Counseling4Less.com
        Therapy At Your Convenience
LIKE ON FACEBOOK
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • PTSD 101
    • Who Gets PTSD?
    • Women Trauma & PTSD
    • Jackie Kennedy's Struggle with PTSD
    • CPT for PTSD (a form of cognitive behavioral therapy)
    • PTSD Self-Test
    • I Need Help Now!
  • Blog
  • LIFELINE

Overcoming a Traumatic Event

11/20/2014

0 Comments

 
People respond differently in, during and after a crisis or a dangerous situation. But everyone is changed in ways they may not yet realize.  Some feel the brunt of the experience immediately.  Others appear to be strong or even numb to their experience.  Helping everyone express their thoughts and feelings in a safe and open manner is one of the most positive things you can do. People who are friends or co-workers of those directly affected can be affected as well by what is known as secondary trauma.

It is important for people who are affected to share what they think and feel. A critical window of opportunity exists.  Debriefing and discussing the events within 72 hours of an incident can help insure that people recover and don't end up becoming permanent psychological casualties.  Both children and adults need to be shown that their feelings are accepted and understood, and not just told that people understand.  Feelings should not be judged or punished, but it is important that children understand the impact of negative behavior such as hurting others or neglecting responsibility. 

Many people have a tendency to rise to the occasion during a crisis.  After a traumatic episode, many people who were involved will attempt to help others. They do this to feel better and to ease the suffering of people they have compassion for. This can be a tremendous help, but it can also serve to hide from personal trauma and pain.  People who experience the greatest trauma, and are busy helping everyone else, may be end up becoming the greatest casualty of all. 

Whatever the case, it is important to reassure people that they are safe.  Others may feel a sense of blame - as if they should have known and acted to prevent the tragedy.  The impact of a traumatic experience doesn't end when people heal, nor does it simply end with the passage of time. There are steps and things you can to that will help

For Survivors and Their Family

•Take time to talk about the events, especially when your thoughts and feelings arise.

•Talk with people who care about you.

•Contact friends when you need support.

•Be with someone, or if needed, have someone stay with you a few hours a day.

•Maintain a normal schedule and routine as much as possible.

•It is important to spend extra time with children at bedtime.

•Recognize that many people will feel guilty and that listening is more important than telling people to stop feeling that way.

For Friends

•Listen carefully. Ask if they need your advice. Don't take their anger or other feelings personally.

•Show that you understand and you care.

•Offer your assistance and a listening ear.

•Reassure them they are O.K. and just be with them.

•Don't avoid regular activities, or spending time with people impacted by traumatic events, but respect their need to be alone sometimes.

The Emotional Consequences

None of us are fully prepared to deal with violent or traumatic events. We feel devastated whenever there is a loss, belongings or property are destroyed, or there is serious injury or a loss of life. We are overwhelmed when our children, friends, co-workers and loved-ones experience tragic, dangerous or life threatening events. Older children tend to have many of the same symptoms of adults, while very young children tend to talk more about stomach aches and other pains. Symptoms may come and go. Many children can function very well in a crisis, but will eventually experience some symptoms due to exhaustion and the effect of ongoing stress. Recognizing and discussing our emotional and physical reactions, as well as ways to effectively cope will help.

Common Stress Reactions Following a Traumatic Event

◦Anxiety, fear, panic or anger

◦Depression, or worsening fear, panic or depression

◦Emotional numbing

◦Difficulty sleeping

◦Waking throughout the night

◦Nightmares or daydreaming

◦Exhaustion or mental fatigue

◦Change in appetite

◦Disbelief or denial of events

◦Reliving images of traumatic events

◦Dwelling on the event

◦Easily angered or upset

◦Accident proneness or problems concentrating

◦Increasing frustration or impatience

◦A tendency to isolate or withdraw

◦Neglecting or avoiding responsibilities

◦Fear or reluctance to be open or talk

◦Headaches, stomach aches, indigestion

◦Fear or reluctance to express emotions

◦Children return to bed wetting or messing pants

◦Episodes or outbursts of crying or sadness

◦Children acting younger or less responsible

Symptoms of Fear and Panic

◦Rapid heart beat

◦Rapid or faster breathing

◦Indigestion or stomach aches

◦Increased energy

◦Dizziness or feeling faint

◦Frightening images

◦Restlessness

◦Weakness

◦Racing thoughts or poor memory

◦Frustration

◦Sweating or perspiring

◦Dwelling on fearful possibilities

◦Irritability

◦Trembling or "shaking"

