Traumatic Experiences Community Daily Check-In: Wednesday 27 May

Traumatic Experiences Check-in May 27 2020

Todays topic which was provided by one of you on Monday is Self Image and how this can be affected by trauma as well as ways to improve ones own self image. It is often difficult to cope with the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. Many people with PTSD may suffer from low self-esteem, making it important that they learn how to improve their self-image. Individuals dealing with PTSD often experience other issues, such as depression. As a result, these individuals may experience negative thoughts concerning themselves, resulting in feelings of worthlessness and/or low self esteem. Therefore, it is so very important to learn how to catch these thoughts and fight them with positive thoughts. In doing so, you can serve as your own source of social support.

Identify Your Negative Thoughts

It is often difficult to identify unhealthy thinking habits. Monitoring oneself is an effective way to increase ones thought awareness and how those thoughts affect ones mood and behavior.

Slow Down Those Negative Thoughts

It is sometimes hard to get away from negative thoughts. Often they get stuck in ones mind and are hard to get away from. Sometimes they get stronger the more an individual focuses on them. Developing ways to distract oneself from these negative thoughts is very important. There are many distraction techniques that may be helpful, such as deep breathing, self-soothing, ​and mindfulness. Distraction is not about avoidance. The thoughts will not necessarily go away or stop by using distraction techniques. They may help the individual, however, take a step back from them, slow them down or reduce their intensity, making them easier for one to address.

Challenge Your Thoughts

Once an individuals thoughts have lessened in intensity, they can take a look at these thoughts and challenge them. We often take our thoughts at face value unquestioningly. Instead one can challenge those thoughts by asking themselves the following questions:

What evidence do I have for this thought?

What evidence do I have against this thought?

Are there times when this thought hasn't been true?

Do I have this kind of thought when I am feeling OK as opposed to feeling sad, angry or anxious?

What would I tell someone else who was having this kind of thought?

What may be an alternative explanation?

Use Positive Self-Supportive Statements

An individual can further counter those negative thoughts by using positive self-supportive statements. For instance, they can list all of their positive qualities, tell themselves about what they have accomplished recently that they are proud of, or tell themselves that it is okay to feel anxious.They can also list things that they may be looking forward to in the next week and ask themselves what are some positive ways they have changed recently (either through treatment or just on their own). Lastly, the individual can describe a time when they handled their PTSD symptoms well and telling themselves that their feelings are valid and important.

I just want you all to know that you all are very beautiful people inside and out. It is often said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I feel that is false. We are all beautiful regardless of ones self image and we all have something beautiful to add to this world. I do hope this post has helped in some way but before I go I will ask three questions of you all today.

How are you feeling today?

What do you do to battle the negative thoughts?

Is there anything I can do to make these check-ins more fulfilling to you in any way?

As always I hope you all have a better today than yesterday in hopes of a brighter tomorrow my friends!!!

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