Friday, August 30, 2019

Looking back at (non) recovery of trauma (graded exposure)





Avoiding it for ages only makes it worse.
Jumping in too far too fast makes it worse too. 
So what to do? 

Graded exposure therapy or desensitization is something I learnt about recently in relation to coping with my PTW (post trauma weirdness). Looking back over the years I can see the times I tried to just get over and rip the Band Aid off probably retraumatized me. And the fact that I've lived with it for so many years also kind of feels like it is getting harder.

So graded exposure makes a lot of sense. Dipping into it in a small way, until that gets comfortable, then moving on to the next step, or the next rung up the ladder. Staying there until that feels comfortable etc etc. Maybe like if you were afraid of dogs so you got a toy dog to play with, and then moved on to playing with a puppy, and eventually you could work your way up to a full grown dog.

For more on this see the 3 books I listed here that have been useful in recent months.  

1 comment:

Mari-Anna Frangén Stålnacke said...

Blessings to you as you find your way to heal. Let God pace you with grace! Thanks so much for sharing. Blessings to you and yours!