Self-Care for PTSD: How You Can Help Yourself

Anyone suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder knows how debilitating and uncomfortable it can be. While many people with PTSD require professional treatment, there is still a lot you can do on your own to mitigate your symptoms and move toward good mental health. It can’t hurt to give a few strategies a try.

These strategies can help you heal your PTSD:

1. Engage your creative mind. Studies have shown that engaging in creative activities can help with PTSD. Using your brain to create something new is a powerful process that requires using your brain in unusual ways. This seems to be soothing to those with PTSD. Consider these ideas:

● Painting
● Drawing
● Sculpture
● Inventing
● Composing music
● Creative writing
● These are just a few examples.

2. Communicate your needs with your social circle. If you don’t like to be touched, let people know. That’s better than sitting home alone to ensure that no one touches you. If you want to avoid certain topics, let everyone around you know that

● Letting others know your limits will reduce your anxiety as well as that of everyone else in your social circle.

3. Relax your body regularly. A relaxed body will help your mind to relax, too. There are many ways to do this, such as self-hypnosis, progressive muscle relaxation, sauna, hot tub, and guided meditation. Experiment and find the most effective and convenient way to relax your body each day.

4. Consider acquiring a service animal. For some people, there’s nothing more relaxing than a dog or other type of animal. They don’t pity you, ask annoying questions, or judge you in any way. They just love you. Anyone, whether they have PTSD or not, could benefit from the right pet.

5. Meditate. Meditation is a powerful treatment for PTSD for several reasons: It teaches you how to focus, how your mind works, and allows you to explore thoughts and ideas in a controlled and distraction-free environment.

● Meditation requires practice, but it’s a very simple process. Like having a service animal, everyone benefits from meditation.

6. Be present. When dealing with a flashback or highly disturbing thoughts, stay present with your environment. Focus on where you are. What can you see? Hear? Smell? Feel? Keep your mind in the present moment.

● This is also a useful tool for staying focused. When your attention wanders, bring it back to your environment.

7. Avoid ruminating. Rumination is just a bad habit in general. Instead of sitting around thinking about the past, future, or other made up scenarios, get busy and do something instead.

● Get out of the house. Mop the kitchen. Mow the grass. Watch a movie. The activity doesn’t matter, as long as you keep your mind active and avoid thinking excessively.

8. Find the right therapist. Find a therapist that has a lot of experience in dealing with PTSD. It’s also important to find a therapist that you feel comfortable with. Some therapists might have the right skills and experience but be a poor fit.

● It might require interviewing a few therapists to find the right one for you. Many mental health professionals provide free consultations. Take advantage of them.

Posttraumatic stress disorder is a serious matter, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t steps you can take outside of a clinical setting to speed your healing. Meditation, taking part in creative activities, staying busy, and setting limits are just a few of the ways you can make life easier for yourself.

Get professional help, if necessary, but take responsibility to do what you can to help yourself.

The 10 Most Common Symptoms of PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder is found in people that have suffered a significant traumatic event in the past. This can range from childhood bullying, rape, child abuse, war, law enforcement, or any other terrifying or violent event. Everyone is unique in their ability to process and deal with trauma.

PTSD is a serious disorder that increases the likelihood of suicide or intentional self-harm. Over the course of a lifetime, the odds of suffering from PTSD are roughly 1 in 12. PTSD is quite common, but its severity can vary dramatically.

PTSD is a common and serious psychiatric condition with several common symptoms, such as:

1. Overly intense negative feelings associated with a past traumatic event. It’s natural to squirm a little bit when you relive bad experiences in your mind. However, we’re talking about something on a totally different level with PTSD.

● The negative feelings are very intense. This is the type of fear and discomfort that can alter your day to day life.

2. Nightmares of the traumatic event. Recurring nightmares are common in those with PTSD. Most often, the nightmares are about the traumatic event. But, the content of the dream can be unrelated to the original subject matter. These unrelated nightmares seem to be more common in children with PTSD.

3. Difficulty creating or maintaining relationships. Relationships can be especially challenging for those with PTSD. PTSD sufferers tend to keep their struggles to themselves, but their pain is often obvious to others. There is a disconnection from other people.

4. Flashbacks that feel like the event is happening all over again. Not everyone with PTSD has flashbacks, but they aren’t uncommon. Flashbacks have been described as a dream that happens while you’re awake. They can be extremely vivid and can even include olfactory and auditory hallucinations, too.

5. Persistent, negative thoughts about the world, other people, or yourself. Everyone has an off day now and then, but those with PTSD frequently have negative thoughts that invade every part of their life.

6. Lack of interest in normally pleasurable activities. For example, if you used to love to play golf, checkers, or watch romantic comedies, but you can’t enjoy them after suffering a traumatic event, you might have PTSD.

7. Hypervigilance. Imagine walking down a dark alley in a bad part of town, late at night. You’d be hypervigilant. That’s a normal reaction, but if you’re hypervigilant while watching TV on the couch in your own home, you might be dealing with PTSD.

8. Guilt or shame. PTSD sufferers often feel guilt or shame for surviving a traumatic event that left others dead or seriously hurt. Soldiers and law enforcement officers often feel guilt or shame for people they may have had to harm in the line of duty.

9. Self-destructive behavior. Substance abuse, self-harming, and other self-destructive behaviors occur with high frequency in those with PTSD. Reckless behavior can be a sign of PTSD.

10. Difficulty concentrating. As you can imagine, all of these symptoms can make concentration very challenging. PTSD sufferers often complain of issues with focus and concentration.

PTSD is a serious psychiatric condition with the potential to have serious consequences on one’s quality of life. It is a common condition that affects over 8% of the population over the course of a lifetime. PTSD can make it challenging to work, sleep, maintain a relationship, or to enjoy life. In serious cases, it can lead to suicide.

While PTSD is most commonly associated with soldiers, anyone can suffer from PTSD. Bullying experiences, abuse, and violence in general are a few of the other causes of PTSD. Anyone suffering from PTSD would be wise to seek professional help.

Learn more about your health online when you read the rest of our information here about: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD guide and also download the free health report available there!

Warren Tattersall has been a full time nutritional consultant for over 35 years and works with people all over the world to help them improve their health, increase their personal energy levels and to use supplements to assist with diet related health issues.

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