yes out of water ,,, not teaching music wow glad you are here good work

Yes, I did this with my mom, dad, cousin and therapist about a year and a half ago. I went back to the house that I was assaulted in and tho I didn't go into the house I went to the wall that I had jumped over to get away from the man that had attacked me. After spending 7 1/2 hours fighting to get away from him he left me in the hallway and went into the bathroom and shut the door. I got up and ran out the back door into the yard. He came out looking for me and when he went out the front gate I jumped over the wall. I was having horrid nightmares about jumping over the wall into his arms so my mom came up with this idea to have me jump over the wall again and this time land in my cousins arms. He is 5'10" and a good 230 lbs of muscle and he's also my best friend and I feel completely safe with him. It worked wonders because after that the nightmare changed and after a while it went away. In fact the last time I saw him in my dreams I had jumped over the wall and my cousin and I were standing there together and then he jumped over after me. He was completely naked and my cousin and I started laughing at how tiny his pecker was lol I haven't seen him in my dreams since. For that I'm grateful! My mom wants me to get over my fear of Santa Claus enough to go to the mall and sit on his lap. So far I haven't been able to do that. The man that attacked me use to play Santa for the neighborhood kids so Santa is now a trigger so you can imagine how rough December is!! She wants to try exposure therapy for that as well and see if the outcome is the same. Yeah... I don't know about that!

Good for you Precious, good for you both.

In general therapy has always been problematic for me. Either more sh*t happening in my life didn't allow it, or I didn't get along with the therapist (apparently I am extremely picky when it comes to this). The few times I did have more than one session with the same person it didn't help at all and I stopped going soon after (I think 6 sessions with the same therapist is my record).

What I did do (which is in retrospect maybe not the smartest idea I've ever had) is some self-imposed exposure therapy. No guidance, no professional advice, no friend or family member to watch out for me, I didn't trust anyone, so I did it completely alone. Yeah, surprisingly, this went kinda pear shaped.

I took a notebook with me and deliberately exposed myself to any trigger I could think or and took notes of the effects (as soon as I was in any state to do so). Afterwards I had nightmares for three weeks straight, slipped into dissociation for two, had aggravated PTSD symptoms in general for a few months and I dislocated my wrist during a flashback. Everything went back to normal after these months, no better and no worse than before, but at least now I have an accurate account of the effects of each trigger. Meh.

I'm glad it helped you. I might try it one day when I have the time. With professional help this time ;)

I have tried it. I go by tiny tiny doses of exposure. I wait until I am confident before "adding" any exposure. It's hard to do for me on a lot of levels, but in general, I can see it's been good for me4. It's added confidence overall in my dealings with the world.

That said, my therapist allows me to set the pace most of ht etime, and makes sure I don't get stressed out and push too hard when it's really something *else* bothering me.

I'd say it's like any therapy technique or method. Trial, error, caution. Keep us posted, okay? ANd nice to see you again!

been trying it to overcome phobias i hope i succeed affraid of docs and dentists OMG

I gave exposure therapy two tries.

The first one was a failure, I ended up having ER help. It was too soon, I hadn't laid the ground work with my therapist and support group, I was going it alone too much.

The second time was a success, because I did all the things I hadn't done the first time. Prep with my therapist, have a support group in place, etc.

It really changed my life for the better. So that was the lesson I learned for me: it's great when you're ready, and it's about healing not heroics.

Since I made it through exposure therapy the second time I've gone back and done it again every year with direct support from here at DS PTSD every time. It's really helped.

I've had some exposure therapy and it changed my life for the better. I had to start out small and gradually work my way up to exposing myself to bigger triggers. I recently tried to face my biggest trigger by travelling to the city where I had my trauma but it didn't work out as planned because I had a poor support system that was causing more stress for me instead of giving me support. But the benefits from that try at exposure therapy were good because I stopped having nightmares altogether and I am so thankful for that. I also view the city in a more positive light and I can name more positive things about the city. It seems less scary now.

As I'm healing (even though I'm not fully healed yet, I have made a lot of progress), I find that it's hard to find my place in life. I feel like my trauma completely destroyed my self-esteem and self-confidence. I'm currently struggling a lot with trying to find my place in life. I still have trouble trying to adjust to life in general after this too.