In which I react to schoolwork
I am catching up on all my Crisis/Trauma readings for the semester because Reasons, and I am discovering that I have Instinctive Feelings about things.
Like: Prolonged Exposure? Lol, like you think a puny little thing like controlled breathing is going to manage my anxiety? And you really think forcing me to relive trauma over and over again just for the sake of desensitization is a good idea? The thing is, I get it, when it comes in forms that have a point beyond desensitization. Trauma narratives? Combo desensitization, reframing a narrative, and correcting cognitive distortions? Okay, cool. EMDR? Woo-woo magical bilateral stimulation fairies = reintegrating memories without so much negative emotion + some desensitization? Sold. Plain old exposure therapy? Like, whose stupid idea was it that avoidance in and of itself is a bad thing? "Normative" experienced-people do that shit all the time.
I'm also pretty damn sure that you don't have to re-experience/re-traumatize the 100% Worst Experience That Your Brain Noped Out Of in order to work on exposure to safe environments that have triggering stimuli. This feels very much like my father's joke about headaches: "I can hit you on the toe with a hammer; then you won't feel the headache anymore." Like "I can force you to relive your big trauma over and over again; then you'll be too effed up to worry about why going to parties freaks you out." And I expect it to not work in basically the same way.
In conclusion: prolonged exposure therapy, NOPE.
(
comments at Dreamwidth. Comment there.)
Like: Prolonged Exposure? Lol, like you think a puny little thing like controlled breathing is going to manage my anxiety? And you really think forcing me to relive trauma over and over again just for the sake of desensitization is a good idea? The thing is, I get it, when it comes in forms that have a point beyond desensitization. Trauma narratives? Combo desensitization, reframing a narrative, and correcting cognitive distortions? Okay, cool. EMDR? Woo-woo magical bilateral stimulation fairies = reintegrating memories without so much negative emotion + some desensitization? Sold. Plain old exposure therapy? Like, whose stupid idea was it that avoidance in and of itself is a bad thing? "Normative" experienced-people do that shit all the time.
I'm also pretty damn sure that you don't have to re-experience/re-traumatize the 100% Worst Experience That Your Brain Noped Out Of in order to work on exposure to safe environments that have triggering stimuli. This feels very much like my father's joke about headaches: "I can hit you on the toe with a hammer; then you won't feel the headache anymore." Like "I can force you to relive your big trauma over and over again; then you'll be too effed up to worry about why going to parties freaks you out." And I expect it to not work in basically the same way.
In conclusion: prolonged exposure therapy, NOPE.
(
comments at Dreamwidth. Comment there.)