PTSD Coping Thread

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So this is a bit different from my usual rant in the haven, in fact if anyone cares and I am sure everyone does *sarcasm* I normally write a wall of text to post in the haven everyday but I don't because not only do I feel no one else cares, but I find I don't really care myself about my own emotions. I just bury them and move on.

Which leads me to this thread, simple and not a huge wall of text. Basically I want to hear what other people do to cope with PTSD if they are diagnosed or even if they just believe they have it. Similar to the above, just like my emotions, I normally bury flashbacks and painful memories in a deep dark corner and just move on but sometimes thats not enough in the heat of the moment.

In the heat of the moment, I punch things, I break things, I yell, scream and cry when I am by myself and a great coping skill though unhealthy is to grab an audio device and crank it to max with some extreme heavy metal and basically bust an eardrum. It causes my mind to go blank and I can reboot and then bury the emotions again.

What coping skills do our members with PTSD use?

Well, keep in mind that I've never been diagnosed with PTSD because I can't talk about it.

I cry.
I drink.
Then I cry and drink some more.

I'm not sure if you could call that coping but it's all I have.

I try to avoid 'triggers' but that's not always possible.

It's weird, because I suffered the trauma because I couldn't speak, and now I can't speak about it.

lol Raleigh, sounds like my coping.

Its pretty bad actually, I mean you guys have seen my posts in the haven before. Not only have I dealt with some real heavy stuff but I handle pretty poorly. I can think of several usernames here that I have pissed off because of my inability to function. Honestly the only reason I do injury myself is because of religion and my mom. I have no other reason to live, my social skills are horrible and I think anyone here can see that. I don't even want to be here but I am here because its my only social life. Hell most everyone ignores me but I am here because it gives me some sense of socializing. I am just so freaking broken and honestly I am tired of talking about it. If I wasn't Christian and if my mom wasn't alive, I don't know that I'd have a reason to live.

My life has been horrible and it still is in many ways. I cry myself to sleep every night knowing that no one outside of my mom will ever love me. My dad hates me, my brother hates me, my sister who is a child at the very least acts like she hates me.

damn... I went into rant mood...

None of that matters, I just need some coping skills when I bawling my eyes out.

Don't think about it.
That's best.
Give your mind a job.

Damn PTSD sucks if the only solution is to distract yourself because I try that everyday and it kinda works I guess but not really. Sometimes I feel I would be happy if someone loved me but if the aspergers wasn't enough to run everyone away, the PTSD is. Seems I am always acting like some type of idiot, everyone rejects me.

I feel rejected,

I am rejected from everything and everybody, christians hate me, stoners hate me, women hate me, wp members hate me, people on steam hate me, my family hates me. Hell even gay men hate me and I willing to go that way for some kind of affection even when I am not really that gay. There is nowhere I belong and I understand why, I am an idiot. I admit it, I am and everyone has a right to think I am trash.

I guess the only coping skill I need is isolation, remember the bubble we talked about? Yeah lets don't mess with what works.

I don't think the bubble could be classed as coping either.
If something's broken it needs to be properly fixed, no quick patch jobs like we've been doing. That doesn't really address the underlying problem.

I have no idea what treatments are used for PTSD besides medical marijuana??

No, dcj. You are not an idiot and nobody has the right to think you are trash. Knowing you only from your posts, I respect and admire you. I'm sure I'm not the only one. While I don't suffer from PTSD, I understand from experience much of what you are feeling, especially from when I was your age. Always feel free to PM.

Funny you mention this with my track record lol

Seriously though, thats not always an option given its legal status. Furthermore, marijuana is not a cure all drug as much as it pains me to admit since I am the biggest pot head that every lived. For one, I maybe in withdraw which is extremely mild but some argue that it does actually exist. Google marijuana induced insomnia, basically like any drug, if you take a lot of it and stop, you might have a few side effects. So while its not hard core heroin withdraw, it is annoying, I haven't slept any tonight and I haven't had cannabis in two days so use your own judgment as to why this is the case. Some say you can stop and start with no side effects but if I have smoked everyday for months on in and then stop, I have sleep problems. The drug is not good or evil, it is a drug and it has pros and cons like any drug. I think that marijuana is great but it is more or less the same quick patch jobs you are referring to.

I think the underlying problem for me is that I never had anyone respect my boundaries as a child, I was hurt and so I had a poor understanding of boundaries to begin with. Now add autism to that on top of PTSD and I never really had a hope in hell of ever treating people right regardless of my intention so...

Yeah this a cheerful thread...

Last edited by dcj123 on 23 Jul 2016, 3:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks Redxk, I will PM but I think I am going to try and sleep so later. Goodnight and hopefully I can get some kind of sleep.

Trying this coping strategy now. My ears feel like they're gonna start bleeding soon. Feels good

Good morning,

I'd rather you not damage your hearing but yeah its pretty good.

I was diagnosed with PTSD by a psychiatrist and take pills for my nightmares. I have the most painful, violent nightmares anyone should have. I basically isolate from the world, not just because of the PTSD, but also the Asperger's and other things. Truthfully, I don't know why I'm still alive. I obviously don't fit in this world. It does help me to know that there are others like me out there, like you. I guess all we can do is draw strength from each other and hope for the best.

I feel that I fail to cope all that well with it. But what tends to happen is I try to avoid triggers and reminders, but if something does "take me back there" I will usually cry, get into sweat, I may get a full blown panic attack with racing heart, hyperventilation, etc.

If that happens what I do is I physically remove myself -- even if it's something on TV that triggered me, I get up and go to another room in addition to switching off the TV.

I find that physically moving my body up and out and into a different physical space can help to change something internally, put some psychological distance between myself and the emotions I've just had bubble up. Changing your physical stance, placement, location or posture can sometimes alter what's going on in your brain and mind and synapses.

If it's a nightmare, same thing, get out of bed and move to another place, remove yourself physically to change something even if you can't leave your brain behind.

So, I have to get up and walk around or move to another room. I will usually pace around trying to get control of my breathing if I'm having a panic attack. I try to pick up another activity or something else to focus on. This is where animals can help if you have a pet.

Not well at all. That is all I can say.

I hope you will do better.

My temptation is to walk headlong at each one of my triggers in turn, over and over and over, until they stop being triggers.

Because avoidance of my triggers means avoidance of personhood.

What am I really doing?? Resigning myself to non-personhood, taking more drugs, drinking more alcohol, finding out that I fantasize about psychedelic experiences because most hypnotics and hallucinogens are GABA agonists and a deficiency of naturally occurring GABA is probably why I got PTSD from Just Life in the first place. Having the occasional profound mystical experience that I can't share with anyone lest they think I'm hallucinating spontaneously, conclude I'm psychotic, and make the antipsychotics come back. Fantasizing about my personal Heaven more and more, and longing more and more to be there instead.