Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Support Group

I agree and yet so much feels like unfinished business .... with a past that was so dam horrible it's hard to think tomorrow will be brighter, it's like I have a logic side that agrees with what you're saying totally, and yet there is a part of my heart that has so many scars I don't think I could take another .....

That is what I tried to do for years. With me the unsorted out stuff led to major depression,low self-esteem, a major breakdown and a generally poor life quality. It was not until I started to be counselled rather than drugged that I began to sort it all out and this at an advanced age. In my experience you can be got by all the buried stuff in nightmares and panic attacks etc. I would advise anyone to try person-centred counselling, where you set the agenda, as a good thing to do as a first step.

Girlie, you will remember in your own time and in your own manner. Don't let anyone tell you the best way for you to heal. Only you know the best way. You can put it all away for an hour or for a decade; it does not matter. ONLY you know what is best for you. I wish you peace

thank you death2me .... I wonder what your name means to you, to me it creates fear in my mind as I wonder what is death? ... I don't believe in death, love never dies ... sincere love lives on inside our hearts, I feel

Everyone has their own way of healing. Yet a time does come when we all need to face the pain of our past; buried pain doesn't go away -- it just festers until we deal with it.

I tried running from my past for years when I was younger. It eventually caught up with me. I had repressed the worst of what happened to me and those memories started returning in my late 20's and early 30's. I don't feel that I need to remember everything that happened -- I've remembered enuf to understand myself and my life better.

I have been doing a lot of reading on this lately.
I have blocked out portions of my childhood. I remember flashes of abuse but not many. Other experiences my sister has told me about and I have absolutely no recollection. I am on the other side, wanting to remember. Understandably, the details probably seem frightening to you.
They need to be processed and removed from your subconscious. That is the only way they leave. Otherwise it will create disharmony in your body with depression, anxiety, etc.
It is for you to decide when and if ever you want to process them. I had a wonderful therapist that helped me process my robbery/kidnapping. I too was initally terrified to sit with those horrible feelings. Processing the event was the only thing that removed my anxiety and severe PTSD symptoms.
It is your healing process and for you to dictate.
Hugs!

the one thing i have learnt over the past two years is that i just have to take it day by day, moment by moment. this cannot be rushed or forced, it has to came as you can cope with it. take a breath and think all i need to do is get through moment by moment and before you know it it will be day by day.

Tarns, here's a video you might enjoy ... yes, day by day .... does anyone remember Godspell? ..... the three things I pray ....

1http://youtube.com/watch?v=F0xzoE7Cu1U

I feel it's important to discuss the memories you DO remember. To process them so they can be stored in a different area of the brain so they stop popping up as nightmares/flashbacks/etc

I don't think it's important to go digging for memories. It's possible for new memories to surface while going through therapy...that's ok...take them and process them and store them away.

Not to say you will ever forget them, but they are stored away so hopefully they will stop causing you probs in day to day life...