Anita,

PTSD is very difficult disorder and I believe you are very brave to talk about it because many people simply don’t fully understand the impacts it has on daily life. Have you seen a professional for any of this? Did your mom face any punishment for her actions? Are you still in contact with her?

My suggestion is to own what you are and what you do, and to do it a little at a time if you need to. Start out first thing in the morning and don’t stop until you go to bed. Since breakfast is the time of day you mentioned being so difficult, when you wake up and before getting out of bed tell yourself “Right now, I really am fine. I am safe. I am simply going to go to the kitchen/bathroom/etc.” Then when you do that one thing, even simply walking down the hall, tell yourself “I did what I was going to. Everything is fine, I’m right here. Now I’m simply going to..” and keep going throughout your day. This might sound silly and repetitive, and obviously you can alter this to your needs, but one important thing to remember is habit. Treating any disorder, panic, affective, sleeping and so on, requires three things; actual treatment strategies, how much the individual physically and mentally puts into treatment, and usually some type of lifestyle adjustment. If you need to write beneficial sayings, goals, reminders, etc. then do it and place them at your bedside and where you eat breakfast.

If you need a more “forceful” approach try taking on the role of an outside observer that simply does not care and states the obvious, like a stereotypical, loud, football (American football if this helps clarify) coach. This can help in two ways. One, it can help by putting the exact situation you are in into perspective, and it helped me to “yell” at myself like a coach because negative thinking for example was one thing I had trouble changing. So in the morning try something like this when you start feeling scared- “Omg I’m freaking out!’ ‘What are you freaking out for? Are you hurt? No! Is that plate of breakfast scary looking? No, all it is ____, so why let it bother you?! Just finish it and get to your other responsibilities!’ The second thing this might do is motivate you even more to get out of the PTSD hold it has on you.

Just some thoughts for you Anita 🙂

-L.