Managing PTSD

If God is so good and loving;

Why is there so much suffering?

Why do so many bad things happen?

The questions asked over and over again.

Let’s see if we can answer those question.

God doesn't make us suffer or even likes seeing us suffer.

He allows us to suffer so that we can become stronger!

If everything was sunshine and lollypops;

We’d soon start taking things for granted,

We’d soon become bored and unappreciative

We’d become spoiled!

We’d soon forget our purpose of tending to things!

DOUBT

God will help us overcome doubts

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him

For the help of His countenance.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;

Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,

And from the heights of Hermon,

From the Hill Mizar.

(Psalm 42:5–6)

12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Heb. 5:12-14

Help those who have spiritual doubts 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

(Hebrews 3:12)

Remember

God does not make bad things happen to us;

He allows them to make us stronger

In His Image

The Footprints Prayer

One night I had a dream...

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord,

and across the sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand;

One belonged to me, and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of my life flashed before us,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that many times along the path of my life,

There was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life

This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,

You would walk with me all the way;

But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in

my life,

There is only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why in times when I needed you the most,

you should leave me.

The Lord replied,

"My precious, precious child.

I love you, and I would never, never leave you during your times of trial and suffering.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you.”

TRAUMA 2

Traumatic joy, sorrow,.

Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him,

and he cried out,

“Make everyone go out from me!”

So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

2 And he wept aloud,

and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.

3 Then Joseph said to his brothers,

“I am Joseph;

does my father still live?”

But his brothers could not answer him,

for they were dismayed in his presence.

4 And Joseph said to his brothers,

“Please come near to me.”

So they came near.

Then he said:

“I am Joseph your brother,

whom you sold into Egypt.

5 But now,

do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here;

for God sent me before you to preserve life

Genesis 45:1–5

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He naketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters,

He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the path of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow of death,

I will fear no evil:

For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

Thou anoinest my head with oil;

My cup runneth over’

Surely goodness and mercy shall fallow me all the day of my life:

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Taking on the blame for suffering and pain. It Is NOT Your Fault!!!!

So many of us take responsibility for things we have no control over. We feel guilty. Why them and not me? If I did this or didn’t do that! I had an orgasm as I was being raped! Questions asked that have no answers, or the answer seems to come back to me. (Confused guilt)

“For every action, there is a reaction.”

This is why we do cognitive behavioral exercises

Retraining our brain helps us edit that video

Admit, Confront, and Conquer

We need to continue cleaning the mirror

Fear – schizophrenic – fault schizo Memory bully

Elements of cognitive behavior Cognitive therapy

Education
Anxiety management techniques
Prolonged exposure
Relapse preventions
(SIT) – sires inoculation training
Relaxation training, Thought stopping, Guided self-dialogue
CBTs & SRIs

Challenge our unhelpful thinking by questioning and disputing our thoughts. We can do this by asking ourselves certain questions.

When we lose our sense of perspective we often become angry.

Learning to see things differently can help. We each look at the world through our own pair of glasses. It can help prevent anger if we are able to see someone else’s point of view.

One way of doing this is to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. Alternatively, we can try and keep things in perspective, by seeing the bigger picture.

A key strategy for managing anger is to keep a sense of humor. It helps to be able to take a step back and see things in proportion.

When you lose your sense of humor it is a sign that you are on edge and may be taking things too seriously.

Try to challenge our unhelpful thoughts: Challenging Thoughts and Questions, Maladaptive or problematic beliefs / stuck points.

Answer the following questions to assess your thought:

Is there substantial evidence for my thought?
Are you including all information?
Are you ignoring important parts?
Are you focused on just one piece or part of the story?
How, in what way?
Are you attempting to interpret this situation without all the evidence? Is there evidence contrary to my thought?
Where did this thought come from? Is it a dependable source of information?
Is it Based on feelings or facts?
is it of Emotional reasoning?
Is it Habit or fact?
Does this include all-or-none terms? (i.e., always, forever, never, need, should, must, can’t, and every time). Underline them.
Are you Confusing possible with likely?
Are all thoughts related to the story? Focused on unrelated parts?
Are you Jumping to conclusions?
Are you Exaggerating or minimizing; Over-generalizing?
Over simplifying?
What would a friend think about this situation?
If I look at the situation positively, how is it different?
Will this matter a year from now? How about five years from now?