I'm finally getting help...

[TheMightyFavog]

The flashbacks got really bad tonight. They got so bad that I had to get a hold of my shrink on his office's emergency line. I'm going to go in later this week, and talk to him. He said that I may have to start going on antipsychotics. At least today I may have identified the trigger for these flashbacks. They started getting bad about a week and half ago when my parents told me that the son of a family friend had hung himself. Maybe this is some sort of PTSD like I suspected earlier.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. Jonathan, I am so glad to hear this. You have been on my mind. I

have been worried. I send all my positive vibes and I do truly hope that you soon find peace.

Hugs,Laura

[nini]

2. Good for you.. I hope you can get these under control.

I'll be thinking and praying for you.
Hang in there and hopefully your appt. next week brings you the help you need.

[lcordero]

3. I hope that things get better

[southerngirlwriter]

4. GEEEZ, that sucks.

I'm very sorry for your pain.

For PTSD, I cannot recommend EMDR therapy strongly enough. I was diagnosed with PTSD a few years ago, and EMDR therapy was ASTOUNDINGLY effective. It stands for "Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing," and it's a miracle. Try to get a counselor who does EMDR if at all possible.

:hug:

[flamingyouth]

9. I would recommend that too

It really helped me with my PTSD as well, glad it worked for you! :hi:

Jonathan, I'm so sorry for what you're going through. You know you're among friends here. :hug: Take care, I will be thinking of you.

[TheMightyFavog]

10. What is EMDR?

How does it work?

[southerngirlwriter]

11. It's sort of hard to explain.

I was being treated for PTSD. The traumas the diagnosis was based on were:

being robbed at gunpoint
being raped several times as a child and once as an adult
some very extreme instances of physical and emotional violence when I was a kid, at the hands of my parents.

The therapist took them one at a time. First, we worked on the trauma of the robbery. At the beginning of each session, he got me very relaxed and calm. Then he used a pen and had me follow it with my eyes as he moved it in different patterns -- sometimes rapidly, sometimes slowly. As I followed the pen, we talked about the robbery very calmly and without my really "re-living" it. I could feel the trauma in my body. When we started talking about it, the trauma was in my throat. It moved as we worked through it. By the end of the third or fourth session, it had moved down to my knees. After five or six sessions, it exited through my feet, and after that I could discuss the robbery without any of the PTSD symptoms, and I had no more flashbacks about it. It worked the same way for the other two traumas, but they took a lot longer, because they were much more serious.

Basically, the eye movement throws a switch, for lack of a better metaphor, in your brain, that allows you to break out of the PTSD patterns and re-process the event in a less traumatic way. It sounds VERY bizarre, but it works.

If you PM me a snail mail address, I'll mail you a book about it. The book explains it MUCH better than I can. I bought six copies of it a while back because I kept loaning out my copy and not getting it back and then buying another one. I think I still have three on my shelf.

Hope this helps,
SGW

[Ladyhawk]

12. Hmmmm, I may need to talk to my shrink about this.

[TheMightyFavog]

5. I hope they get better, too.

Hell, If it is PTSD, I'm probably not the only one here who has it. Hell, I used to think that only war veterans and paople who've been raped or in hostage situations, kinappings, prison, etc got this.

[IronLionZion]

6. hang in there man

I'm glad you're getting help

[alittlelark]

7. That's scary - but at least you recognize the seriousness

of the situation. Recognition that a problem exists makes a recovery occur MUCH more quickly. I hope you understand that MANY others have had similar prob's. My mother was convinced I was possessed by demons for years. It messed with me, but I KNEW she was wrong. The knowledge of the problem will help you to resolve it - but it might get ugly for awhile.

You KNOW something is wrong - you will be fine in time!!

:hug:
gina

[Ladyhawk]

13. Woah! My mother thought I was demon-possessed, too!

Fundies...can't live with 'em; can't chop them up into little pieces and bury them in the back yard.

[alittlelark]

15. Yeah, the demon-possetion thing started to get old

about the time I was in HS. My mom was in the vanguard of this Fundamentalist movement:puke:

[saltpoint]

8. Hey Jonathan --

-- be as good to yourself as you can, and hang around people who appreciate you and like you no matter what.

It sounds as if you're doing what it takes to help yourself, but that just proves to us that you are worth helping.

If you feel like emailing me, go ahead -- I check my email usually every day or two.

All good wishes to you.

[Ladyhawk]

14. Good for you for getting help.

Sometimes mental health care can be a scary jungle. I hope you have a good counselor to start with. Good luck to you!