What type of therapy has been effective for you?

10mo

DBT - Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
CBT - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Trauma Focused Art Therapy
Standard Talk Therapy
Trauma Focused Music Therapy
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
skills program at local trauma ward including journaling skills designed for ppl w dissociative disorders from trauma, various self soothing skills, psycho-education aboit trauma & dissociation, grounding skills

10mo

Thanks for your response. I have been very curious about Ketamine Assisted Therapy.

Do you have any suggestions for resources about journaling? I haven't been able to find trauma specific resources on Google.

10mo

The Way of the Journal: A Journal Therapy Workbook for Healing was used in my program.

10mo

Awesome! thank you!

ElishaAlison

U R so much more thatn ur trauma ❤️

10mo

I just did standard talk therapy. It was the only thing available to me on Medicaid, and so I'm really thankful it worked well for me.

empriest95

10mo

EMDR saved my life. It’s not easy, but it’s the most effective for me.

BabiDino

10mo

I found EMDR to be so much more helpful than talk therapy. I made so much more progress in a sorter period of time.

10mo

Ketamine infusion therapy

ThxEmilysPerfect

10mo

DBT. I am actually going to go back into DBT Therapy and I am hoping it helps.

10mo

I’ve been doing CBT for about a year now. I’m also very analytical especially when it comes to the people around me and their behaviors/patterns. It wasn’t until i started CBT that i realized that awareness didn’t translate to self awareness. I’ve been focusing on understanding what I’m feeling because i wasn’t allowed to feel for so long. CBT has been great for me so far, but it does have its limitations.

edit-grammar

Maleficent_Story_156

10mo

What is taught in cbt? If open to sharing? Just started talk therapy but the therapist is talking general day to day not Sure if they go deep into childhood?

10mo

I’m not sure what other therapist do, but I started with just giving my therapist the rundown of my life for the first few session. Then we focused on viewing some of the lesser traumas. I tend to intellectualize my feelings, so actually feeling my feelings and figuring out why I was feeling that way has been a challenge. We then worked our way up to processing the more major life events and childhood traumas.

For the past few months we’ve added cognitive restructuring, changing the way I view myself and balancing my thoughts to not cause even more stress. Mindfulness has also been a focus through this entire process. Focusing on feeling my emotions and giving my body and mind space to let that play out. Mindfulness has helped me not go into fight or flight as often, and it lets me feel my feeling while i’m in the moment instead of trying to figure them out afterwards. Even when I do go into fight or flight, I’m able to use the tools I’ve developed to either get out of fight or flight, or to lessen the stress of being in that state.

As far as I know CBT therapists do go deep into childhood like mine does. If you just started they may be waiting until you develop more trust in the client/therapist relationship so that you feel more comfortable. I think I didn’t get into the really deep stuff until over 2 months in. If you’re looking to talk more about childhood and your therapist isn’t going there instinctively, tell them. They’re there to help, and it can’t hurt to just start the session by saying you want to talk about your past. I hope your healing journey is fulfilling and i wish you the best!

Maleficent_Story_156

10mo

This is is excellent. Yes its my fifth session. And ne does as you described. But still to go deep. Almost a month. I do the same he asks about my day, fears and shared i am having anxiety and an inner critical voice which is harsh and i need to feel Emotions as have been disassociated for so long. So observing my feelings is one and i get so stressed like there is a wall in my brain now like i cannot think beyond that and my head hurts if am unsafe or someone does something to me. It starts and a wall comes up. I don’t know what that is but you have something similar?

10mo

I was dissociating most of the time for about 4 year. i’m just recently back in my body with some rare episodes here and there. The progress of that won’t be linear and it will take time, but it will get better. The headaches could be your body telling you to back off a bit. Your body is very good at protecting you, that’s why dissociation happens in the first place. Take time for yourself and be mindful of your emotions, but don’t force yourself to feel too much too fast. Dissociation usually happens because there is something your brain can’t process, forcing yourself to feel it is just going to dig that hole deeper. I learned that the hard way.