◦Problems performing tasks

◦Avoidance

◦Muscle tension

◦Afraid to be alone, or clinging

Symptoms of Depression

◦Too much or too little sleep

◦Significant increase or

◦decrease in appetite

◦Loss of interest or pleasure in others or most activities

◦Feeling discouraged or worthless ¨

◦A significant drop in performance in school or at work

◦Suicidal thoughts, feelings or self-harming behavior

◦Fatigue or loss of energy most of the time

◦Restlessness, fidgeting or pacing

◦Uncontrolled outbursts of crying

◦Feeling sad, helpless or hopeless most of the time

◦Episodes of fear, tension or anxiety

◦Frustration, irritability, emotional outbursts

◦Repeated physical complaints without pain in arms or legs

◦Abuse or increased use of alcohol or drugs

Steps You Need to Take if Symptoms are Significant

•Symptoms are usually significant when they interfere with usual activities, change behavior in significant ways, or they persist for more than two weeks.

•Seek medical advice for any physical symptoms that are new, especially if you are having health problems and have not had a medical evaluation for these symptoms.

  •If you are unable to escape feelings of panic, guilt, depression or stress, or these symptoms are extreme or prolonged, contact a mental health provider for advice.

 •Seek help or advice from a qualified mental health professional if a child or an adult begins thinking or feeling guilty or suicidal.

               Crisis Hotline 24/7       1-800-273-8255

 Helpful Hints to Recovery

 ◾Set a Healthy Example: Taking care of yourself is a very important part of helping others. It sets a good example, gives other people permission to take care of themselves and keeps you healthy and well.

◾Physical Activity: Maintaining regular exercise greatly increases resistance to the stress reactions associated with traumatic events and relieves the immediate symptoms of stress.

◾Nutrition: Health studies have shown that by moderating fats, sugar, caffeine, alcohol and smoking you can greatly improve your resistance to stress reactions and promote recovery.

◾Adequate Sleep: Try not to nap when you would normally be awake. Go to bed when you are sleepy and when you would normally sleep. Wake up when you normally would and try to avoid sleeping in. It is important to keep a regular sleep schedule as much of as possible.

◾Time Management: Try to schedule your time and meet as many of your usual commitments and activities as possible, Don't withdraw for an extended period of time. Avoid over extending yourself in your work or new commitments for long periods. Repeatedly over extending yourself is not healthy if you are doing it to avoid dealing with the emotional impact of the flood.

◾Talk It Out: Reaching out to friends or potential friends as a means of to establish supportive relationships can be a tremendous help. Talk about your feelings and stress reaction with someone who is a good listener, may have experience dealing with similar problems, and is most of all, supportive.

◾Remember Breathing: People under stress or experiencing panic unconsciously change their pattern of breathing. When you feel stressed or panicked, take 4 to 5 slow deep breaths that let you inhale and exhale completely. Relax your muscles as you exhale.

◾Be Assertive: Use healthy and effective communication skills that will let people know what you need or want. When you deliberately ask for what you need, you are less likely to resort to blaming, becoming frustrated or disappointed when people don’t know what you need.

◾Take Time To Be Alone: Try to spend some time or plan some time to be by yourself. Sometimes it helps to imagine quiet places or pleasurable activities like vacations, relaxing or enjoying a hobby.

 ◾Forgiveness: During and following a crisis people can’t remember or do everything they would like. Forgiving yourself and expressing forgiveness to others is a key to recovery.

 ◾Be Open To Change Or Obtaining Assistance: If your behavior or emotional state are significantly changed by a traumatic event and does not improve after a significant time (usually two weeks), seek help from a qualified mental health professional.  

◾Help Others: Helping others can be a good way to feel better and recover. We all feel a need to be useful and to help others, but don’t help others all the time to avoid dealing with your own feelings.

