Roll calls can help your DID System to manage situations in daily life, but they are not enough to support your SystemWork long-term. You need something that is equally organized, but that allows for more of a conversation than just a short report. You need a team meeting. [There is actually no need to have […]
basics
Tools for helping someone out of dissociation
If you are friends with someone who dissociates, you might want to learn how to help them, in case it happens while you are around. Here are different interventions you can use to interrupt dissociation and support grounding. Tell them that they are dissociating. People often don’t notice. If they get a hint, they might […]
Your (scrap)book of resources
To support therapy and stabilization it helps to collect all the resources you have found or learned and keep them in one place. That is why we own a resource (scrap)book. It is a visual and tangible reminder of helpful and positive things. Being creative when making it also deepens our understanding of our coping […]
Regulators
The three main concepts we need for self-regulation (as opposed to relational regulation) are gauges, regulators and containers. While imagery, breathing techniques, relaxation exercises, DBT Skills, mindfulness, distraction etc are all „regulators“, you can literally use a regulator to return to your window of tolerance. Before you start to create a regulator you might want […]
Preparation for emotional regulation: hyperarousal
PTSD makes managing feelings extra hard. That is why we will look at ways to deal with different emotions. But before we start with these steps there is one thing we need to take care of: And that is hyperarousal (flight/fight response) Hyperarousal (fight) is not anger, but the impulse for action might be similar, […]
Identifying your feelings (emotional numbing)
Before we can look into ways to regulate difficult emotions, we need to know what it is we are trying to regulate. Numbing is a common way of coping for trauma patients. When I first entered the mental health system I was unable to sense my emotions. My face was a mask that never moved. […]
“Same but different” (discrimination)
When we have a flashback or otherwise start to confuse present and past it is important to notice the differences between the present and the past situation. We do this using an exercise that we call „same but different“ and that Ts would probably call discrimination. (That sounds racist. But it’s not.) Discrimination comes […]
Relaxation
PTSD means chronic stress and tension. But we are aiming to regulate ourselves within the green and yellow area, not just the yellow. And that means learning to relax. Everyone needs this, but for trauma patients it can be harder to learn because it feels strange at first. We are not used to it. We […]
Breathe
Ancient philosophy formed our thinking about the triune nature of the human being, who is a spirit with a soul living in a body. We often talk about these things as if they were separate parts with defined boundaries between them. We know better today. Being physically sick will have an influence on emotional well-being. […]
Self-care
Many people confuse self-care with acts of self-love. Self-care is not about being „kind“ to yourself. It is about doing the most basic things to keep your body healthy and going. It is a necessity. If you want to be healthy you need to take care of yourself. If you struggle with self-love you can […]
Gauge your inner Life
The three main concepts we need for self-regulation are gauges, regulators and containers. As staying within the window of tolerance is one of our main goals (the other two are „being in the present“ and „being connected“) we need something that helps us to figure out where we are at. We need some kind of […]
SkillKit to go
We have talked about the window of tolerance, how you can use Skills to stop dissociation and self-harm using both body and mind, how to use Skills to stay within your window of tolerance through relational regulation, distraction, containment, imagery and mindfulness. We also explained how to chain Skills to make them the most effective. […]