Coping Mechanisms
Hello everyone! I am new here, I was wondering what types of coping skills y’all would recommend for ptsd. What are some things y’all do that make you happy? I am personally trying to find some new ones because the ones I use don’t necessarily work all that well.
Are you from Pennsylvania by chance?
@SocialRejectBella
Hey Bella! Welcome to the community ❤️ Well, there are many common coping mechanisms out there that you could try - what works for you really depends on your specific symptoms and situation. What have you tried so far? I'll share some common ones first.
For flashbacks and/or triggers, grounding, breathing, and visualisation exercises can be helpful. You can try the 54321 technique, where you list 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. I personally really like this particular visualisation exercise where you picture your emotion as a tangible thing. You try to describe as many details as possible (colour, shape, size, etc), then change one of those details. For me, changing the colour of what I'm visualising uusally helps me to calm down. You can also practice deep breathing. Here's a link to where you can find more examples of things you can try:
For triggers: https://www.7cups.com/forum/TraumaticExperiencesCommunity_60/TraumaRecoveryResources_481/GroundingWhenTriggered_42512/
For flashbacks: https://www.7cups.com/forum/TraumaSupport_60/DiscussionQuestionsResources_481/13StepsforManagingFlashbacks_230868/
For self-care, I usually try gratitude journaling, where I write down a list of things I'm grateful for. This also provides a comforting list of things I can hold on to on days where my symptoms are particularly bad. Taking a walk outside, appreciating nature, and exercising are all known to really help with negative emotions too. Every time I need a pick-me-up, I just google chibird for their amazing little cartoons
You can also try thought challenging, where you pick out certain beliefs you're still holding on to and challenge them. The traumatic experiences self-help guide gives a great tutorial on how to do this: https://www.7cups.com/traumatic-experience-help/
Hope these help! There are tons of resources out there, so it's easy to get lost or feel a little overwhelmed, but we're always here if you want to talk through what works and what doesn't. Take care! ❤️