I understand what you mean by the wall, i go through that too. That sounds like fight or flight. Everyone is different, so take this with a grain of salt. When I go into fight or flight I think about what triggered it and what small things can I do to help me feel safe again. For me lowering stimulus works. I go sit in a small space where there’s low light like my closet, or take a shower in the dark. Try different things when you’re in that mode and see what works for you. Also learning the science of fight of flight with cptsd was helpful for me, just understanding why it’s happening.

Whatever works for you doesn’t have to be a complete fix, just something go to let your body know it doesn’t have to be in that mode. Basically don’t fight it, work with it, and meet your body where it’s at.

Maleficent_Story_156

9mo

Thanks so much for putting the response and empathising with me. I am so glad things have been better for you 🤗

It is so much of the fear. What can i do to be less fearful? For example i am fearful of the team isolating me and they disrespect me and exclude me like they think i am inferior but i know i can work hard and smarter they might not like me but still i have no voice. I don’t know what to do feels powerless and disappointed and disgusted. I feel sad. I was told they are already disappointing me why not soeak up. But the thing is what do i speak? I feel i have never stood for myself in so long. How do i get around this? I am paralysed by fear.

9mo

I’m glad I’ve been able to help. For so long I felt that I had to go through what i was feeling alone. Now I try to help people the best I can so that they know, at the very least, they’re not alone in this. Seeking understanding in other people is not a weakness. The hardest thing anyone can do is admit they may not have all the answers.

Standing up for yourself is so fucking hard, especially when it’s something you haven’t done in a long time. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Obviously I don’t understand everything in your situation, but starting bit by bit might help. Pick a small thing once in a while and make your voice heard even if what you’re standing up for isn’t a big deal. It doesn’t have to be confrontational, just saying what you think. If it doesn’t go how you want, it’s another try and proof that you can do hard things. That’s strength.

It’s also important to understand that just because someone might not agree with what you say doesn’t mean they don’t agree with you as a person. Think of times when someone you know said something you disagree with. It could be an opinion on a movie, a joke you didn’t think was laugh out loud funny, etc. Small things don’t ruin perceptions, so if you’re worried about people thinking poorly of you start small.

There are always exception to everything, and with time it’s possible to see that not every small thing is going to wreck what people think of you. It takes time and consistent interactions to feel that. Hell I’m saying all of this and I don’t even feel it all the time. This shit’s hard, but you don’t have to fix everything all at once. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

If you’re already feeling that fear, standing up for yourself in small ways is just going to be a different type of fear. You can also try disagreeing with people who aren’t as intimidating. Get the practice and that gives you familiarity with disagreement so you can stand up for yourself in the important things.

Finally, don’t be hard on yourself if you can’t do any of this now. Healing is a marathon, not a sprint. A lot of the healing process you may understand, but not actually feel or act upon until you’re ready. Unfortunately there’s not much to do about that, but be gentle with yourself, and give yourself time.

edit: grammar

Springerella22

🍰

10mo

IFS

SufficientTill3399

10mo

TRE, Standard Talk Therapy (Best for building clarity despite time sink), Trauma Focused Art Therapy, and EMDR (but EMDR is a bit of a hit or miss). I will be trying hypnosis down the line.

_jamesbaxter

10mo

DBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART).

I’ve done others but those helped the most. DBT gave me the foundation to do the others, and ART obliterated my flashbacks aside from emotional flashbacks from early childhood. I hardly have flashbacks or nightmares from my sexual assault anymore and before ART it was daily.

East_Confection802

10mo

Trauma focused art

10mo

TRE

GloomyCloud1919

10mo

Talk Therapy

10mo

I had a therapist that specialized in CPTSD (though most of her therapy involved saying "I'm so sorry that happened to you.") When I asked her about EMDR, she said that only works for acute trauma (car accident, war, etc).

