440- Tools for Post-Traumatic healing and growth

Grab a cuppa, 1476 words coming your way!

In 2018, I had read this book (in French) about ptsd and resilience, finding several tools in it, and wanted to discuss that topic in more details that in my review. I kept the draft aside, and forgot all about it, so it's time to tackle it. 


First, here's the list of tools listed, having translated it, I'll quote the entire passage : 

1. "Opening the crypt" of our memories, by understanding the nature of our dreams and nightmares ; understanding and giving our own meaning to the imagery and symbols we see in them ;
2. Using metaphors, visual cues and creativity, to express one's inner, rich, world. 
3. Talking  (living witness, social coping, after we found our true memories...)
4. Therapy ; 
5. Breathing exercises and mindfulness - both as stand alone and as an integral part to therapy sessions
6. Discovering and reigniting one's emotions, feelings, sense of self, by being open and meeting other people 

Now, let me detail my ideas, opinions and experiences of each of these 7 tools: 

Tool 1 : working with memories

 I want to stress out the importance of the second portion in "opening the crypt", pertaining to giving our own meaning to the imagery and symbols : this in contrast of the many dream interpretation books and websites that you can read, with broad meanings from various but repetitive symbol systems, that are most often rooted in monotheistic religions and new-age variations, and have very few divergent meanings in different countries and cultural traditions, but do not represent the personal association an individual may have with the image/s dreamed about. Reading these sources can be a guideline of how to proceed, but my suggestion is to break away from conformed and general views, to your own personal, even if it means being a rebel against tradition and needing time to understand your inner world's mechanisms. 

"Opening the crypt" may be a difficult task, because we usually prefer not to face the traumatic memories and hate our nightmares along their triggers - in fact, am sure most of us who experienced them wish to forget these awful bits of our personal timeline... 

Truth is, avoiding these memories may not necessarily help us on the long run, because we cannot heal "as well" from something which we don't (as fully?) understand. Avoidance tends to convince us that we're unable to do, think or feel - in this case of memories and dreams, probably all three. 

Working with these may bring understanding, self-forgiveness, personal meaning-focused coping,  healing, and, eventually, our goal aimed with these efforts : post-traumatic growth.

Tool 2 : Expressing one's inner, rich world. 

Using metaphors : these may have been used during our attempts in understanding our dreams and nightmares, seen in tool 1, especially if you read the guides in dream interpretation sources. 

To fully understand this part, I'll direct you to external websites.
Wiki's entry "metaphor" ; a few examples and extension into types on yourdictionary ; Wiki's entry on metaphor therapy, which belongs to the Jungian psychology. 

Using visual cues and creativity : most of us rely heavily on our vision, and how we perceive the outside world. We can use this information and add our inner world's metaphors and personal symbols, to create our visual representations of our feelings, emotions, memories, imagination and thoughts, through any form of art, from sketches and paintings to sculptures, videos and writing, among the most common - but there are others. 

Tool 3 : talking

Talking is so important to us. After all, we are social creatures, and we, humans, have so many languages and communication tools, that showcases the value we put on talking. If we have found our memories, talking about our trauma story and struggles with mental illness, we have living witnesses of our past and present, into the future of those who'll remember us ; in talking, we use social coping, which is a form of support, through the exchange and feedback we receive, if not advice and help. 

Talking may be triggery, just like working with our memories, seen in tool 1.I'll share with you a quote from my entry 206, which was my psychotherapy session from March 2017, about discussing our trauma, and my therapist's suggestion that " I practice a mindful self-awareness when the situation arises and have a small inner dialogue to decide

1. I either feel too fragile and want to protect myself. I can reply that I wish not to discuss it that moment. 
2. or, I can decide to talk openly & un-apologetically about my feelings and traumas (since I am a MH activist now),  to take the conscious risk of feeling sick and that each time I do this, it'll be very similar to the exposure part of my CBT for social anxieties and that in time, I would get less often sick, and less intensely."  

In short, if we accept the risk in potential self-triggers, talking may bring us social coping, support, feedback, possibly better understanding, or at least feeling understood and cared for by those who listened. 

Healing and post-traumatic growth are also targets of talking about our trauma stories, and go, I think, hand-in-hand with tool 1, as talking our trauma necessarily brings our memories to the surface, and releases them from our brain 'into the air' between us and our listeners. 

Tool 4 : therapy 

When we are sick with a physical ailment, we go to the GP, or a specialist. When we are suffering from a mental illness, we can and a lot of us should, go to a mind's doctor : the therapist. It's exactly the same, just another type of specialty. There is no shame and there should be no stigma around needing and accessing therapy, though you'll have to find which type works best for your needs, and which therapist you can work with, in trust and according to your specific needs. If one doesn't suit you, change - though, in general, not too soon into a new therapy form/therapist.

Tool 5 : Breathing exercises and mindfulness

Breathing may be an automatic mechanism, without which we'd die, but practicing breathing exercises is taking control to consciously breath, count, hold and release, and helps us unwind or cope with anxiety and panic attacks. It might help reduce our stress, and may help on other physical and psychological levels, so it's a positive tool we can use. 

Mindfulness is a technique, a process of bringing our attention to experiences, in the present moment, accepting them as they occur, without judgment of their nature or of our reaction. Mindfulness often uses breathing exercises and body-scans, in meditations, guides or not. We are encouraged to disconnect from the outside world, just for a few minutes a day, to practice this form of self-care, as we concentrate on our body and inner-self, by breathing and scanning our body, concentrating on the sensations, letting go of judgment and re-focusing when our mind naturally wanders into external thoughts and stimuli. 

Mindfulness can help us focus more attentively, be more in tune with our environment as well as our inner selves, and may bring better appreciation for people, life, and ourselves.

 It may benefit us in struggles against various mental illnesses, such as depression, or symptoms, such as dissociation (often present in post-traumatic illnesses), but won't actually fix or cure them.  

There are a variety of breathing exercises and meditation techniques and apps, so you'll have to find the ones that suit you, and here I'll warn that a lot of them come with new-age, pseudo-scientific sources for you to weed out.

Tool 6 : being open and meeting other people 

Being open is to live with curiosity and readiness to learn new things,  being flexible to change and new experiences in life, as well as meeting other, new and different people, which can enrich our inner world with exchanged ideas, as well as the host of richness that can come with these interactions : new friendships, sense of belonging, exchanging intellectual pursuits and interests, finding those people to whom we can talk (tool 3), tell our dreams or open our memory crypt to (tool 1), possibly learn new tools and techniques in our expression (tool 2), find a therapist (tool 4), or learn those new breathing and mindfulness tools from (number 5). 

Thus, tool 6 encompasses and includes the ensemble of the other 5 tools, in varying degrees, and has all their benefits as well as enriching our person, allowing us personal growth, healing, expression, honing our communication skills, may bring us to travel and create new memories, hopefully more positive ones as we learn how to remain open all the whilst on our guard from potential abuse and toxicity, and choosing our circles in tune to our momentary needs, on our path of healing and post-traumatic growth. 

In another entry, or several, I may discuss how I used these tools, my difficulties and successes, and possibly how they helped me heal and grow.