Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Support Group

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Time2livelife
Time2livelife

i just wanted to post and see if anyone has any ideas that msy help me.


as some u know, i have aspergers as well as bpd, anxiety, ptsd and fibro. 


I need help with finding how to identify and express my feels when im in such stress as now. My cpn tries to help prompt me with how i maybe feeling or what might be stressing me so much but all that comes out my mouth is um i dont know. Unless im ok i cant understand my feelings very well.i dont know what word describes what feeling.i know im highly anxious my heart rate measured in at a dangerous rate today at the doctors.  The rest i dont know. I feel trapped maybe? And that i feel under pressure to please others. I dont know. I dont get others peoples responses to me and it makes me worse. 


I tried drawing my feelings but again i dont know was a response and just drew a standard sad face and that was it. 


I dont think a mind map would work.


any other ideas? My cpn sent me a mental health recovery star to do to focous me to aim on imroving certain areas of my life that helped a bit in terms of goals but not underdtanding my feelings and emotions.


thanks.

donnawanda
donnawanda
I have another friend with Aspergers. He writes long, long journals about whatever is on his mind or going on in his life. He says that by writing about stuff he actually finds out what he's feeling about stuff.
arfie
arfie
I would need to treat communicating and understanding like two distinctly different goals. For understanding, I second the notion of writing. Writing helps me nail vague concepts better than anything I know. Maybe take it a step further by carrying a pocket notebook to take notes on when certain things happen and the feelings that come up in response to the event.

For communicating. . . Ouch. . . Often, when pressed, I start stammering and stuttering like a jack hammer. I literally write better than I talk, in all of my languages. I have carried note cards with notes on them. E.g. "Sorry. Not talking so good right now. Get back with me tomorrow." I've done conversations on a note pad, as well.
Time2livelife
Time2livelife
But i dont know. What is on my mind. Its like my brains shut off from letting me know my thoughts and whats going on. Other than work, and having gone home over xmas i dont know theres much more. Im going bk home a night on wednesday i wonder if thats on my mind alot but i want to see my niece. My parents wouldnt understand if i got a hotel room.
skipmcnicoll
skipmcnicoll
there is a good website for ptsd. let me know if u want it
donnawanda
donnawanda
You are trying to know what's on your mind before writing, but I think the idea would be to just start writing and eventually you will find out what's on your mind. I used to do that as an exercise - write two pages a day no matter what, even if I didn't feel like I had anything to say. It was fascinating the stuff that used to come out when I did that.
arfie
arfie
When I set to stammering and/or stuttering, I feel something like a brain freeze with it. Nothing can pass through it. For all functional purposes, there really is nothing there. The harder I push, the bigger the freeze. The popular consensus is that it is dissociation, but it doesn't feel like what I call dissociation. It feels physical to me. It feels like my brain is frozen. Hence, the "brain freeze."

Dunno. I just the patient.
Time2livelife
Time2livelife
Thats what it feels like to me arfie. Feel like smacking my brain just to make it function
silverlight
silverlight
i as well encourage you to try to write....without putting pressure on yourself....as donna said,just try and let go and write...

also,do you find there is music that you tend to gravitate to when you are experiencing an emotion you cannot name,but the music tends to bring out in you?

i have found that to be the case for me,although i caution you to not get caught up in depressing music..as i'm sure you know,that can make things much worse.

much support to you.
arfie
arfie
Smacking my brain for it just gives me headaches and bruises on my forehead, Sarah. I think of it as kinda like a charlie horse. I gently massage and exercise it until the blood starts flowing again.

With my husband, I have a hand signal where I tap my cranium and then wave my hand to signal, "brain freeze." Be patient. Works in progress.
jewells1
jewells1
Sarah, sometimes drawing it out does not have to be a recognizable object. If I asked you to draw the movement of your anxiety with a charcoal, it may look like a large jagged black cloud, and rightly so. But then if there was just a bit in that cloud you could change and I gave you a tissue to use to soften some of the parts you felt you could make different. You would have something with a bit of the depth of your thought in it. Now to take some pastels in your hand and brush in areas that you would want in this that represent things for the future? A soft mint or pink for your niece and maybe a bit of gold for sunsets...slowly taking the control and filling over the dark jagged lines of things that you will no longer keep room for. Until you have a misty mix of what makes you feel, good, bad and shades of in between.

Hugs J.
jewells1
jewells1
ps., Yes I draw in therapy, my therapist knows but can't see the pictures....which means I have to explain to her. She is blind, so verbal communication is important.
Time2livelife
Time2livelife
Thanks everyone. I might try that jewells.
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