Extinguish the triggers

Triggers can unleash nausea, survivors of violence may have to contend with many other PTSD symptoms, such as reliving the experience through recurring dreams or flashbacks. Sometimes it can be just a word or a sentence that triggers you off into the world of rejection and panic. You hold on to those people in your life that are there and listen but yet do not fully understand why you can't just shut it all off.

It does not mean it is hopeless and one never gets over this, it is a matter of learning to deal with it and extinguish the triggers before they play a mental war against you.

Some people may think it is silly to still feel the anxiety and the panic when someone rejects you in the most simple ways. It really isn't. Think of an addiction and you are trying to wean yourself off it. You will always be an addict you will just have learned to be strong and not take what made you escape reality.

Following a traumatic event, almost everyone experiences at least some of the symptoms of PTSD. When your sense of safety and trust are shattered, it’s normal to feel unbalanced, disconnected, or numb. It’s very common to have bad dreams, feel fearful, and find it difficult to stop thinking about what happened. These are normal reactions to abnormal events.

For most people, however, these symptoms are short-lived. They may last for several days or even weeks, but they gradually lift. But if you have post-traumatic stress disorder, the symptoms don’t decrease. You don’t feel a little better each day. In fact, you may start to feel worse. There are no easy answers or cures. It is different for everybody. Find what works for you and what makes you connect with the world again. I try to do that in Second Life, but even there it is hard.