Revisiting the past

Alme

Hi all

I have recently discovered that I suffered from a form of anxiety in my early 20s which may have been related to Tourettes from which I have suffered since childhood. This has resulted in unearthing long buried emotions wrt the Tourettes, associated OCD and the anxiety. This has been disturbing to say the least and I am debating whether there is any benefit to revisiting the past. I am now in my fifties and happy with life.

Any comments welcome

Santosha12

Hi Alme, in sept to dec 2016 I had counselling weekly but didn't realise initially that she specialised in psyco-dynamic counseling including exploring childhood trauma etc. I have complex ptsd and had to cancel my sessions as it brought a very disturbing set of mental health symptoms (flashbacks mainly including hearing things). It caused me serious problems for a good few weeks, was later told it was depersonalization and disassociation. I was lucky not to be sectioned and it was like mental torture for me. I am on a waiting list for counselling again via IAPT but will be extremely cautious about the method used. I also had to attend online psychological therapy Jan to mar last year as I have Long covid, that also caused me problems with the 2 'D's' I mentioned above it all just made me worse. I have not found an answer yet but for me i realise now, I can't have anyone 'messing about/toying' with my mental health, I became very fragile and it was extremely frightening. I am still working on ways/finding ways to help myself but they seem to be not mindfulness (that unsettles me) but more about grounding myself always. So sorry for such a long post. I have to just somehow leave the past very firmly their, as far away as possible without further unpicking of it. All the very very best to you. I'm 61 by the way. If you've any questions I'm happy to answer as best I can.

Alme

Thank you for reply, much appreciated

Alme

Santosha12

You're very welcome Alme. One grounding technique I recently started using, well, it's very very basic but surprisingly really helps me get past a difficult moment. It's see 3 things, feel 3 things and hear 3 things. I looked at a branch blowing outside, a cloud moving, my dogs chest breathing. I felt my dogs fur, another dogs ear, my settee which is leather. I listened to my dog breathing, listened to the wind blowing, listened to the kettle boiling. Funny how that was so grounding and couldn't for the life of me feel anxious even if I'd wanted to for those moments, felt very grateful for what I could see feel and hear. Sorry, I do go on a bit 🤭😊