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Gift From Within - PTSD Questions & Answers with Frank Ochberg, M.D.

PTSD: Definition of PTSD How Common, Who Gets PTSD? Is PTSD a normal event? Does PTSD Affect The Brain? Duration Pregnancy Delayed Onset PTSD PTSD Tip Sheet for your Doctor Medications for PTSD Distinguishing PTSD from BPD Generalized Anxiety Disorder Can the Wounds of PTSD Heal? Complex/Chronic PTSD: CPTSD Explanation Long Term Prognosis & Complex PTSD PTSD vs. CPTSD Managing Past Intense Feelings Overcoming Complex PTSD PTSD Symptoms: Anger and Brain Injury Anger Flashbacks Loneliness Feelings Of Loss And Sense Of Self Anxiety Numbing Re-Traumatization Differences bet. Depression, Dysthemia, Major Depression Depression vs. Sadness and Grief Biological Depression Memory Loss Triggers and Body Sensations PTSD & Facial Tics Emotional & Physical Reactions Delayed Stress Response after Experiencing a Shock Can A False Memory Happen? Differences Between Hypervigilance and Hyperarousal Negativity & Pessismism after Trauma PTSD/PTSI Insomnia: Not Being Able To Sleep PTSD/PTSI & Psychosis Relationships: Peer Support Issues Explaining PTSD To Children False Memory Toxic Family Of Origin Protection From Unwanted Contact Preventing Intergenerational PTSD Numbing in Male Survivors of Domestic Violence How To Increase Social Support Caregivers/Partners with PTSD: Starting a Conversation about PTSD Both Partners with PTSD & its Complications Fiancé Doesn't Believe in Therapy Managing PTSD After Partner Pushes Too Hard Childhood Abuse: Emotional Abuse Childhood Trauma & Intrusive Images Revisiting The Scene Of Trauma And Abuse Gaslighting Stockholm Syndrome & Child Abuse Survivors Can a Child be Born Depressed Childhood Survivors and Being a Parent Work Issues: Disability Letter for Attorney-Sample Low Stress Jobs Doctor's letter for Employer Sample Dealing with Co-Workers Job Searching with PTSD Recovery: Frank Ochberg's Color Wheel of Positive Emotion Triggers Rebuilding Self Esteem Life After Trauma Coping During The Holidays Substance Abuse Improving A Damaged Self-Concept Explaining PTSD is a Responsibility Grief & Loss from a Tragic Death The Trauma Bond & Forgiveness Sudden Panic, Anxiety & Flashbacks Stockholm Syndrome, Trauma Bond and Undue Influence Therapy: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Inadequate Therapy When to End Therapy Repeating Your Trauma Story PTSD Symptoms After The Therapy Hour Exposure Therapy Service/Therapy Dogs & PTSD ECT (Electro-Convulsive-Therapy) Bipolar & ECT Therapy: An Interview Telling Trauma Story to Therapist PTSD Client Expectations from Therapy Sessions Veterans & PTSD: PTSD A Disease Seasonal PTSD & Anniversary Reaction. Emotional Injury Therapy Sessions Active Listening for Moms and Friends Military Sexual Assault Professionals: Compassion Fatigue Consequences Of Emotional Numbing School Teachers And PTSD Using The Counting Method with Clients Helping Clients with PTSD Other Conditions: Borderline Personality Disorder Social Phobia Dissociation Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Cutting & Self Harm Link between PTSD, BPD and Bi-Polar Somatization Disorder or Briquet's Syndrome Stockholm Syndrome & Child Abuse Survivors Dealing with Psychopaths & Narcissists
		PTSD Questions & Answers with Joyce Boaz & Dr. Frank Ochberg, M.D. Read "Survivor Psalm" by Frank Ochberg
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				Recovery: Rebuilding Self Esteem. Q: Dear Frank, many PTSD survivors talk about their lack of self esteem. What suggestions do you have on how to start rebuilding one's self esteem after a trauma? A: Dear Joyce, negative thoughts are now included in the definition of post-traumatic stress injury. After a profound trauma the brain may be wounded and the result is a pattern of disturbed memory, thought and emotion. The negative thoughts are often about others (no one can be trusted), about the future (nothing good will come to me) and about oneself (I am worthless and deserve to suffer). Compounding the negative perspective on life is the numbing that so often is part of PTSI. Positive emotion (joy, love, pride) is blunted. Without the capacity for uplifting emotion, the heavy and dark sensations predominate. So the first step in overcoming negative thoughts, including low self-esteem, is the realization that this is the result of an injury and not a true assessment of yourself and your worth. If you wear very dark glasses the world looks dark. Your perception of reality has been altered. As simple as that sounds, it is rather complex and difficult to absorb. Call it PTSD or PTSI - it is an injury to brain function and an outcome of that injury is temporary distortion of perception. Things look, in a way, darker than they actually are. Your self-view is darker than it deserves to be. After a trauma and during recovery from post-traumatic stress injury, we are particularly vulnerable to voices from the past. If we were raised by harsh and demeaning parents, if we had older sisters and brothers who bullied and belittled us, if there were other sources of abuse and neglect when we were growing up, we may experience self-defeating thoughts in later life. It is very common to have a "Greek chorus" in our head, telling us we are worthless, hopeless and we deserve to suffer. The recent trauma makes us vulnerable and the traumas from childhood come back with a vengeance. That is why I use the image of a "board of directors" to help survivors replace destructive friends and relatives with worthwhile role-models in their minds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eiAt_22js4 The second step in overcoming low self-esteem is to recognize your own "board of directors" and learn to replace those sick and sour people from the past. Some are still present - demanding that you visit during holidays, only to abuse you again. So a third step in elevating self-esteem is NOT to go home again to a toxic family. Survivors of abusive families are often like ex-hostages, suffering a Stockholm syndrome and attached to the very person who threatens their existence: http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/FAQ-Stockholm-Syndrome-and-Child-Abuse-Survivors.html Learning how to insulate and separate from narcissistic and psychopathic relatives is, indeed, difficult. it may take lengthy therapy to overcome a pattern of trauma-bonding that causes you to have low self-esteem and repeated exposure to sources of psychological slavery. The most important source of self-esteem is the ability to be of help to others. Some of us achieve that as parents, as partners, and as friends. Some achieve that in the workplace or in the community. When physically and emotionally wounded, we may have far less capacity to be helpful to others. But, eventually, we all need to have a realistic basis for considering ourselves worthy. Gift From Within is a community that values service to others - learning to listen, caring for fellow travelers, encouraging the long walk from being a victim of trauma to being a survivor. Trauma often results in growth, not just in pain and loss. But the purpose of post-traumatic growth is not simply personal gain. It is the opportunity to contribute in some meaningful way to the well-being and fulfillment of others. Self-esteem can be the result and the cause of a life with meaning. Tweet Was this helpful to you? If so, please consider supporting our work.
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