For folks that have used EMDR, did it help with childhood trauma (emotional neglect, physical abuse)? Or do you agree with my former therapist?

kittalyn

10mo

I did EMDR for childhood emotional abuse and feeling of worthlessness and it worked fairly well, I got to a place where I can talk about it and am doing talk therapy with a trauma informed therapist who specializes in cPTSD now.

It’s not only for acute trauma.

kimnxena

10mo

Yes I think that EMDR helped me with non acute trauma.

AngZeyeTee

10mo

I was in therapy several years ago and made significant progress using EMDR. I went back into therapy (same psychologist) last year and actually believe I’m truly recovering using EMDR along with IFS. I have a lifetime to go, but I can see a healthy future for myself for the first time.

I disagree with your former therapist’s opinion about EMDR (unless I’m misunderstanding, that is). We break up my abuse into individual episodes and do EMDR on each. Each event is, in fact, an acute trauma in my experience. My psychologist has advanced specialized training in EMDR and trauma, and he’s never once suggested I’m not a good candidate.

kittalyn

10mo

I found different things helped at different points in my recovery journey but the most helpful was CBT followed by EMDR and then talk therapy.

I had other talk therapists who weren’t great, including one who was terrible and said I was making it up, but my new one is fantastic. Also tried group therapy but it just helped manage the anxiety until I could afford 1:1 therapy again.

666nanna

10mo

Currently seeing a trauma therapist who uses brain spotting. It woke me up from my enmeshment and has helped me with regulation

Working_Ad_7790

10mo

Emdr I would caution about CBT. It can be helpful in very specific contexts but not helpful in others.

10mo

Nothing so far, even EMDR hasn’t really worked

User deleted comment

10mo

10mo

I mean the sad thing was it was a private therapist, but yeah I def agree on the NHS. How did you know I was from the uk?

10mo

Bad healthcare in the West = UK or US, pretty much. Especially mental. In France or Italy you'd get top quality healthcare.

10mo

Self / AI driven Internal Family Systems has been the best, by a huge margin and I credit it with big improvements in my mental well-being that I feel every day.

Talk therapy (i tried a person centred and a more somatic based counsellor) didn't do much for me and honestly I think I was just too broke for it to be a good thing to spend money on - I would have been better served to spend my limited money on better food, but maybe I was unlucky and didn't have the right therapists?

Some self directed CBT was somewhat useful. Self directed TRE didn't seem to do a lot for me.

10mo

You didn't ask but here's more about IFS and why I find it so useful.

I don't really trust anyone (especially with the contents of my internal world). I can do IFS on my own or with AI assisting and no other humans are involved.

Due to its nature, you build up an evolving picture of your internal system, it's like a story that builds over time. Unlike some practices which feel easy to 'lose progress' or like all they've done is waste time or you have nothing to show for it.

It's a simple model, but it has an amazing ability to explain a lot of otherwise baffling behaviours.

10mo

This is so cool. I wish there were more AI assisted types of therapy. Unfortunately it crashed a few questions in.

But I'm very excited about the concept given what you said -- not trusting other people (and having several shitty therapists) and also how financially inaccessible therapy is for many people.

10mo

The IFS bot is cool (Buddy) and the dev is actively working on improving it. I mainly use regular ChatGPT and 'prime it' to do an IFS session and it functions as a useful kinda helper. It's generally pretty useful and it's mostly obvious if it's misunderstood (unlike with human therapists (that I've experienced), who seem to find it impossible to let go of their perceptions).

I started out by reading and working through Self Therapy by Jay Earley - though it did feel a bit like I'd unleashed a bunch of demons at first 😅

9mo

Holy cow. AI assisted IFS is amazing. I'm so glad to have found that based on your suggestion!

9mo

Aw, that's put a smile on my face 🙂 Glad it's helpful!

gearoid6

7mo

Could you please be very specific about where I might start with AI assisted IFS therapy? Did you just go to chatgpt and say I want you to be my IFS therapist? Is there an application, is there a website? I’d like to try it, but I really need some very basic information to get started. Thanks.