You are a warrior.  But not in the traditional sense.  Your wounds are from emotional trauma.  Your battle gear consists of masks, face shields, gloves and gowns.  Your enemy right now is a virus.  This virus has shut down countries, crashed economies and stolen hundreds of thousands of lives.  This enemy is everywhere. While everyone stays at home, you go out every day and face it.  And in so doing, you take on more emotional trauma, increasing your risk for Acute Stress Disorder or even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

You have never seen anything like this before.  People are dying as they come out of ambulances.  Your adrenaline has been surging to keep up.  It’s hot.  You can feel the sweat on your face as your mask reflects the heat of your breath back at you.  Your safety glasses fog up.  Your face has scabs from the PPE and your hands are raw from washing them so often. You think about everything you’ve touched.  

Healing the human body is what you do.  It’s one of the things that brings meaning in your life.  You feel pride in being on the front lines, treating and saving lives.  It’s just that you’ve never seen it like this before.  People are dying alone.  There is so much death and you’re not able to process it all.  You have to savor the little victories, like being able to help someone FaceTime their family.  But you are also telling those same families that their loved one has died - their mother, father, spouse, child.  You might have even had to choose who gets a ventilator, deciding who lives and who dies.  And then telling those families that their loved one is gone.  You feel like the anguish on their faces is because of you.  And you have to do it - over, and over again.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Healthcare Professionals

You’ve endured things you’ve never encountered before - and you don’t know how to process it.  You have been healing others and sustained your own wounds in the process.  Who is going to heal you now?  If you’re feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and helpless, there is help. 

You might feel like you have a short fuse, or feel detached and numb.  You might be having sleepless nights, intrusive memories, flashbacks and nightmares.  If you feel any shame for experiencing these things, I’d like to give you permission to let that shame go.  Do you shame someone for bleeding when they are cut?  Do you shame someone for becoming ill because a virus invaded their body and overwhelmed their immune system?  No!

What you are experiencing is your body’s natural response to emotional trauma

Because your brain does not know how to make sense of what has happened to you, it tends to replay the memory over and over again - in an attempt to understand it.  The problem with this is that because your brain hasn’t made sense of it, the memory is stored as though it just happened to you. 

This is why you might experience the very same emotions and physical sensations when these memories are triggered - because your brain’s natural process of memory storage has gotten disrupted.  This is where PTSD treatment comes in.  We help your brain make sense of what happened so these distressing memories don’t continue to intrude on your life.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

You may or may not meet the “full criteria” for PTSD - but you still may be suffering. The following symptoms are very common:

1. Symptoms of Intrusion:  memories, dreams, flashbacks or intense anxiety related to any cues that trigger the traumatic event(s).

2. Mood Disturbances:  difficulties in experiencing positive emotions such as satisfaction, happiness, or feelings of affection and love.

3. Symptoms of Dissociation:  feeling like time has slowed, in a “daze,” like you are not in your body, difficulty remembering parts of the event(s).

4. Symptoms of Avoidance:  attempts to avoid triggering distressing memories.  This can include avoiding thinking about anything related to the event(s) and avoiding any external cues also related (such as people, places, things).

5. Symptoms of Arousal:  sleep difficulties, irritability, anger outbursts, concentration problems, feeling jumpy and/or a sense of increased alertness.

If we’re getting picky about diagnosing, you should know that if these symptoms have been occurring up to 30 days after the trauma, it is considered Acute Stress Disorder.  If the symptoms don’t resolve, then the diagnosis transitions into PTSD.  

So what do you do?  It’s time to let someone else take over and help you for a change. There are many talented mental health practitioners out there specialize in PTSD treatment and I’m one of them!  

PTSD Treatment Online for california residents

Many people ask me, “how can you hear all of that stuff everyday and not take it home with you?”  The reason I can do it is because I’ve seen people consistently get better with the right PTSD treatment.  People come to me feeling broken and used and I get to help them put the pieces together again.  They finish PTSD treatment and have a new sense of direction and hope.  So instead of bringing pain home with me, I bring home a sense of honor and respect for all those who had the courage to face their pasts and overcome them.  

