Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Support Group
Find support with others who have gone through a traumatic experience. Whether you have chronic or acute PTSD, we are here for you.
It's official: at the end of this month I'm going back to Uruguay to do some exposure therapy. My undergrad college roomie P is going with me! I had just come from high school in Uruguay's war to college with P when we met, so it means a lot.
I've made a dinner date for us in Uruguay with high school friend R. R wasn't molested by the pedophile son of a military adviser who preyed on 5 of us when we were elementary school kids. But R knows us all and is kind and empathetic. Since he stayed in Uruguay and the rest of us left, he let us know the pedophile went to prison for it and was killed there. We survivors hadn't been back in years, but that news, sordid and sad as it was, brought us back home with a sense of safety and closure, glad to be back there.
That will be therapeutic for me. So too, will be going back to the corner where I was car bombed, and then back to the spot where I was captured by a patrol and tortured on the mistaken assumption that I was a rebel militant. It's really good of my old US roomie to do this. I'll try to update from Uruguay here to DS PTSD like I did when I went for such good exposure therapy last year. I was alone then, this time I will have a witness, my roomie, which is such a blessing.
Judging by last year, t'll be hard, but it'll be good. I tried it and failed years ago--had to have emergency psychiatric attention and get out of the country. But judging from last year, I'm ready now. It does me a lot of good to face down my demons.
Has anyone else ever done exposure therapy?
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I've made a dinner date for us in Uruguay with high school friend R. R wasn't molested by the pedophile son of a military adviser who preyed on 5 of us when we were elementary school kids. But R knows us all and is kind and empathetic. Since he stayed in Uruguay and the rest of us left, he let us know the pedophile went to prison for it and was killed there. We survivors hadn't been back in years, but that news, sordid and sad as it was, brought us back home with a sense of safety and closure, glad to be back there.
That will be therapeutic for me. So too, will be going back to the corner where I was car bombed, and then back to the spot where I was captured by a patrol and tortured on the mistaken assumption that I was a rebel militant. It's really good of my old US roomie to do this. I'll try to update from Uruguay here to DS PTSD like I did when I went for such good exposure therapy last year. I was alone then, this time I will have a witness, my roomie, which is such a blessing.
Judging by last year, t'll be hard, but it'll be good. I tried it and failed years ago--had to have emergency psychiatric attention and get out of the country. But judging from last year, I'm ready now. It does me a lot of good to face down my demons.
Has anyone else ever done exposure therapy?
.
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I haven't written in my diary on my computer since May because I thought that my computer was dying. I got away from writing but my computer is hanging in there. I think that I will start writing in it again. It's so therapeutic.
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First, I hope everyone is doing well, and continuing to fight that good fight! Keep up the great work on yourselves; I'm rooting for all of you!So, I started doing therapy at the beginning of the year, when I was in my most depressed state, but with my therapist, I made big changes and steps in the right direction. But, over a month ago, she couldn't take my insurance anymore, and I had to stop...
Yea, you for going back for another round. Yea P for going with you. Great continuity!! I am thoroughly jealous!!!! I wanna see Uruguay!!!! Did you ever catch, "The Dancer Upstairs?" I don't know Uruguay history all that well, but I think it was set in Montevideo in the very upheavals that you lived through.
Yup, facing those demons can be the most liberating decision in life. Sometimes I even get to see a friend stepping out of those demonic shadows to ask, "What took you so long?"
We're working me toward exposure therapy, in other words.
I think you'll do wonderfully:-) It will be tough but you've got a friend with you, you've got friends there, and I think.... it'll be so freeing in the long run. And if you got internet, you got us for back-up:-)
like you, mine would involve a trip (about 24 hours in the air, in all), and i just don't have it in me.
i lose my mind on airplanes. last was 16+ hours vancouver-aucland, and my partner refused to fly back with me. she caught a later flight. hehehh. my vibes terrify everyone around me.
never mind touching down, feeling that air again, getting the old familiar rhythm. hmmm....not sure man. i'd rather just give india a try rather than go back to africa.
I got on google maps and looked up the street view stills of the house where the really horrible stuff happened.
The street was so narrow, the house so small.
There's a child's trampoline in the yard now and a small SUV out front.I hope the kid or kids who live there now are a lot happier than I was able to be in that place.
It could have been a really good place for me too...instead I died in there.
But... I am not crazy enough to travel to Russia.
Four semesters of school? Exposure to very touchy subjects... But even after a few meltdown in and out of class...I am still here!
Please do let us know how it goes.