 ◾Play: Spend time in a few simple activities that are fun or entertaining. Grieving takes time.

        Crisis Hotline 24/7       1-800-273-8255

0 Comments

A Relapse Prevention Plan: The Tools of Recovery

11/9/2014

0 Comments

 
The Stages of Relapse

Relapse is a process, it's not an event. In order to understand relapse prevention you have to understand the stages of relapse. Relapse starts weeks or even months before the event of physical relapse. In this page you will learn how to use specific relapse prevention techniques for each stage of relapse. There are three stages of relapse.

•Emotional relapse

•Mental relapse

•Physical relapse

Emotional Relapse

In emotional relapse, you're not thinking about using. But your emotions and behaviors are setting you up for a possible relapse in the future.

The signs of emotional relapse are:

•Anxiety

•Intolerance

•Anger

•Defensiveness

•Mood swings

•Isolation

•Not asking for help

•Not going to meetings

•Poor eating habits

•Poor sleep habits

The signs of emotional relapse are also the symptoms of post-acute withdrawal. If you understand post-acute withdrawal it's easier to avoid relapse, because the early stage of relapse is easiest to pull back from. In the later stages the pull of relapse gets stronger and the sequence of events moves faster.

Early Relapse Prevention

Relapse prevention at this stage means recognizing that you're in emotional relapse and changing your behavior. Recognize that you're isolating and remind yourself to ask for help. Recognize that you're anxious and practice relaxation techniques. Recognize that your sleep and eating habits are slipping and practice self-care.

If you don't change your behavior at this stage and you live too long in the stage of emotional relapse you'll become exhausted, and when you're exhausted you will want to escape, which will move you into mental relapse.

Practice self-care. The most important thing you can do to prevent relapse at this stage is take better care of yourself. Think about why you use. You use drugs or alcohol to escape, relax, or reward yourself. Therefore you relapse when you don't take care of yourself and create situations that are mentally and emotionally draining that make you want to escape.

For example, if you don't take care of yourself and eat poorly or have poor sleep habits, you'll feel exhausted and want to escape. If you don't let go of your resentments and fears through some form of relaxation, they will build to the point where you'll feel uncomfortable in your own skin. If you don't ask for help, you'll feel isolated. If any of those situations continues for too long, you will begin to think about using. But if you practice self-care, you can avoid those feelings from growing and avoid relapse.

Mental Relapse

In mental relapse there's a war going on in your mind. Part of you wants to use, but part of you doesn't. In the early phase of mental relapse you're just idly thinking about using. But in the later phase you're definitely thinking about using.

The signs of mental relapse are:

•Thinking about people, places, and things you used with

•Glamorizing your past use

•Lying

•Hanging out with old using friends

•Fantasizing about using

•Thinking about relapsing

•Planning your relapse around other people's schedules

It gets harder to make the right choices as the pull of addiction gets stronger.

Techniques for Dealing with Mental Urges

Play the tape through. When you think about using, the fantasy is that you'll be able to control your use this time. You'll just have one drink. But play the tape through. One drink usually leads to more drinks. You'll wake up the next day feeling disappointed in yourself. You may not be able to stop the next day, and you'll get caught in the same vicious cycle. When you play that tape through to its logical conclusion, using doesn't seem so appealing.

A common mental urge is that you can get away with using, because no one will know if you relapse. Perhaps your spouse is away for the weekend, or you're away on a trip. That's when your addiction will try to convince you that you don't have a big problem, and that you're really doing your recovery to please your spouse or your work. Play the tape through. Remind yourself of the negative consequences you've already suffered, and the potential consequences that lie around the corner if you relapse again. If you could control your use, you would have done it by now.

Tell someone that you're having urges to use. Call a friend, a support, or someone in recovery. Share with them what you're going through. The magic of sharing is that the minute you start to talk about what you're thinking and feeling, your urges begin to disappear. They don't seem quite as big and you don't feel as alone.

Distract yourself. When you think about using, do something to occupy yourself. Call a friend. Go to a meeting. Get up and go for a walk. If you just sit there with your urge and don't do anything, you're giving your mental relapse room to grow.

