45 24TH ANNUAL CRIME PREVENTION GUIDE POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD): ALL AGEs Self-Help Strategies for PTSD • Make sure you are safe. First of all, make sure that you are no longer in danger, and that you are safe! For example, if your trauma is from abuse or violence in the home, then get help first in getting to safety. Speak to your doctor or contact an emergency shelter. • Educate yourself about PTSD. Because the symptoms of PTSD (nightmares, flashbacks and feeling that you are reliving the trauma) are so distressing, people with PTSD often worry that they are going crazy. Relax - you are not going crazy. The problem is rather that you have anxiety because of a traumatic event. Fortunately, there are coping skills (in addition to treatment) that can help cope with this anxiety. • Take good care of yourself. When under stress, sometimes we neglect our sleep, proper nutrition or exercise. So make sure that you are 1) getting enough sleep, 2) eating a healthy diet with at least three healthy meals a day, and 3) getting regular exercise. Common anxiety strategies for relaxing the body • Deep Breathing: When people get anxious, their breathing tends to quicken, which further worsens the situation. • Progressive Muscle Relaxation: If you are feeling tense and jumpy, progressive muscle relaxation is a way of relaxing your body. • Grounding Techniques: Grounding is a way of bringing your body back to the present, particularly if you are having flashbacks and losing touch with the present. Grounding works by re-setting and focusing your attention on the present. Examples: • Touch objects around you, and describe them (texture, colour). For example, "I'm sitting on the couch, and it’s very soft and comfortable. I'm smelling my coffee and I'm hearing the television." • Run water over your hands, and describe aloud how it feels. • Name all the different types of animals you can think of (e.g., dog, cat, chicken, cow, etc...) • Count backwards from 100 • Say the alphabet backwards Additional tips for grounding: • Keep Your Eyes Open: While grounding yourself, keep your eyes open so you can see and focus on the present. It also helps to talk out aloud about what you are seeing and doing. • Practise: Don't be disappointed if it doesn't work the first time you try it. Like any other skill or sport you have done, this is a skill that gets better over time. It works best if you have tried and practised it ahead of time while calm. • Stay active in life. People with PTSD often find that they drop out of activities that they previously enjoyed doing, but this is not helpful. It may be difficult, but get back into the normal routine of your life as much as possible, which includes; work, friends, family, hobbies and sports. Even if you can't get back 100% into all the things you used to do, then start with little steps. • Exposure: Face your fears and don't let the PTSD control you. The anxiety from PTSD often makes people avoid certain things. Unfortunately, these fears have a tendency to grow, and then people end up avoiding more and more things in life. The best way to fight back is to gradually face those fears, step by step. Examples: • A person who has a trauma from falling off a horse. The longer the person avoids horses and horseback-riding, the harder it will be. The solution is to get back on a horse as soon as possible. • A person experiences a mugging in a shopping mall parking lot at nighttime. The person starts to avoid parking lots at nighttime, then parking lots at daytime, then shopping malls entirely, and then even going out. The solution is to gradually face those fears, and get back into those situations, step-by-step. • Avoid unhealthy coping strategies such as drugs and alcohol. Though they may appear to temporarily help in the short-term, using alcohol or other drugs will make it worse in the long run.
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