Do you feel like your life is out of all sorts and nothing seems right to you? The irritability and pangs of anxiety kick in out of nowhere? Was this how you saw life after a particular incident in your life that changed so many things? If yes, then you might be having post-traumatic stress.
The post-traumatic sense in layman’s language is a stress that comes in after a life-altering incident. It can be the loss of a beloved, a house fire, war life, or a traumatic event that your mind is afraid to look back.
List Of Coping Mechanisms To Overcome Post-Traumatic Stress
In this blog, we are going to explore the coping mechanisms to overcome post-traumatic stress to help you lead a life without any fear or anxiety.
1. Deep Breathing
Coming face to face with your worst nightmares or the triggers that cause anxiety is extremely frightening. Some people tend to stop breathing which increases the fear and anxiety in them thinking the same incident is going to happen again. Learning deep breathing while facing these fears can help you bring back to reality and confront your fears.
2. Self Monitoring
Journalizing your thoughts through voice recording, video recording, or writing down your experiences and thoughts can help you deal with post-traumatic stress. Therapists and doctors encourage their patients to do this exercise to self-reflect on the patient’s mind and map out a way to overcome the hurdles.
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3. Exposure Therapy
When a person has experienced a difficult situation in their life that they choose not to talk about, then exposure therapy helps them to re-visit those memories. Reliving the past and making amends with the situation can help people to move on from that one episode of their life that is holding them back.
Exposure therapy includes all the triggers and incident-like settings. Sometimes it may be too much for a patient to relive the incident again and they might lash out. But taking baby steps towards it might help them clear the fog in their mind and confront their feelings.
4. Social Support
Coming out of a disturbing event in life can be challenging and stop you from living your life. Interacting with a support group can inculcate positive thoughts and help you compartmentalize your thoughts from the present.
Connecting with the same people who have had struggles to overcome their stress can be an inspiration for people to change their way of thinking and lead a fulfilling life. Also, it’s always a good thing to share and learn from people who have no alternative agendas toward you.
5. Express Your Emotions
Often people who do not want to talk about their feelings, tend to channel their pain in the form of creating art, writing, or music. This is another tactic to get the patients to express how they feel and what they need. It gives them a sense of freedom to think of whys, hows, and whens of the incident.
Channeling your emotions in the form of art is a distraction technique and can help you overcome stress. It may take a long time to overcome but with time, it might get easier. Many famous artists are driven by their pain and you can easily see that pain in their work.
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Conclusion
Most of the traumatic events in our life, make you feel like the cause of those events. This can give a bad impression on yourself and your mind might tell you that you do not deserve love. To overcome the stress, you need to make yourself understand that YOU are not the cause of it.
Start doing things that you love, or at least give yourself a break from your daily routine. Explore places that you love, eat your favorite meals, and sleep well.