[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are often life changing. This condition can place many obstacles in your way, creating challenges as you navigate your personal and professional life. If you believe your symptoms are getting worse and may soon be classified as a disability, it’s recommended to seek PTSD treatment to get your life back on track. At More Life Recovery Center, we offer many science based therapeutic approaches to create the best treatment plan for our clients.

In addition to treatment, there are measures you can take at home. The following are numerous coping strategies to apply when your symptoms get in the way of life.  

Connect With People Who Support You

Staying connected with people closest to you is an important part of PTSD treatment, as they can offer much needed support. Feelings of isolation are common for individuals with PTSD, as you may think that your friends and family don’t understand what you’re going through. So, in addition to maintaining old connections, you can try to establish new ones with group therapy. This is a non-judgmental environment that will allow you to share, listen, and heal, while eliminating any feelings of isolation.

At More Life Recovery Center, we offer group therapy for participants to share and learn from others in a supportive environment as they continue to heal and grow.

Consider Professional Counseling 

An effective form of PTSD treatment is when individuals work one-on-one with a licensed and professional counselor or therapist. We provide cognitive therapy, which focuses on changing the way you think to improve your mental wellbeing. In addition to cognitive therapy, we offer behavioral therapy, which focuses on changing irrational and destructive behaviors, such as self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse, which are common behaviors among PTSD patients. Your sessions will be guided by a trained professional who is experienced in working with individuals who struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In therapy, you and your therapist will create goals to promote self-awareness and help you better understand healthy vs. unhealthy feelings. Other issues that may be addressed are:

• How your negative perceptions contribute to how you feel
• Analyzing your current situation to solve your current problems
• Strategies to challenge negative perceptions and distorted thinking

During your sessions, you and your therapist can decide on more specific goals, depending on the issues you are facing. Therapy is never easy, but once you commit to it, you will see results.

Keep A Daily Journal 

If you struggle with PTSD, it’s common to experience other mental disorders as a result, such as anxiety and depression. The symptoms attributed to each disorder can severely impact your mental health. Therefore, it’s recommended to try multiple strategies outside of treatment to stay grounded, like keeping a journal. Daily journaling can help you organize your thoughts and express your innermost feelings in ways you can’t do during one-on-one sessions with your therapist. The catharsis found in journaling may even reduce your symptoms of tension, anxiety, depression, and anger.

Journaling is a good way to document all your experiences, like the struggles you face on a day-to-day basis and the trauma that you brought here.

Monitor Your Emotions 

As you may know, your emotions affect your behavior. It can impact productivity, how you treat others, and your mental wellbeing. When you take stock of your emotions, you can pinpoint the emotions that trigger negative behaviors. Until you know your triggers, it will be impossible to address them.

It would be impossible to analyze every emotion you experience. But when you notice an unhealthy thought pattern, stop, and apply the “so what?” exercise by following these steps:

• Determine the problem (i.e., nothing ever works out according to plan)
• Determine the emotions linked to the problem (i.e., anger, disgust, rage, sadness)
• Ask yourself, “So what?”
• Answer yourself to find the underlying belief
• Challenge your answer

When done properly, monitoring your emotions is a very effective step in PTSD treatment. It may force you to look at hard truths, but only then can your work towards wellness begin.  

Contact More Life Recovery Center

Our team is committed to helping individuals achieve and maintain long-term recovery. We create many opportunities to heal in a safe environment with therapies and treatment programs like cognitive behavior therapy, while also integrating holistic and spiritual approaches. For PTSD treatment that works, call 1 (888) 825-8689 for 24/7 customer support.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]