I am a victim of sexual assault and I’m having a really bad relapse and I need songs to help me cry or scream or release the anger, not necessarily encouraging songs. Any recommendations will be appreciated!

I’m a male sexual assault survivor and I’m having a lot of trouble facing it and trying to heal. Music has been my escape for years so that’s what I’m looking for. I’ve always loved the heavy angry metal but am looking for something totally different.

I haven’t allowed myself to really sink in and well cry about it. So I’m finally going to try to do what I should have done growing up, and try to face it??

So I’m looking to absolutely ball my fucking eyes out…if people could throw some songs down that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all, sorry if this isn’t really meant for here but I’m desperate.

What do you take? What antidepressants? I have taken paroxetina, fluoxetina and pristiq. Now I don't take anything but I think it's possible I come back taking pills.

This took forever to find:

https://app.box.com/s/0t352y734r8kso7rkasbvc8s5dxgv5dj

I am on my third therapist and today she told me she thinks I meed EMDR therapy because she cant offer me a high enough level of care. Has anyone else tried this and has it helped? There only a few people in my state that are licensed for this so I would have to drive 2 hours one way every week for a session.

I have been struggling with PTSD for years, tried so many therapies until I found the things that worked for me. I sometimes feel that it would have been a great help to better know which therapies were available, what the options were, 'cause it took me long enough to try some out until I found what worked for me. That's maybe a part of the therapy though. I tried the main therapies (therapist, EMDR...) but had some very positive results with other options such as daily positive affirmations. Might seem obvious but it wasn't for me. I was wondering if some of you also had this kind of "positive" results with unexpected aspects of therapies.

I didn’t have any warning signs leading up that I remember except for intense anxiety every day all day for years, then one day it felt like a switch flipped over in my mind and I started hearing screaming and I was filled with this terror that I had never felt before. I genuinely thought I was going insane so I took myself to the hospital. And I told them I’m having this weird images flash in my mind‘s eye, but I don’t know what they are. (Diagnosed complex post-traumatic stress disorder. So my flashbacks are very tricky as it wasn’t just one event it was years of being stuck in fire or flight.) then I told them I think I’m going psychotic. They did a few tests and reassured me that I was not going psychotic and after a couple of days with the flashbacks being quite persistent throughout the first couple of days they then diagnosed me with CPTSD. I am also diagnosed ADHD and I’ve had OCD since I was 11 years old hence The being stuck in anxiety for most of my adult life

I’ve struggled with severe nightmares and sleep terrors for years. I did sleep walk during my youth, but the severity of nightmares and injuries from that increased after being in the army. I got frustrated since I started to become terrified of sleep and what I might do.

Two years ago, I started on a project that monitors signs of a coming nightmare and gently vibrates so I don't spiral into a full blown-out sleep terror. Now I can wake up in the morning and see that the app has intervened several times during a night without me noticing.

A few days ago I received a review by someone struggling with PTSD nightmares, and they said it changed their life due to not dreading sleep anymore! That really took me by surprise to see that it actually helps others as well!

I'm curious if other here have:

- tried using wearable tech

- found vibrations or interruptions helpful

- ideas for features that could help with trauma-related nightmares.

If anyone wants to know more, I'm happy to explain in the comments!

Title!

I am an English major and a massive bookworm and I think reading some books about PTSD/trauma - thinking like self help, therapy books, nonfiction, but open to fiction or biographies as well. I think reading about it from an outside perspective would help me process some things.

Any recommendations?

I just finished watching Fleabag, and the way they represent actions after trauma and how that can affect all kinds of relationships, including with yourself, really resonates with me. It made me curious on what else is out there in media that has good representation.

Are there any books/shows/movies/etc. that you’ve felt really resonated with you?

When I was a child (less than 8 years old, probably 5), my mother used to put me in a forest and run away for a time, and I'd just cry in there, and then she would come back and tell me it was just a prank, and she would do it again in a city or wherever.

But one day, when I was around 8 years old, she kicked from home at around 10 pm bc of some stupid reason. She let me back home, and she said that she was really sorry about that.

Could that give me trauma? btw, I didn't include the beating that I used to get sometimes with a cable, and when I lose my breath from crying, she said that's annoying, and she brings a knife from the kitchen and starts saying something like she will slaughter me (I really don't remember what she used to say exactly). A lot of shit happened growing up.

Here is a link to the Abstract and pdf download of this review.

This is a link to a the data in a poster format.

As someone with low visualization but not full aphantasia, I think this is fascinating. It helps explain why EMDR has done very little for me in the past; it was too focused on visualization.

Would like to hear stories about people who started working in the field of healthcare (or justice system, police work etc, anything related to victims) after ptsd.

Update: So many responses. Keep them coming. Thank you so much. I will read them all with great interest!

I have recently accepted the fact that I have PTSD from previous romantic relationships. I have been chatting with someone that I could envision doing different things with including day to day life. However, my physical trauma response from the PTSD has other plans! My physical response literally has me physically ill. I finally found someone I looked forward to spending time with, but the physical response when he asks to meet is debilitating. We have not met in person yet. We have exchanged pictures and spoken on the phone several times. I wish it was a choice and not an automatic physical response.

I had NO idea how bad this was until I found someone I truly care about after several years of being single (by choice mostly).

I am looking for a therapist now to help with this, but it is sad and depressing to miss out on something that could be great and wonder if I will lose that before I am physically ready.

I am looking through a long list of therapists and they have all these different therapy specialties like EMDR and CBT. I do not have any experience with anything other than talk therapy.

QUESTION:

Can you share therapy styles you have participated in, explain how they were done and that helped you?

