Self Help For Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
If you have PTSD, then you likely know that your PTSD Symptoms can occur at any time and in any place. PTSD triggers are all around, and it may not take much for a trigger to cause intrusive memories and thoughts about a traumatic event, symptoms of hyper-arousal and hyper-vigilance, or emotional distress. Therefore, given that the occurrence of PTSD symptoms can be unpredictable, it is important to create a safety plan for coping with them when they occur.
What Is a Safety Plan?
As the name implies, a safety plan is designed to keep you safe when you are suddenly confronted with a difficult situation or crisis. It is basically a way of planning ahead for how to cope with problems should they arise. For example, what would you do if you start to experience a flashback while at the grocery store? How would you cope with intrusive thoughts while in a business meeting?
Below are some ideas of things to consider including in your personalized safety plan for dealing with your PTSD symptoms when they occur.
Think Ahead
Before you go out, think about whether or not you might encounter some triggers for your PTSD symptoms. Identify what those triggers may be and how you can avoid them. If you can't avoid them, come up with several ways of coping with them.
Write Down a List of Emergency Numbers
Social support can be an excellent way of coping with PTSD symptoms. However, social support is only useful if you can get in touch with someone when you are in need. Therefore, make a list of supportive people you can call should you be in a situation where you need help. Make sure you put more than one number on the list in case the first person you call is not available. If you have a therapist and you are able to contact him or her outside of session, you may want his or her name on your list as well.
Make Sure You Have Your Medication With You
If you are on medication, make sure that you have it available so that you don't run into any risk of missing a dose. Also, if you are on PRN medication (medication taken as needed), make sure that you have it with you in case you are in a situation where you need it to manage your symptoms.
Identify Ways of Coping
When people are experiencing emotional distress, it can be very difficult to think of ways of coping with that distress. Therefore, it is best to think ahead of how you might cope with emotional distress should it arise.
It may be helpful to make "coping cards," note cards you can carry with you that take you through a particular coping strategy. To make your own coping cards, get some index cards and write down, step-by-step, what you would need to do to cope with distress using a particular coping strategy, such as deep breathing or grounding. Take these cards with you wherever you go. Then, when you are experiencing distress, take out the card and go through each step.
Having a coping card with you means you won't have to come up with a way of coping "in the heat of the moment." You also don't have to worry about remembering all the steps involved in certain coping strategies.
Identify Early Warning Signs
It may also be helpful to write down early warning signs that a PTSD symptom may be coming on.
How To Identify Early Warning Signs
Enlist The Help Of Others
Finally, if you are going someplace where you know there may be PTSD triggers, have someone you trust contact you at several times throughout the day to see how you are doing and whether or not you need any support. Check-ins like these will make sure that help is not far away should you need it.
Safety Plans: A Final Word
A safety plan is all about being prepared. Even if you feel as though there is hardly any chance that PTSD triggered, it is best to take the time to come up with a plan in case you do encounter a trigger. The amount of time that you spend coming up with a safety plan will be well worth it if a crisis situation is prevented.
Triggers
PTSD triggers may be all around you. Even though it may sometimes feel like PTSD symptoms come out-of-the-blue, PTSD symptoms rarely spontaneously occur. Instead, whether you are aware of it not, PTSD symptoms are often triggered or cued by something in our internal (anything that happens within your body, such as thoughts or feelings) or external (anything that happens outside your body, such as a stressful situation) environment.
Because certain thoughts, feelings, or situations can bring up uncomfortable PTSD symptoms, such as memories of a traumatic event or feelings of being on the edge and anxious, one way of coping with these symptoms is by increasing your awareness of these triggers. You can prevent or lessen the impact of certain PTSD symptoms by identifying what specific types of thoughts, feelings, and situations trigger them, and then, take steps to limit the occurrence or impact of those triggers.
Kinds of Triggers
Triggers can fall into two categories: Internal Triggers and External Triggers. Internal triggers are things that you feel or experience inside your body. Internal triggers include thoughts or memories, emotions, and bodily sensations (for example, your heart racing). External triggers are situations, people, or places that you might encounter throughout your day (or things that happen outside your body). Listed below are some common internal and external triggers.
Internal Triggers
Anger Anxiety Sadness Memories Feeling lonely Feeling abandoned Frustration Feeling out of control Feeling vulnerable Racing heart beat Pain Muscle tensionExternal Triggers
An argument Seeing a news article that reminds you of your traumatic event Watching a movie or television show that reminds you of your traumatic event Seeing a car accident Certain smells The end of a relationship An anniversary Holidays A specific place Seeing someone who reminds you of a person connected to your traumatic eventIdentifying Your Triggers
Try to think of when your PTSD symptoms usually come up. Ask yourself the following questions to identify your triggers: What types of situations are you in? What is happening around you? What kind of emotions are you feeling? What thoughts are you experiencing? What does your body feel like? Get out a sheet of paper and write down as many internal and external triggers as you can.
Coping with Triggers
Now, the best way of coping with triggers is to avoid them altogether. However, this is almost impossible to do. Why? Well, you cannot really avoid your thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. Much of these are out of our control. In regard to external triggers, we can take some steps to manage our environment (for example, not going to certain places that we know will trigger us), but we cannot control everything that happens to us. For example, you might inadvertently come into contact with a news story or conversation that reminds you of your traumatic event. Because we often cannot avoid triggers, it is important to learn ways of coping with triggers.
Effective, healthy coping strategies for lessening the impact of triggers include:
Mindfulness RelaxationDeep BreathingGroundingSelf soothingExpressive Writing Social Support The more strategies you have available to you, the better off you will be in managing your triggers.
In addition, the more coping strategies you have, the more likely you will be able to prevent the development of unhealthy coping strategies, such as alcohol and drug use. Further, simply being more aware of your triggers can be beneficial. As a result of this increased awareness, your emotional reactions may begin to feel more understandable, valid, predictable, and less out of control. This can definitely positively impact your mood and overall well-being.
Some Final Important Information About Triggers
Although it is important to increase your awareness of your triggers, doing so can cause some distress. Some people might actually become triggered by trying to identify their triggers. Therefore, before you take steps to identify your triggers, make sure you have a safety plan in place in case you experience some distress.
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United States War Veteran's PTSD Foundation,Inc.
PTSD - THE UNSEEN WOUND
The United States War Veterans PTSD Foundation is a 501(c3) Non-profit corporation and all donations are tax deductable
Self Help
UNITED STATES WAR VETERAN'S PTSD FOUNDATION
8475 E McDonald Drive Mailing Address;
Scottsdale,Az,85250 5791 W. Kesler
Office(480) 922-4950 Chandler, Arizona 85226
Duane C. Knutson, Executive Director
David L. Arnold,Vice President