Wait for 30 minutes. Most urges usually last for less than 15 to 30 minutes. When you're in an urge, it feels like an eternity. But if you can keep yourself busy and do the things you're supposed to do, it'll quickly be gone.

Do your recovery one day at a time. Don't think about whether you can stay abstinent forever. That's a paralyzing thought. It's overwhelming even for people who've been in recovery for a long time.

One day at a time, means you should match your goals to your emotional strength. When you feel strong and you're motivated to not use, then tell yourself that you won't use for the next week or the next month. But when you're struggling and having lots of urges, and those times will happen often, tell yourself that you won't use for today or for the next 30 minutes. Do your recovery in bite-sized chunks and don't sabotage yourself by thinking too far ahead.

Make relaxation part of your recovery. Relaxation is an important part of relapse prevention, because when you're tense you tend to do what’s familiar and wrong, instead of what's new and right. When you're tense you tend to repeat the same mistakes you made before. When you're relaxed you are more open to change.

Physical Relapse

Once you start thinking about relapse, if you don't use some of the techniques mentioned above, it doesn't take long to go from there to physical relapse. Driving to the liquor store. Driving to your dealer.

It's hard to stop the process of relapse at that point. That's not where you should focus your efforts in recovery. That's achieving abstinence through brute force. But it is not recovery. If you recognize the early warning signs of relapse, and understand the symptoms of post-acute withdrawal, you'll be able to catch yourself before it's too late.

The First Rule of Recovery

You don't recover from an addiction by stopping using. You recover by creating a new life where it is easier to not use. If you don't create a new life, then all the factors that brought you to your addiction will eventually catch up with you again.

You don't have to change everything in your life. But there are a few things and behaviors that have been getting you into trouble, and they will continue to get you into trouble until you let them go. The more you try to hold onto your old life in recovery, the less well you will do.

Here are the three most common things that people need to change in order to achieve recovery.

Avoid High-Risk Situations

Some common high-risk situations are described by the acronym, HALT:

•Hungry

•Angry

•Lonely

•Tired

How do you feel at the end of the day? You're probably hungry because you haven't eaten well. You're probably angry because you've had a tough day at work or a tough commute home. You may feel lonely because you're isolated. You don't have to be physically alone to feel lonely. And you're tired. That's why your strongest cravings usually occur at the end of the day. Here's another way of looking at high-risk situations:

•People. (People who you use with or who are related to your use. People who you have conflicts with, and who make you want to use. People who you celebrate with by using. People who encourage you to use either directly or indirectly.)

•Places. (Places where you use or where you get your drugs or alcohol.)

•Things. (Things that remind you of your using.)

How can you avoid high-risk situations? Of course, you can't always avoid these situations. But if you're aware of them, they won't catch you off guard, and you can prevent little craving from turning into major urges.

Take better care of yourself. Eat a healthier lunch so you're not as hungry at the end of the day. Join a 12 step group so that you don't feel isolated. Learn how to relax so that you can let go of your anger and resentments. Develop better sleep habits so that you're less tired.

Avoid your drinking friends, your favorite bar, and having alcohol in the house. Avoid people who you used cocaine with, driving by your dealer's neighborhood, and cocaine paraphernalia.

Recovery isn't about one big change. It's about lots of little changes. Avoiding those high-risk situations helps you create a new life where it's easier to not use.

Make a list of your high-risk situations. Addiction is sneaky. Sometimes you won't see your high-risk situations until you're right in the middle of one. That's why it's important that you learn to look for them. Make a list of your high-risk situations and keep it with you. Go over the list with someone in recovery so that can spot any situations that you might have missed. Make the list and keep it with you. Some day that list may save your life.

Learn to Relax

There are only a few reasons why people use drugs and alcohol. They use to escape, relax, and reward themselves. In other words, people use drugs and alcohol to relieve tension.

The first rule of recovery is that you must change your life. What do you need to change? If you understood the previous paragraph, then you need to change the way you relieve tension. Everyone needs to escape, relax, and reward themselves. Those are essential coping skills for a happy life. But addicts don't know how to do those things without using.