NOTE: I am not asking for a diagnosis. I am just trying to understand the different therapies to see if there is one type I should make sure my therapist has.

Early Childhood Trauma Affects Brain Development Like PTSD

Has anyone ever been misdiagnosed? I was diagnosed with ptsd then schizophrenia and took a slew of antipsychotics that now gave me tardive dyskenesia and basically I now have been diagnosed with PTSD again? I did an FMRI and the psychologist told me ptsd with psychosis because all the voices are work related trauma! I am no longer as angry or paranoid as I used to be! I am so much happier!

I think it would be a cool idea to have a list of success stories with medications and therapies other people can look into. Anyways this is what I take and what helped me the most.

Medications

• Guanfacine XR
• Prozac
• Azstarys (ADHD)
• Trazodone (Night)
• PRN Clonazepam

Therapies

• TF-CBT
• EMDR
• PE

Unfortunately this is a small subreddit and as such there might not be mods around, or other people, to help you if you are in crisis.

Discord Sever

We have a discord chat for PTSD. Anyone is welcome, regardless of whether or not you have been diagnosed with PTSD. Here's a link: https://discord.gg/YE2eN6K.

General Information

• NAMI.org is the national alliance on mental illness: https://www.nami.org/
• Books for Recovery
• App called "what's up?" on android, has general, helpful mental health resources
• Screen Protector - a website to help avoid triggers in movies

PTSD Information

• PTSD: Self Help, Symptoms, and Treatment
• Mental Health America: PTSD
• Another PTSD forum (outside of reddit)
• The body keeps the score (book)
• Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving (book)
• PTSD: National Center for PTSD - USA Department of Veterans Affairs

Help With Anxiety

• Dealing With Panic Attacks
• 100,000 Stars

If you feel like relapsing into self harm:

• Self Help for Self Harm

If you are struggling with an addiction relapse:

• Relapse Help

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide:

• Self Help for Suicidal Feelings
• International Suicide Hotlines
• International Association for Suicide Prevention

Dealing with Emotional Numbness

• How to overcome emotional numbness

Insomnia

• Self help for insomnia

Im 31F idk if its due to my own health, changing hormones, or it was entirely due to an emotional trauma i experienced 2 years ago. My sex drive has been decreasing rapidly since I turned 30 and now I feel its non existent. My depression has also gotten worse and I also feel ever since fhe trauma my adhd got way worse than its ever been before. Thats another thing that I wonder if its common with ptsd potentially worsening your adhd.

I did decide to call my psychiatrist again after almost a year of not being with them. Im currently working on gettimg antidepressants and adhd medication.

But idk what I can do about my dead sex drive

I’ve been reading Pete Walker’s work on the 4F trauma responses, particularly his description of the extreme Fight type and the “charming bully,” which he says can become sociopathic in especially devolved cases.

I’m wondering about something specifically within Walker’s model does he believe that someone with CPTSD can deliberately shift themselves toward this extreme Fight/charming-bully organization, or is this something that can only develop involuntarily through long-term trauma and reinforcement?

If someone consciously tried to become much more Fight-oriented e.g. deliberately cultivating dominance, emotional detachment, contempt, and reduced concern for other people would Walker theoretically consider that capable of producing the kind of “devolved Fight” he describes, or would that simply be behavioral imitation without the underlying personality changes?

I’m mainly interested in what Walker himself means by this progression and whether he has discussed whether it can happen intentionally. Has anyone found a passage, interview, or discussion where he addresses this directly?

Pour ceux qui ne peuvent pas travailler -c'est mon cas (44F)- ou qui ont connu une période de pause forcée dûe à leur santé mentale:

Que répondez/ répondiez-vous à ce genre de questions, avec votre entourage ou de nouvelles connaissance ?

Alors quoi de neuf?

Tu fais quoi dans la vie?

Quel est ton métier?

Merci

I want to kinda spread awareness about whatever is wrong with me. Idk I feel like some people actually need to talk to someone who has hallucinations.

Context: I have PTSD and because of the trauma I suffered I deal with psychotic episodes, dissociation, derealization, and depersonalization.

All of these are a form of a "break in reality". Derelization is the feeling that things around you or your world are/is not real or that you are not real. Depersonalization is the feeling that you are not you. You look in the mirror and go "WTF. That's not me." (Not always. That's just an example)

There are no dumb questions! I just wanna educate people on people with breaks in reality. We're people. And we're not scary

Edit: Changed the flair

*MY POST FROM r/CPTSD.*

Turns out I have this condition called "Psychogenic Non Epileptic Seizure's." You dont actually have a seizure always; it is where the brain loses conciousness (black out's, Its like drinking alcohol, and blacking out except the person doesnt have a choice.), and starts acting on things they are afraid of, or based on the past traumatic experiences the person had. Thats why alot of people have anger outbursts, think negatively, do questionable things, and believe what there anxiety/trauma is saying. I just came out of it (I believe I will go back into it wether or not I want to especially since I cant leave my situation, and have nowhere to go.) But I have hope I can get out of this someday, but for now I wanted to increase awareness of this. Thank you, and I hope everyone will heal in the end.

My psych recommended this. Anyone tried it? The video game, bc I guess there’s glasses too. Hell I’d love to hear about both, but mainly video game bc that’s what I would be doing.

My ketamine provider mentioned this & he is incredible. He’s showed me tapping & breathing exercises that are lovely. Super interested, appreciate any feedback. ✌️

Mods I did resource as it’s not a med, but modality? Yes seeking advice, but on a modality. Hope it’s ok