41–50 of 97 posts
You need to: 1) Figure out the type of person who caused the trauma 2) Learn their psychology/world view (there are books on abusive personalities) 3) Learn to recognise them quickly 4) Have a plan to deal with them 5) Profit (you'll always have the upper hand) By doing this you take away their ability to do anything. For some types this riles them up, which can be advantageous in eliminating the threat but also dang…
I had one that was a huge waste of time and money for about 3 months and wrote the whole thing off
I started up again a few months ago with a therapist that specializes more in trauma/family issues and it’s been invaluable
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m in the exact position as the OP. In fact this feels like a description of myself. I could barely achieve the simplest of tasks, so I quit my job. I just did nothing at home for a bit, now I’m backpacking. It’s been 2 months and so far my mental health hasn’t improved one bit. I still feel like my brain is trapped in mud; anything that requires minimum mental effort takes an insurmountable amount of energy. I’m no…
I was in a similar position to you a couple of years ago. Burned out and quit my job, burned through my savings instead. After two months I felt no improvement and was beating myself up for being a failure, but after ten months I felt oddly re-energised, and ready to resume working. I don't know what changed, I think it was just time taken to recover my mind. I wish you the best, it's a difficult state of mind to be…
I am not a doctor. The biggest thing for me in the last couple of years has been physical health. Exercise, eating correctly, and proper sleep have resulted in a huge improvement in my mental acuity, and relieved a sense of I had of "I'm not operating at my actual capacity." This advice can feel trite, or it can feel overwhelming. Changing physical habits when you're already depressed is a huge undertaking, and I don…
Agreed on mind and body as one. I'm working to address physical health, but it often feels my brain has been irreparably damaged over the course of 2 decades to where no amount of physical health will rewire the necessary circuits to achieve normal function.
Navigating the balance between self improvement, and being okay with the idea you may never improve to the point you want is hard. I know as much as I wish I could run a 5 minute mile, I was incredibly sedentary in my teens and 20's. It bothers me that I may never become "elite" in fitness because of my past, and that's just a fundamental barrier for me now.
My current thought is trying to find my personal worth in the journey of attempting self improvement, and not having an absolute goal of "I must be this smart" or "I must be this fit" to consider myself valuable. That mindset is easier said than done, though.
I am not a doctor. The biggest thing for me in the last couple of years has been physical health. Exercise, eating correctly, and proper sleep have resulted in a huge improvement in my mental acuity, and relieved a sense of I had of "I'm not operating at my actual capacity." This advice can feel trite, or it can feel overwhelming. Changing physical habits when you're already depressed is a huge undertaking, and I don…
Agreed on mind and body as one. I'm working to address physical health, but it often feels my brain has been irreparably damaged over the course of 2 decades to where no amount of physical health will rewire the necessary circuits to achieve normal function.
Is it possible that these negative thought patterns are holding you back? Awhile back, I became aware of some irrational negative thought patterns I had myself, and worked on reframing them, and it helped immensely w/ confidence.
Here's a random link on the general idea (can't vouch for all the content, but it captures the idea of this pattern): https://positivepsychology.com/cbt-cognitive-restructuring-c...
After reading that material, I sought out a neurofeedback practitioner who works in the style that Fisher and van der Kolk recommend. I've found it helpful and recommended it to family and friends. Several have reported cognitive improvement, including one who said that her "brain fog" was gone.
I've looked into the research literature on neurofeedback and it's unfortunately rather poor, but there are some interesting recent results in the work of Ruth Lanius. My own feeling, FWIW, is that neurofeedback+psychotherapy is able to reach levels of the nervous system that talk therapies alone cannot, because many effects of trauma are encoded in nonverbal parts of the brain.
There are many products out there that use the name "neurofeedback", but if you contact the company the makes the system that Sebern Fisher works with, they will send you a list of practitioners in your area. The recommended approach is to find a psychotherapist who incorporates neurofeedback into their practice. There aren't many of those, but there are some, and in my experience it makes a big difference, so big that it becomes a puzzle why this practice is still so little known.
Whatever you end up trying, please don't give up. It can take a long while to find something that works for you. My experience was that most therapies I tried just didn't go deep enough, and my problems would "snap back" into place no matter what happened in the sessions. It was frustrating. What's different about neurofeedback, in my experience, is that it's able to "talk" directly to the brain in a way that is uncorrelated with the rest of what therapists do. I'm not saying it's for everybody, but it's worth a try if nothing else has helped.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed on mind and body as one. I'm working to address physical health, but it often feels my brain has been irreparably damaged over the course of 2 decades to where no amount of physical health will rewire the necessary circuits to achieve normal function.
This is not meant as a criticism, hopefully more of an inquiry if you so choose. Is it possible that your 'feeling' of your brain being irreparably damaged is actually factually incorrect? And that your assumptions/model of the plasticity of the brain may be wrong and skew a bit negative? Is it possible that these negative thought patterns are holding you back? Awhile back, I became aware of some irrational negative…
I am not a doctor. The biggest thing for me in the last couple of years has been physical health. Exercise, eating correctly, and proper sleep have resulted in a huge improvement in my mental acuity, and relieved a sense of I had of "I'm not operating at my actual capacity." This advice can feel trite, or it can feel overwhelming. Changing physical habits when you're already depressed is a huge undertaking, and I don…
Another way to put it is laying around on the coach, eating and sleeping a lot will not make you feel more energized even though you filled up your tank
This is a terrible place to ask. Seek more professionals. If the currents ones haven't helped you find different ones. No one here has enough context about your life to know what you need. Most people here don't have the expertise you need, no matter how confident they are otherwise. Already 15 comments in, I'm seeing terrible advice. Good luck and I wish you the best.
You could find a good psychiatrist or psyschologist who helps you out. You could find a terrible one who makes things worse or get's you hooked on some drug you majorly regret.
Get advice from anyone who you think has something worthwhile to say and ignore this.
I am not a doctor. The biggest thing for me in the last couple of years has been physical health. Exercise, eating correctly, and proper sleep have resulted in a huge improvement in my mental acuity, and relieved a sense of I had of "I'm not operating at my actual capacity." This advice can feel trite, or it can feel overwhelming. Changing physical habits when you're already depressed is a huge undertaking, and I don…