If you manage to stop using for a while, but don't learn how to relax, your tension will build until you'll have to relapse just to escape again. Tension and the inability to relax are the most common causes of relapse.

I know relaxation will help. I have treated thousands of patients. Many of them have told me that relaxation has changed their life. There is only one reason why people don't relax – because they think they're too busy to relax. It goes something like this, "I know it makes sense, but I've got so many other things I have to do."

Ask yourself how much time you spend on your addiction. If you add up all the time it takes to get your drug, use it, deal with its consequences, and plan your next relapse, you'll realize that relaxing for twenty to forty minutes a day is a bargain.

Relaxation is not an optional part of recovery. It's essential to recovery. There are many ways to relax. They range from simple techniques like going for a walk, to more structured techniques like meditation. Meditation is an important part of that mix because the simple techniques don't always work. If you're under a lot of stress, you may need something more reliable like meditation. Use any of these techniques, or any combination. But do something every day to relax, escape, reward yourself, and turn off the chatter in your mind.

Numerous studies have proven that relaxation reduces the use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana.

Be Honest

An addiction requires lying. You have to lie about getting your drug, using it, hiding its consequences, and planning your next relapse. An addiction is full of lying. By the time you've developed an addiction, lying comes easily to you. After a while you get so good at lying that you end up lying to yourself. That's why addicts don't know who they are or what they believe in.

The other problem with lying is that you can't like yourself when you lie. You can't look yourself in the mirror. Lying traps you in your addiction. The more you lie, the less you like yourself, which makes you want to escape, which leads to more using and more lying.

Nothing changes, if nothing changes. Ask yourself this: will more lying, more isolating, and more of the same make you feel better? The expression in AA is – nothing changes if nothing changes. If you don't change your life, then why would this time be any different? You need to create a new life where it's easier to not use.

Recovery requires complete honesty. You must be one-hundred percent completely honest with the people who are your supports: your family, your doctor, your therapist, people in your 12 step group, and your sponsor. If you can't be completely honest with them, you won't do well in recovery.

When you're completely honest you don't give your addiction room to hide. When you lie you leave the door open to relapse.

One mistake people make in the early stages of recovery is they think that honesty means being honest about other people. They think they should share what's "wrong" with other people. But recovery isn't about fixing other people. It's about fixing yourself. Stick with your own recovery. Focusing on what you don't like about others is easy because it deflects attention from yourself.

Honesty won't come naturally in the beginning. You've spent so much time learning how to lie that telling the truth, no matter how good it is for you, won't feel natural. You'll have to practice telling the truth a few hundred times before it comes a little easier. In the beginning, you'll have to stop yourself as you're telling a story, and say, "now that I think about it, it was more like this..."

Show common sense. Not everybody is your best friend. And not everybody will be glad to know that you have an addiction or that you're doing something about it. There may be some people who you don't want to tell about your recovery. But don't be reluctant to tell the people close to you about your recovery. You should never feel ashamed that you're doing something about your addiction.

The Chance to Change Your Life

Your addiction has given you the opportunity to change your life. Changing your life is what makes recovery both difficult and rewarding. Recovery is difficult because you have to change your life, and all change is difficult, even good change. Recovery is rewarding because you get the chance to change your life. Most people sleepwalk through life. They don't think about who they are or what they want to be, and then one day they wake up and wonder why they aren't happy.

If you use this opportunity for change, you'll look back and think of your addiction as one of the best things that ever happened to you. People in recovery often describe themselves as grateful addicts. Why would someone be grateful to have an addiction? Because their addiction helped them find an inner peace and tranquility that most people crave. Recovery can help you change your life.

After 5 years of abstinence relapse is rare! A study followed 268 Harvard University undergraduates, and 456 non-delinquent inner-city adolescents. The men were followed every two years by questionnaire, and every 5 years by physical examination. At some point during their lives, 55 (21%) of the college men and 150 (33%) of the inner-city men met the criteria for alcohol addiction. The study concluded that after 5 years of abstinence relapse is rare.

