Posted by ClearSkies on April 2, 2008, at 19:38:30
In reply to PTSD and addictions, particularly opiates (long), posted by BSBD on April 1, 2008, at 13:08:20
Hello, and welcome. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I have PTSD, am a recovering alcoholic, and am being currently treated for depression and anxiety, and panic attacks.
Although my therapist does not specialize in PTSD, she does appear to have a really comprehensive understanding of how delicate the balance is between my continuing recovery and the triggers that can send me spiraling down. After years of struggle, I no longer attempt to treat my PTSD with alcohol - during my early sobriety, I found the medication Campral (acampsrosate) to be particularly effective - have you ever heard of it? Perhaps it would help you too. It helped greatly with the tremendous anxiety that I felt in trying to string together more than a week or two of sobriety, and I took it for a year and a half before slowly weaning off.
You've done an awful lot of research about your own situation; I personally believe that it's not "just" about treating our addictions, or "just" about dealing with our PTSD that leads to a comprehensive recovery, but a holistic, whole body approach.
More often than not, that approach has to be cobbled together by us, the patient.
I found EMDR treatment to be of some benefit when I first started on my therapy journey, and might even revisit it in the future as it had such an agreeable outcome for me - you might find it beneficial as a treatment adjunct. I wouldn't throw out therapy based on your previous experiences, just because I've has some pretty inept therapists who did not help my recovery at all - I've had to be persistent in searching for the right therapist fit for my particular set of problems.
It's nice to meet you.
ClearSkies
poster:ClearSkies
thread:821013
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20080104/msgs/821253.html