Coping with PTSD

[IAmOut]

Hi all,

I posted last year about wondering if I had PTSD, and this year I’ve been diagnosed and signed off work because of it. I can’t see myself being any better by the time I have to go back, I don’t feel like a busy environment is something I can handle anymore. I’m looking for a new job but I don’t know what kind of work wouldn’t be triggering for me. Does anyone have any ideas? I’m also on a waitlist for therapy but I’m told it can take several months for appointments.

[Lisa]

Hello IAmOut,

Thanks for your post. I can understand your concern around the prospect of going back to work and how your PTSD symptoms could be triggered by a new, busy, or unfamiliar environment. It’s natural to have some anxiety around this.

Hopefully some users with experience with this will be able to offer advice, but in the meantime, I wonder if some private therapy might be useful to start working through these feelings. Private counselling can be expensive, but some therapists offer discounts in certain circumstances so it may be worth enquiring if this is something that you’d find helpful. https://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-abuse-directory/

Take care and keep posting,
Lisa

[Happyskies]

Hi iaout.

I wet back to work with undiagnosed PTSD. It was really scary and sometimes embarrassing. I was taking anti anxiety medicine.

It was really difficult and i would get triggered. However, i did confide in m Lin make early on about what was going on for me and it made all the difference.

I learned to feel when things were coming on so i could find a quiet place to calm down.

You can use tricks like keeping a notebook on you so you can write out triggers as thy re happening, use calming tokens that meansomthing to you so you can hold onto hem to calm down, and do Dee breathing to calm yourself.

Alot of work places have good domestic abuse and mental heath policies now so if you can face it, i would definitely think about thing your workplace. If you have an official diagnosis, I’m pretty sure that it’s a protected characteristic in law, which means provision to help you be on a ‘level playing field’ should be made.

Mostly, i have to say i as really positively surprised at how understanding most people were. Colleagues for the mostprt showed me so much kindness and understanding and really helped me develop my skills no matter what. It meant i could get a promotion quite quickly and really get on ith my life.

[Happyskies]

Hi iamout

I realised i didn’t mention EMDR therapy. Things really made a positive turn after i had those EMDR sessions so i would really recommend that.

[Author]

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