 

 

 
Resources: www.AddictionsAndRecovery.org ;

http://www.aa.org/ ;  http://www.na.org/
http://www.oa.org/ ; http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/
 

 

0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Abuse
    Addiction
    Agoraphobia
    Benefits Of Laughter
    Bipolar Disorder
    Birth Order & Relationships
    Borderline Personality Disorder
    Caregiver Syndrome
    Childhood Abuse
    Children Of Ptsd Parent
    Child Self Esteem
    Claustrophobia
    Codependent
    Codependent Series
    Cognitive Processing Therapy
    Combat Trauma
    CPT
    Cycle Of Abuse
    Delusional Disorders
    Depression
    Dissociative Disorders
    Domestic Violence
    Dysfunctional Family
    Eating Disorders
    Emotional Abuse
    Emotional Pain/Prayer
    Enmeshment
    Goals
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Grief Affirmations
    Grief/Trauma Inventory
    H.A.L.T.
    Healing Touch
    Health Benefits Of Crying
    Healthy Boundaries
    Healthy Family Traits
    Healthy Grieving
    Histrionic
    Holiday Stress/Depression
    Life Balance
    Love
    Love Theory
    Mental Illness 101
    Narcissistic Personality Disorder
    Natural Disaster Trauma
    New Year Resolutions
    Nightmares
    Ocd
    Parentification
    Parenting
    Peaceful Parenting
    Promiscuity
    Psychopath
    PTSD
    Ptsd In Children
    Rape
    Relapse Prevention PLan
    Relationships
    Respect
    Scapegoating
    Self Care
    Self -mutilation
    Self-Respect
    Setting Boundaries
    Setting Goals
    Setting Healthy Boundaries
    Sexual Abuse
    Stockholm Syndrome
    Suicide
    Trauma
    Trauma Nightmares
    Trauma Series
    Trauma Triggers

    Beth Watson, LCSW

    I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a strong spiritual foundation providing counseling in the Tallahassee, Florida area.  My areas of interest include grief and loss, depression and anxiety, women's emotional health, trauma related issues such as PTSD, family substance abuse issues, domestic violence and family counseling including couples counseling, children and adolescent behavioral issues and parenting. Giving back is very rewarding with the growth and satisfaction of each client. It is my passion and my honor to serve others. 
    Please check out FREE counseling categories below and do drop me a note if your area of interest is not included.  Thanks for dropping by!
    Beth

    Categories

    All
    Abuse
    Addiction
    Agoraphobia
    Benefits Of Laughter
    Bipolar Disorder
    Birth Order & Relationships
    Borderline Personality Disorder
    Caregiver Syndrome
    Childhood Abuse
    Children Of Ptsd Parent
    Child Self Esteem
    Claustrophobia
    Codependent
    Codependent Series
    Cognitive Processing Therapy
    Combat Trauma
    CPT
    Cycle Of Abuse
    Delusional Disorders
    Depression
    Dissociative Disorders
    Domestic Violence
    Dysfunctional Family
    Eating Disorders
    Emotional Abuse
    Emotional Pain/Prayer
    Enmeshment
    Goals
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Grief Affirmations
    Grief/Trauma Inventory
    H.A.L.T.
    Healing Touch
    Health Benefits Of Crying
    Healthy Boundaries
    Healthy Family Traits
    Healthy Grieving
    Histrionic
    Holiday Stress/Depression
    Life Balance
    Love
    Love Theory
    Mental Illness 101
    Narcissistic Personality Disorder
    Natural Disaster Trauma
    New Year Resolutions
    Nightmares
    Ocd
    Parentification
    Parenting
    Peaceful Parenting
    Promiscuity
    Psychopath
    PTSD
    Ptsd In Children
    Rape
    Relapse Prevention PLan
    Relationships
    Respect
    Scapegoating
    Self Care
    Self -mutilation
    Self-Respect
    Setting Boundaries
    Setting Goals
    Setting Healthy Boundaries
    Sexual Abuse
    Stockholm Syndrome
    Suicide
    Trauma
    Trauma Nightmares
    Trauma Series
    Trauma Triggers

    Picture
    "Best in #SocialWork: 100 Twitter Accounts to Follow," #24

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Archives

    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    learn more here
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.