PTSD is an abbreviation of post-traumatic stress disorder. A person tends to feel strong negative emotions after going through a traumatic experience in their lives; the trauma keeps coming to them in the form of nightmares or flashes, especially when they hear similar news or pass the place where it happened to them.
Cannawholesalers and Zoomies are websites providing great deals on products to help with your anxiety and depression, but one should not take anything without consulting a doctor. Nonetheless, if you have PTSD and you want to cope with it naturally, you’re at the right place. I have listed seven ways below to help you through it. I hope it helps you more than it helped me.
Support them
It has been found through many studies that support helps people recover from the biggest and scariest of traumas. Talking to an old friend, talking to a therapist, and opening up to family are brave things that an affected person has to do, and the least you can do is listen and tell them that they will get out and better days are waiting for them.
Be the someone they need to talk to and tell them how to manage their anxiety. You can go with them to a professional and sit with them through the session if they ask you to, remember that trusting other people is hard for a person going through a rough patch and if they are trusting you then you should find yourself lucky and try to make things better for them.
Try distraction technique
Distraction technique is one of the essential methods for fighting with negative emotions, making one feel uncomfortable and low. In distraction technique, you do temporary things that will take your attention off from the strong negative emotions leaving you feeling relaxed.
PTSD makes one feel worse and brings our focus on all the negativity, and even when you do distract yourself, the negative emotion can be working at the back of your head, which is okay and should not freak you out.
Just make sure to do something that makes you happy, you can paint, draw, sketch and dance as these things will take your mind off, and even if you are getting 10 minutes of peace due to these distractions then that is enough to help you deal and find a way out of a feeling that strong emotion.
Deep breathing exercises
I have seen so many people around me that do not know how to breathe properly, when you breathe in the air there should be an expansion in your belly and when you exhale there should be a fall in your belly. The diaphragm is a large muscle in your abdomen that is used for breathing, but over time, sadly, people have forgotten to breathe this way and use their chest and shoulders, which is wrong.
Breathing through the chest causes shallow breaths, which can cause anxiety to rise. However, you can easily learn to breathe again, practice some deep breathing exercises thrice a day, and be back on track, which will help combat anxiety.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is an excellent technique that lets you get a hold of your anxiety. To do mindfulness, one must sit in a comfortable posture, inhale for four seconds, keep it in for two seconds and then exhale for four seconds.
During this process, it is normal if your brain wanders off to different places, but the key to bringing its focus back to breathing, this eventually gives you control over your feelings and emotions. From various studies, it has been observed that mindfulness has many different benefits for people suffering through anxiety and depression.
One can be stuck in their head, and their anxiety may be rising due to past trauma or the daily worries of their life, but they need not worry because mindfulness will help them get out of their head and help them connect with the present.
Monitor yourself
Monitoring yourself may seem funny to other people, but hear me out because it’s not helpful to handle your anxiety and symptoms. We do things that have been programmed into us without thinking, and we are unaware of all the things that go on around us, and as a result, we lack awareness. This is the prime reason why individuals can feel that they are unaware of their emotions and what they feel since they are unpredictable and not manageable.
Therefore, start monitoring yourself to find the root of what ignites your anxiety and what disturbs you; once you know the root of the problem, then dealing with the problem will be an easier issue. This will decrease anxiety and increase awareness; you will feel that you have found a new connection with yourself.
Maintain a journal
A journal is a person’s best friend, especially when going through a rough patch in their lives. A journal will help an individual towards coping with stress, negative feelings, and emotions. Writing in a journal is also known as expressive writing, which helps cope with anxiety; it’s like talking to a friend who understands and is there to listen to everything you have to say.
Writing in a journal has many other benefits, such as your improved coping mechanisms, you grow mentally, find meaning in life, and start to change since you feel less frustrated and exhausted, reduced anger, and reduced symptoms of PTSD. The key is to write whatever you have in your heart, and in the end, I promise you will feel like a better person.
Try behavioral activation
Anxiety is the fear of something terrible happening. When you avoid such feelings, they may help in the short term, but in the long term avoiding anxiety can cause issues that will stop you from living a happy, healthy, and meaningful life.
Therefore, it is essential to try behavioral activation which means that an individual suffering from post-trauma anxiety must increase their activity levels, they need to move more and engage in activities that are positive and have rewarding results, and this cannot only generate hope but lessen the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
To sum it all up, if anyone around you has PTSD, make sure to be there for them, listen to what they have to say and show support by telling them that everything is going to be okay, you never know that a small act of your kindness can go a long way. You can be the reason for someone returning to a happy, healthy life.