I took your advise and found someone who could help and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. Has anyone else been this route and have some positive feedback or been thru this?
Saw a great therapist and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress. Any one else?
by Beachlover 8 Replies latest jw friends
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zeb
Yes. counsellors come in two packages one is Psychologist who is a counsellor the other Psychiatrist who is a doctor who specializes in mental issues. Of the first two I have met some good and some weirdos who had huge agendas of their own. The other being doctors were most helpful, very kind and very knowledgeable.
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scruffmcbuff
I have PTSD after several tours of actice duty and suffer with severe anxiety as a result.
Therapy is a great start but the real help will come from yourself one day.
If you ever wanna talk please message me. your not alone.
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LisaRose
I highly recommend meditation.
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Heartsafire
Anxiety diagnosis for me too. I'm not on meds though. Just talking to my counsellor does wonders for me.
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Phizzy
I think I may have been lucky, but I found a wonderful Therapist who helped me come back from the brink, I was suicidal when I first visited her.
Her wonderful advice has freed me of depression and enabled me to enjoy life to the full.
Yes, the JW religion was the main cause of my problems.
I owe her a great deal.
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hyperpen
I was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of mental and physical abuse at the hand of JW parents, among other things. The one therapist out of many that finally led me to see how stuck I was in the past passed away seven years ago but I am so grateful for her.
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geevee
My wife had a couple of sessions with a Psychologist while we were still "in"..she found it exceptionally helpful. The lady asked her to imagine her life "without guilt".... that was around the start of our gearing up to do exactly that... which means you need to LEAVE.
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Sail Away
Beachlover, a sailor and beach lover here too!
I have been diagnosed with and treated for generalized anxiety disorder, severe recurrent clinical depression and PTSD since the early '90s. The tipping point was a bad car accident in which I was driving and my kids were in the car. I clearly had all of these conditions before the accident, but as a believing JW, they went untreated. I guess I was supposed to wait until the "New System" to recover from child sexual abuse and the fallout from the abuse from a psychotic Mom and an alcoholic father. The nightmares about torture in concentration camps, rape and torture in Malawi and the fiery execution at Armageddon of all of my non-believing family members were just icing on the cake.
I was in and out of therapy and on psych meds for two decades with little to no improvement. I now know that there is no way a therapist can help you without full disclosure. The elders had instructed me to not speak to my therapist about "spiritual matters". I should only speak to them about such things. I would say that I was a JW, but that religion was not up for discussion. I tied their hands behind their backs.
The organization, its policies, procedures, practices and teachings pushed me to the brink in early 2011. I walked away on July 3, 2011. I walked away a believer expecting to be destroyed by God.
A few months later I found jwfacts.com and read Crisis of Conscience and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. That is when my healing began. I have been off of all psych meds for over a year now. I still see my Buddhist Psychologist weekly. His approach is different than many traditional therapists, but it resonates with me.
This is what helped:
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy to help me learn communication and life skills I never learned in my 42 years as a JW. Health insurances in the U.S. usually pay for this evidence-based therapy.
Studying, practicing and now teaching evidence-based tai chi and qigong including sitting, standing and lying down meditation.
Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction
I am now training to be a (secular) Mindfulness Meditation teacher based on techniques of Minfulness-based Cognitive Therapy. You can read about the program here:
Free online meditations for the program are here:
http://franticworld.com/free-meditations-from-mindfulness/
I meet weekly with my Insight Meditation Society meditation group. The teacher has a Zen Buddhism background which I find interesting and helpful. It's a great place to meet people who offer kind support.
I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I wanted to take the time to give a well thought-out answer. For me working with the mind-body connection was key. Even when triggered, I haven't dissociated in years.
Wishing you peace and wellness,
Diane