#cptsdhealing

[mycptsdstory]

Found on reddit. Absolutely true

[human-not-mental]

cPTSD be like: break down in tears when someone treats you with compassion.

[fictotsundere]

complex post traumatic stress disorder

[offthescalez]

When you are being told what you experienced isn’t as bad as you thought it was… when you aren’t being believed… look inwards. Your body speaks. It tells tales of what has happened and carries that burden and pain. Your body doesn’t lie. They do. Trust your body.

[xyzvi444ro]

Well can I not be

[cryingtomycats]

Reclaiming your room as a safe space

If you, like me, have had a traumatic experience occur in your room, it can make it really hard to feel safe and comfortable living there. Unfortunately, changing where you live and your room entirely can be really hard, so here's some stuff that's helped me be more comfortable in my room (this won't work for everyone, but it has helped me a LOT)

Rearranging the room- Even just somewhat shifting the layout can be helpful in making it feel different which for me makes memories less frequent

Using smells- I know I talk about this a LOT, but smell has a really strong connection to memory, so using candles or incense or a diffuser or changing the detergent your wash your clothes and sheets with can REALLY help make the place feel different and help you associate the smell of your room with home instead of with trauma. Plus, you get to pick what it is.

Changing the lighting- If you usually open your blinds or curtains, keeping them closed more or visa versa, changing the kind of bulb in your lamp/lights, or, what I've done, using colorful fairy lights. That way, no matter the time of day or what else is going on lighting wise, the room is bathed in a pinkish glow and it will never look exactly the same

Repainting the walls- If you have more time and money, repainting the walls of a room can make it feel entirely different

Replacing/removing a big piece of furniture- if something happened at a desk, or in your bed, or in a chair, or on your rug, while it is the most potentially expensive thing on this list, replacing that can help a lot, because it'll get rid of the part of the room strongest tied to the trauma.

That's all I have right now. I'm not an expert on anything and I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do, but I wanted to share this because firstly, it's helped me a lot, so maybe it could help someone else, and secondly, some shit went down this weekend and posting about stuff that's helped me in my recovery is making me feel a little better.

I really hope someone finds this helpful and if not that's okay too. Hope you have a good day either way <3

[iced-depresso-macchiato]

Okay real question-

How do you make new friends as someone with cPTSD in their early 20s?

How? There’s so much context that people just won’t have about you and how do you introduce yourself or talk about stuff when your whole life is so interwoven with little traumas that you’ve only just started to discover?

Especially if you’re a parentified child like yeah I’m quite good at being the friend who takes care of others but I feel like I’m hanging on by a thread and I need a friend to just be there - not to solve things or do anything but just to be there and not be freaked out but I don’t want to be a burden and trauma dump on them because I have a therapist.

How do you make friends in early adulthood when you’ve only just realised that your childhood (the bits you remember) aren’t the norm? What do you talk about when your hobbies have turned out to be forms of escapism and self-soothing tactics?

Complex trauma is so weird. As much as ‘you’re more than your disorder’, it’s different here. This literally grows with you. How do you make new friends when you’ve don’t know how to exist as your own person outside of a fight/flight response?

[mycptsdstory]

Found on twitter