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Some Tips We Use to Know We’re In Survival Mode

disclaimer, we aren’t experts. these are just tips and tricks we as someone who struggles with mental health use to figure out what’s going on with us, bc brains are designed not to let you know just how bad things are until you’re safe again

* pay attention to your body’s skin, nail, and hair, ect- this sounds silly but if you’re in flight or fight All The Time your body can tell. your hair will be thinner and and more brittle. your nails will break more often. your skin will be duller. hell, our contact prescription got worse by several degrees within like six months during a period when we were having a panic attack a day. pay attention to these things

* constant migraines, stomachaches, joint pains - obviously sometimes constant discomfort and chronic pain is just an unfortunate reality, particularly for those who live with autoimmune disorders, but if you haven’t been diagnosed, ordinarily have fairer health, ect, it’s worth looking into if something is constantly aching bc that isn’t actually normal if you don’t know of anything that could cause it

* sleep not coming easily - constantly waking up from sleep, having trouble falling asleep in the first place, constant exhaustion throughout the day, jerking awake right as you were about to sleep, ect

* daily tasks becoming harder to complete - partially bc of the exhaustion above, i’m sure. but maybe your house is getting harder to clean. maybe you’re spending a couple days at a time skipping showers, maybe your diet has gotten worse bc foods that are easier to make tend to be worse for you. showers and getting out of bed seeming like herculean tasks are a huge sign that your mental health is not where it needs to be

* social time decreasing - friend time is healthy time, even for the most intense introverts out there. if you find the time you spend talking with friends decreasing, finding socializing to be less and less welcome, it may be worth looking into the reason. maybe you just have shitty friends, or maybe it’s taking every speck of energy you have just to keep going

#mental health #trauma tips #did #dissociative identity disorder #otherwise specified dissociative disorder #osdd #ddnos #dissociative disorder not otherwise specifed

dissociation + school 💫

Having had PTSD and struggling with dissociation and derealisation during my final year of school, I picked up some tips along the way! 1. Have sensory items in your pencil case I always kept something tactile in my pencil case that I could use to keep me grounded when I could feel my mind slipping. Things like blue tack, stress balls, fidget spinners - anything small enough to fit in my palm and pencil case was perfect. Have a Yr 12 kitchen? Keep some ice cubes that you can use to shock your senses if you need to. Eating an ice cube before class was always helpful to knock me back into reality. 2. Work our your triggers at school A particular teacher, lesson, place etc. trigger you? Write a list down of things that you find more triggering when you’re at school and be mindful of where/when they could occur. There was a certain teacher at my school that looked a lot like a family member, so I went out of my way to avoid them. Similarly, I knew I dissociated the most in French and Psychology, so I’d always take more care of myself before and after those classes. Sometimes just being around lots of people would send me spiralling so I often found a quiet place (library!!) to stay at lunch. 3. When you’re dissociating Honestly once I had begun to dissociate, there was little I could actually do in the moment. If you’re having flashbacks, your brain is off somewhere else or you feel like you’re watching yourself - by that point it’s a lot harder to help yourself. But if you are able to identify when you’re dissociating, try and remove yourself from the situation. I would ask to go to the bathroom so I could splash some water on my face. I would also just sit in the cubicle. Don’t expect to snap back into reality but at least moving yourself out of your immediate environment can lessen the intensity of the dissociation. 4. Tell someone This is one everyone says but I feel like it’s super important for dissociation. I only ever told one friend, but it was helpful to have someone who could see the signs. I think it’s good to tell people what dissociation looks and feels like to you as each person is different. I would struggle to answer questions and would take longer to understand instructions in class. You could also tell by looking at me as I’d look like I was somewhere else, never really focusing on who was talking to me. It just meant they could check up on me after class, make sure if I was really bad I could get home, had all my stuff with me etc. 5. It will pass! Dealing with dissociation is hella scary, especially when you’re under 18, in class and suddenly watching yourself from the ceiling. It can come out of nowhere, quickly, slowly - it sucks. My final tip is just to know that it will pass. Feeling like you’re floating is terrifying, so I’d always keep a little reminder on my phone that the experience I was having would pass. Even if it would take a few minutes, hours, days etc. I would come back to myself again. I hope these help some other young students struggling! 💫💫 @studywithavalon