Long term healing often comes with being treated by a mental health clinician that specializes in trauma.  While my goal is for people to have this long-term healing, sometimes they need some short term coping skills until they can reach their final goal.  You might not feel like you need to seek formal PTSD treatment - but here are a few tips to help your mind and body manage what’s been going on. 

Emotional Management of PTSD Symptoms

One of the major symptoms of PTSD is experiencing a range of emotional symptoms - from anxiety to depression.  One of the first things I teach my clients is this: 

Feel your emotions. I know.  That’s NOT what you wanted to hear! 

I have a respected friend and colleague who says, “what we resist, persists.”  If you stuff your emotions, they have to go somewhere.  And the place they usually go is somewhere inside your body.  This can lead to unexplained physiological problems and increased feelings of depression and anxiety.

So how do you “feel” your emotions? Your only job is to name the emotion, notice where you feel it in your body, and let the emotion rise and fall however it needs to.  Just notice your emotion without judgement, but with curiosity.  That’s it.  Don’t try to make the feeling go away because it will go away on its own when it's done.  Once you’ve allowed your mind and body to do their job, engage in some self care - like exercise, reading, or whatever else floats your boat.

Caveat - You might feel like if you let yourself unleash these emotions, you won’t be able to stop.  You might have even had an experience like that before.  If that describes you, reach out to a clinician specialized in trauma treatment and we can help you with that!

Dissociation

One of the amazing things about our mind and body is that they work together to protect us when we feel overwhelmed.  Sometimes our body goes numb or we feel like we are not actually in our bodies.  This is a protective maneuver called dissociation.  Actually, we all dissociate to one degree or another. How many times have you driven home from work and you didn’t remember the drive? That’s dissociation!

Yet sometimes we dissociate more strongly when we encounter anything that might trigger a memory of a situation that is overwhelming.  There’s nothing wrong with dissociation - remember, it is your body protecting you from overwhelm -  but it can feel scary sometimes.  So, if you feel like you need a little help coming back into your body, some grounding techniques might help.  

Grounding Techniques for Dissociation

I always like to think of the five senses and how to activate them.  But before you do that - the very first thing is to put both feet on the floor and feel the ground beneath you.  Then start working your way through the five senses.

Touch:  I have a sequined pillow in my office that I give to my clients when we’re talking about heavy stuff.  It’s one of those pillows where as you sweep one way the sequins flip over and there’s a new color.  People love to clutch onto that, feel the change in texture as they smooth out the sequins and sometimes they even make little drawings and patterns on the pillow.  It’s my first “go to” tool if someone needs some grounding.  Find any texture and get creative.  If you’ve got a pet, that’s a great solution!

Sight:  Find the beauty wherever you are.  You might even have some pictures on your phone that you can look at that feel soothing and grounding.  Videos also do the trick and can be even more engaging!

Smell:  Anything nearby that has a scent can feel grounding.  A candle, lotion, essential oils, even food!  Because the olfactory nerve runs near the memory center of your brain, this can be particularly powerful.  If you need, keep your favorite scent with you in your pocket.

Taste:  Keep gum, mints, anything with a strong flavor with you.  If you have a favorite mini candy, that might do the trick.

Sound:  Listen to your favorite music, podcasts, etc.  If that’s not an option, just focus in on the sounds around you - if you can go outside, do that!  Notice the wind, the rustle of leaves, anything that you can hear.

one final tip

One thing that also works really well, is I’ll take something soft and play catch. There’s something about placing all your concentration on catching and throwing that seems to really help people feel grounded again. 

Have you ever tried to keep a balloon off the ground?  Kids absolutely love this - make it a game for them and you’ll not only create some new memories for them, but you’ll be able to feel more centered as well. 

Those are just a few tips to help you manage PTSD symptoms. (I’ve got plans for more posts for emotional management so be on the lookout for that! ) Many times, our brains are able to process trauma without any extra help - but sometimes - especially you’ve been regularly encountering pain and death, you may need more help.  If that’s you, please know that you CAN heal and you CAN get back to feeling effective and optimistic about your job and life again.

You’ve been putting yourself on the line to help others.  Now it’s time for you to get your own healing - so you can get back to what you do best.  Click here to book a free 15 minute video consultation for online PTSD treatment in California.

Online EMDR Therapy and Trauma Counseling in California and Carlsbad, CA.