Here are some coping strategies you can try if you are someone who has PTSD. If you
are having more symptoms than not, we strongly encourage you to seek a professional. We will
discuss the different types of therapy later. Here are just a few strategies. You can always share
any others you have found that are helpful.
- Deep Breathing- SEED knows breathing helps with so much. Most do not breath normal
or natural breaths when they are feeling stressed. Take a moment and do some deep
breaths. You could also include this with your Personal Internal Assessment PIA. - Progressive Muscle Relaxation- You can do this from a standing or sitting position. Focus
on one muscle and relax it. Then you go to different muscles doing the same thing until
your muscles in your body feel relaxed. - Mindfulness- in simplest terms it is just becoming present in the moment. When stress
and anxiety are high, we are often thinking of the past or future. Its important to focus
on the present moment. - Self-Monitoring- SEED has taken this to a whole other level by creating the personal
Internal Assessment PIA. It helps you develop things to look at for self-monitoring. - Social support- we go further in depth on this topic later in this module.
- Self-soothing- this can be done by many forms. You could also look this up by the term
stemming. This has become more common due to different disabilities discussing their
coping strategies. Some examples are rocking in a rocking chair, coloring, fidget
spinners, chewing on items and so much more.
6 - Expressive writing- This can take many forms. You could write in detail what you are
struggling with, or you can go the other way and write a fantasy story. This can also be
done in everyday journaling or writing. This pairs nicely with mindfulness. - Behavioral Activation- getting out of your mind and making your body be active is a
good strategy. You can take a walk around the block, exercise, play a game with family
or friends and more.
Those are just a few of the most popular strategies for coping with PTSD. These
strategies are not going to help you after just one use. For some of these you may have to
practice often. This can also depend on how much your PTSD affects your day-to-day life.
Anything to do with your mental health is going to take time and a lot of patience. Not only
with yourself but others. You can also share your coping strategies with your social support and
that can be helpful too.
We hope this gives you some basic information about PTSD. There is quite a bit of
information out there about PTSD. There is also different types of support out there as well.
Remember PTSD is unique to each person and shows up in unique ways as well.