June 19, 2020 · 5:30 AM
↓ Jump to Comments

Anxiety With C-PTSD

19 Comments

Filed under Abuse and the Healing Journey, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mental Health, Narcissism

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

19 responses to “Anxiety With C-PTSD”

  1. dougrross
    June 19, 2020 at 9:16 AM

    I appreciate that you referred to the C-PTSD flashbacks as “anxiety”. I also follow another YouTuber who offers a variety of exercises to identify the emotions and then take “Action Steps” based on the emotions being presented. The goal of all the “Action Steps” is to do things that you think will keep you safe. Your brief summary where you essentially say, “is this emotion real or a flashback” to be much more simple and to the point.

    My “takeaway” from this is to let the Anxiety come up either way and then ask myself if there are real-life, adult action steps that I can take to relieve this anxiety. If there aren’t, then accept that it’s an emotional flashback, assure myself I am safe now, and go about my routine

    Like

    Reply
    • CynthiaBaileyRug
      June 19, 2020 at 9:39 AM

      I really believe you have to keep things as simple as possible, especially when it comes to dealing with the big stuff like flashbacks. It’s hard enough to deal with some things, so the less steps to healing the better.

      Good takeaway! That’s what I was aiming for!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • dougrross
        June 19, 2020 at 9:52 AM

        Glad you liked it! So much “self-help” offers so many steps, and if you don’t do them all perfectly, then the “blame” is on you. When in reality, we aren’t the problem.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        • CynthiaBaileyRug
          June 19, 2020 at 10:21 AM

          Got that right! It’s ridiculous! Healing is hard enough.. it requires as much simplicity as possible & no blame.

          You reminded me. I saw this thing a while back that’s supposed to help people calm from panic attacks. It was a list of things to do that engage each of your senses. Each sense had several things to do. I thought there is NO way on God’s green earth I could do this! How could you remember all those things in the midst of a panic attack?! Remembering to breathe is hard enough during a panic attack, let alone doing several things that engage each sense that is suddenly on high alert. Just made no sense to me at all.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
          • dougrross
            June 19, 2020 at 10:32 AM

            I will admit Richard Grannon is the YouTuber I was referencing. He recommends an exercise that you do 5 times a day where you touch your fingers. He recommended setting alarms on your phone to do them. But I found the alarms so startling, and a reminder of “one more” thing I ‘NEEDED” to do, I just had to give up.

            Like

            Reply
      • dougrross
        June 20, 2020 at 1:24 PM

        For what’s worth, this morning I woke with so much anxiety. I asked myself, is this anxiety for current, adult Doug?
        Or is it an emotional flashback?

        I realized it was a combination of both.

        I had watched episode 1 of “I Know This Much is True” before going to bed and realized my fear was having cancer like the mother in the show. I did not want to be a cancer victim like the mother in the show. If that happened to me, predatory family members would swoop in, pretend to care, pretend to change my diapers, etc. But really, they would be going through all my things looking for anything of value. I know this now. I did not a few years ago.

        Anyway, I sent a text to a trustworthy uncle who had gone through something similar with his mother. He called me back. I asked him questions, let him talk, and learned about the importance of the Will, Power of Attorneys, and especially Durable Power of Attorneys. Anyway, I have action steps for adult Doug that I want to take now. And, of course, I feel much better.

        My point here is that you were right Cynthia in encouraging us to not ignore anxiety. A year ago, I would I have pushed this morning anxiety down and “powered through” my day.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
  2. Maddie
    June 27, 2020 at 4:10 PM

    I really enjoyed reading this. As someone who suffers from ptsd, i really appreciate the bringing of awareness to the illness!

    Like

    Reply
  3. Maddie
    June 27, 2020 at 4:10 PM

    Please feel encouraged to check out my recent blog post regarding PTSD awareness day (today, June 27th) or just the overall PTSD awareness month of June! Thank you❤️

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Maddie Cancel reply