to it all the time. Then when you relive a traumatic moment in your mind, all the feelings of that moment come back in full force. This is very unpleasant and it can affect your life considerably.
Therefore, in this blog I will discuss what post-traumatic stress is and how it is treated, while also giving some practical tips.
Post-traumatic stress syndrome
When you experience something bad, such as an accident, assault, rape, assault or other trauma , it can cause a lot of stress at first. It is quite normal to suffer from stress and panic and other reactions for a while after a traumatic moment.
For most people, these symptoms and reactions go away over time, but for some people, symptoms continue to recur.
Generally, symptoms of post-traumatic stress begin early after the incident, usually within three months. In some cases, PTSD may also emerge years later.
Post-traumatic stress, then, is not something that is always chronic. Circumstances in life can trigger PTSD, such as the death of a loved one.
PTSD is fortunately something you can recover from. Some people suffer from PTSD for a month while others walk around with it for 6 months. You speak of PTSD when reactions to the trauma affect your daily life and prevent you from engaging in normal activities, such as work(1).
Be sure to listen to this podcast as well:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/195236/1373212-ptss-genezen-kan-dat-wel-en-zo-ja-hoe-dan
Post-traumatic stress symptoms
There are a number of symptoms typically associated with PTSD, namely:
Reliving the trauma
Reliving the trauma can happen in several ways. For example, you may have dreams about the event.
In addition, you can have flashbacks. You then remember the incident and also get the same physical reactions as during the trauma, such as sweating, trembling or panic.
A smaller, but equally annoying complaint, is having anxious thoughts. What if it happens again? Might this man be dangerous to me? Can I get out of this restaurant in case of an emergency?
Avoiding places and things
You stay away from the place of trauma or what reminds you of the event. For example, you may choose not to drive after a car accident .
In addition, you can also avoid thoughts and feelings about the event. For example, if you are thinking about driving, you can try to interrupt that train of thought.
Reaction and tension symptoms
Trauma has a tremendous impact on your emotions and, as a result, you also get all kinds of reactions, such as feeling tense. This may also cause you to startle faster than normal.
In addition, you may suffer from insomnia and anger issues.
Influence on thoughts and emotions
These tension and reaction symptoms also affect the way you think and the emotions you feel. For example, your memory of exactly what happened during the traumatic event may be poor, especially for the most important moments.
People who have been in a car accident often do not remember the accident itself and have a minor blackout.
In addition, you may think more negatively about yourself or, on the contrary, about the world. You may also suffer from feelings of guilt or, on the contrary, start blaming everyone for the incident.
The impact of PTSD on thoughts and emotions can cause you to feel less connected than previously with friends and family.
Reducing post-traumatic stress with hypnosis
Research shows that hypnosis can help treat acute post-traumatic stress. Thus, if symptoms flare up early, hypnosis can help cope.
The study, conducted in 2005, included people who had been victims of physical and sexual abuse and suffered from PTSD as a result(2).
Hypnosis was a way to reinforce the cognitive behavioral therapy people were receiving. A total of three groups were studied. The first group received only verbal help, the second group received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and the third group received CBT with hypnosis.
This means that the CBT exercises were performed while the subjects were under hypnosis.
3 exercises to make PTSD less bad
In the study, these exercises were conducted under the guidance of a psychologist or hypnotherapist.
Exposure
If there are situations that are now causing anxiety, confronting that situation can cause you to gradually return to normalcy. It then goes, for example, that you dare to go out on the road again after a car accident, dare to go out again after being drugged, or can revisit other situations you avoid because of stress.
In the process, it is also a way to be able to recall the trauma without getting upset. This is done very gradually so that you can slowly but surely remember the traumatic moment in a normal way without breaking out in a sweat.
It then becomes something that happened once, rather than something you can't let go of.
Cognitive restructuring
The symptom that you can get all kinds of automatic anxious thoughts is addressed by cognitive restructuring. For example, you can be given homework to write down automatic disturbing thoughts and also what emotion you are having at that moment.
This identifies thoughts after which your therapist can help you more quickly place those thoughts so they are less likely to resurface.
This is done, for example, by engaging in Socratic conversations, naming the probability of something happening again and evidence-based thinking.
By performing these exercises, which were performed in the study, under hypnosis, you have the greatest chance of reducing symptoms. In the study, the differences were significant after only 2 months.
Tips for dealing with post-traumatic stress
If you suffer from post-traumatic stress, it is important to seek help. PTSD is a problem that affects more people who have experienced something terrible. You are really not alone and there are many people ready to help you process the trauma to get your life back on track.
Tip 1: Use mindfulness
Mindfulness can be incredibly helpful if you suffer from flashbacks or unpleasant thoughts. Mindfulness keeps your attention in the here and now. You therefore realize more quickly that you are not back in the unpleasant situation and that a panic attack is actually unnecessary.
In addition, mindfulness helps you to be mindful of your thoughts. Unpleasant thoughts you recognize more quickly and can therefore view them with more distance. The identification with that thought therefore becomes less strong, allowing you to react less emotionally to a thought(3).
Tip 2: Move
Exercising makes your body produce endorphins that make you feel better. In addition, exercise also makes you more aware of your body which helps your nerves release the feeling of tension.
Movement involving the use of the arms and legs is especially helpful to combat the tension you may have due to PTSD. For example, consider swimming, dancing or walking.
Mindfulness walking can also help well.
During movement, you focus on how it feels to make the movement. For example, you feel your arm moving while swimming and how different it is when your arm moves through the water or just out of the water. Similarly, you can feel this when walking, dancing or running.
Sports that require you to pay attention, such as kickboxing or wall climbing also help, because if you don't pay attention then things go wrong. As a result, you force yourself to live in the here and now(4).
Tip 3: Connect with others
Perhaps you find it very difficult to socialize and talk to people. Nevertheless, we are social animals and, in the long run, we enjoy having other people around us. By meeting up with people with whom you feel safe and loved after a traumatic event, you help your nerves return to normal faster.
To make such an appointment go more smoothly, you can do some exercise first. For example, you can do some stretching exercises or some pushups to reduce tension in your body.
You can promote talking by doing some vocal exercises beforehand. This may sound very crazy, but this works to mentally open you up to social activities. Talent is not required.
You simply sit down and make a "hmmm" sound. You can do this at different pitches until you find one that makes you feel warm and comfortable.
If you find that you want to connect more with other people and regain a sense of power over your own life, helping other people who have experienced a similar problem can help you. This makes you feel useful and also helps you see that you have power over your own life.
If you want to learn more about the benefits of hypnosis and other mental techniques, such as mindfulness, check out the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' courses or come to a seminar.
Sources:
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/73/2/334/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jclp.20853/full
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/post-traumatic-stress-disorder.htm
