Self-Therapy for Trauma Treatment

When something scary occurs, it’s normal to feel nervous. When you sense danger, your body releases synthetic chemicals to increase your alertness. This puts us in “flight-or-battle” circumstances and prepares us to tolerate a worse outcome.

However, the brain’s reaction to traumatic events can also result in ongoing problems. This may involve difficulty sleeping, feeling anxious frequently, looking worried, experiencing flashbacks, or keeping a safe distance from objects that trigger memories of the event.

Occasionally, these adverse effects go away after six months. They occasionally survive longer. Post-traumatic stress disorder may be suspected if the symptoms continue for more than a month and are severe enough to interfere with relationships or employment (PTSD).

Trauma Treatment Exercises for Self-Therapy

If your daily life seems to be a mess, you probably don’t feel fulfilled, successful, or happy.

Positive attitudes and mindsets can contribute to the success of creative thinkers. You have the power to alter your perspective on the world, take part in healthy activities, increase your productivity, bolster your relationships, and live a more fulfilling life.

We examine the numerous exercises that therapists frequently apply in the therapy of trauma, as well as how you can safely practice some of these therapies on your own.

Journaling

Keeping a journal of your thoughts and feelings is one of the most crucial components of trauma treatment. This enables therapists to spot dominating patterns and take the necessary action to change them.

Challenging Thoughts

Treatment for trauma involves modifying unfavorable and disruptive thoughts. Therapists search for automatic thoughts. These are the unintentional thoughts that occur. Therapists challenge these unfavorable thoughts and behaviors.

Therapists can develop counterarguments and techniques to convince a child that he is bright and remove any negative thoughts the child may have, such as a kid who believes he is stupid because he is not receiving straight A’s.

Changing Behavior

This kind of action is frequently used in OCD patients. This technique is used in therapy to expose patients to circumstances where they are likely to react negatively more frequently. In order to get their patients to react differently, therapists would also purposefully recreate a circumstance.

Introspective Exposure

Anxiety and panic attacks are frequently treated with therapy. The therapist induces unpleasant physiological feelings in the patient. The patient is then forced to react in a different, healthier way by the therapist. The patient learns through practice to control their response to anxious or fearful feelings.

Following Fear to the End

Fear impedes a person to think rationally. Patients who struggle with anxieties like a fear of heights frequently receive therapy. Therapists typically use this technique to let the fear appear and continue until it is over.

The patient will then experience a scenario that allows them to feel the terror while also preparing them to move on with their lives after it is over. The patient will discover that, even if the worst could occur, it is probably not going to be as horrible as they had feared.

Changing Behavior Experiment

This exercise is typically used by therapists to examine the relationship between a patient’s various illogical thoughts and beliefs and actions.

For instance, the therapist may try the opposite response if the patient thinks that being hard on themselves makes them work more. Patients will be urged to relax a little and treat themselves a little better so they can observe what type of reaction they have and the outcomes that follow.

A Change of Perspective

Therapists use the strategy of “thinking in the opposite direction” during this kind of practice. Think about a student who experiences bullying and ends up failing his examinations. They begin to think they are foolish and weak. What is the kid capable of?

The kid will first be asked by the therapist to list every justification or piece of evidence that demonstrates his failure. The kid will then be asked by the therapist to list all the reasons or examples of success. The kid will gain a more distinct viewpoint as a result. This enables people to have a keen awareness of both their talents and weaknesses.

Searching for Positives

Therapists that specialize in trauma treatment often use this practice. People that think positively tend to be happier. How can you cultivate a more optimistic outlook?

Always keep in mind the positive aspects of your previous experiences. Look for the good in every circumstance and keep your attention on them. Not a single one of the things you just named. These are only a few of the simple actions you can take to infuse a little positivity.

Facing Fears

Make a list of all your fear and pessimistic thoughts as part of this trauma therapy strategy. You must create a list of all occurrences, ranking them from best to worst.

First, try to overcome simple fear and prepare yourself to face the tough ones. Go through it. By doing this, you can educate your mind to conquer fear and raise your tolerance for unpleasant events.

Turning Negative into Positive

This trauma treatment technique is about creating a positive reason for every negative thought in the patient’s head. If a patient believes that “I’m ugly”, they can simply write “I am beautiful”. This technique focuses on recollecting positive events that occurred yesterday and today.

Three-Minute Breathing Space

“Three Minute Breathing Space” is the name of the main mindfulness trauma treatment exercise for mental illness. It is a simple and quick breathing exercise to practice mindfulness. This is a “technique for approaching experience via two intentional lenses, both narrower and wider,”.

This 3-minute exercise can be broken down into:

The first minute of the session is spent observing how we feel. We then describe our feelings using words. The second minute is dedicated to practicing awareness of our breathing. The third minute is a continuation of breathing, but with the awareness being brought back to the whole body.

Body Scans

Body scan meditation has probably been shown on YouTube or in meditation applications. This form of meditation can improve well-being and lessen worry.

Mindful Stretching

The health of the body and the mind are equally important, and if stretching can assist the body, then it must also benefit the mind. True to its name, mindful stretching involves stretching the mind.