Comparing normal anxiety to CPTSD

[Gromit]

https://themighty.com/2018/06/anxiety-from-complex-trauma/?utm_source=media_partner&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Upworthy&fbclid=IwAR1cuNlgzcK32EPNzG2G5r6x09857a93j3boaP6gd9LSnHDVIWCm-QSHDPc

Someone posted this to a group I am in on FB, I wish therapists could read it, my last one thought meditation and mindfulness would help but that was before I discovered CPTSD.

[LilyITV]

Very good article.  So the point I'm getting from this article is that for C-PTSD sufferers, therapists also need to address the past trauma in order for the patient to move forward. 

Before I discovered C-PTSD, I would do all kinds of self-help techniques to help with anxiety and it never really helped because I never connected my anxiety with what happened to me in my childhood. 

[woodsgnome]

It amazes me that trauma is apparently well down the list of what therapists are trained to deal with. I mean ... huh? Actually, having had some t's like that (NOT my current one, thankfully), maybe it doesn't so much surprise me as produce  wonder about what's going on that such intense personal trauma could be treated as if it's only a nuisance. Perhaps this relates to the one-size-fits-all attitude some t's seem to have as well.

Sometimes this does stem from the latest trends -- all is always only about now, and practicing mindfulness will always be the cure, we're often told in pop self-help talk. Actually I do that as well as other suggestions they pass on, and they're fine but limited per their effects on trauma. What they don't do with regard to cptsd is tackle the core problems, often buried deep within the psyche. Instead trauma is sometimes even turned back on the therapy client as if they've failed; blame the victim games are easier I guess. Mindfulness? I think that approach could use some heartfulness.

Thanks for posting this article, Gromit.

[Eyessoblue]

I read this too, my therapist who is trauma trained told me that herself and a group of trauma trained psychologists were invited to a mindfulness convention and all walked out of the event as they said that people who've suffered trauma can't be mindful it normally creates more anxiety because the traumatised person doesn't feel safe being safe in their mind as the mind is so mixed up, so to try and step away from it causes an unknown reaction in the brain causing panic and anxiety to arise. I also can't meditate and am unable to do yoga for the same reasons.

[Blueberry]

That's interesting, Eyessoblue. I even have trouble simply breathing to stay grounded or be mindful or whatever. Concentrating on breathing either brings memories back up or causes me to dissociate.

I can actually meditate and do some yoga but I know a lot of traumatised who can't. In inpatient T, I seemed to be a bit of an anomaly that way. otoh I can meditate and do yoga only because I can snap out of it in a twinkling if something's about to come up and derail me.

I've been in T for seemingly forever and it's pretty recent that my therapist who's trauma-informed is pointing the direction of mindfulness.

[achilles]

Thank you for this discussion.  I was wondering why meditation and breathing techniques only made me panic even worse.  Ironically my abuser tried to "help" me with being more "mindful," but in the end it just made me feel bullied and like a failure.  You can't slow your breathing and clear your mind if you don't feel safe.  It's actually quite terrifying.  But the fear I have isn't of some nebulous unknown thing, it's of something that did already happen and is happening again right now.  I'm living my own worst nightmare.