2012-01-17T09:23:00.000-08:00

Imagine triggers no longer triggering

Guest Blog: reprinted with permission

January 30, 2010 By Deirdre Fay

I know that feels like a bit of a stretch: PTSD triggers not making life unbearable for hours and days on end? Wow. Could that really be true?

Yes. Yes, it’s true, it’s possible.

We do not have to feel stuck, helpless in our negative triggered responses.

We start making the shift when begin to see triggers as messages calling for our attention, not “the truth” about what is happening now. The nature of triggers is that they are loaded with a lot of charge, they feel electrified with power, they reach out and grab us. In an instant our bodies are caught and plugged into terror, horror, anxiety, distress… there are many names for that.

So, how, I know you are asking, how do we shift this crazy pattern?

1. Naming the pattern:

When your reaction is out of proportion to the event in front of you it is almost certain that the reaction you are having is not about the current moment. Sometimes just naming it helps: “I’m triggered. I’m triggered.” Stay away from the content of the trigger and keep focusing on naming it for what it is — you’re triggered.

2. Separate the trigger from you:

What that automatically does – but needs endless repetition – is separate out the trigger from you. Something is happening to you but you are not that blow apart or numbed out experience which is exploding in your body. This provides a slow and steady effect of helping you dis-identify from the symptom: You are not the anxiety that is coursing through you.

3. Listening without agenda:

Engage with the anxiety/terror/distress/unease and ask it to slow down/give you some room so that you can listen to it. It’s important not to be doing this in the attempt to fix it, change it, get rid of it!!! Yes, that might be an ulterior motive, but the more neutral you can stay, the better off you will be. Having a healthy curiousity will make a world of difference.

4. Now that you’re slowed down a bit:

At this point in the process your body might have slowed do so much and taken such effort and concentration that you might want to take a break! Understandable. And that is fine. This might be exactly where you want to stop.

Sometimes this is the perfect thing to do – retrain your body and your mind and your nervous system to not be so automatic in response to your triggers. We can, in fact, learn to harness that energy that gets triggered inside and work with it rather then being dominated by it.

That’s the goal of the Becoming Safely Embodied Basic Skills Course that will be coming out in the next six months. If you’re interested in more information click here to put your name on the list and I’ll keep you posted!

http://dfay.com/archives/34

Supporting Joshua Casteel

2012-01-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Supporting Joshua Casteel
Iraq War Veteran

I first met Joshua Casteel several years ago at Riverside Church in New York City.
Joshua grew up in an Evangelical Christian household, was a member of the Young Republicans, and received a 4-year ROTC scholarship and appointment to West Point. He went to boot camp at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri in 1997, then served with the Army's 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion as an Arabic translator and U.S. Army interrogator inside the prison at Abu Ghraib.

Although I had watched Joshua's interview in the award-winning documentary, Soldiers of Conscience, I was completely unprepared for the impact of hearing, in person, this bright, articulate, thoughtful and impassioned speaker - so young, yet able to express such a profound understanding of the meaning of conscience, that I found myself at a loss for words when we spoke for a few minutes after his public testimony. He had said, "There is no such thing as a private conscience. Conscience is inherently social." I wrote that down and thought about it, and continue to think about it.

Please listen to him in this video clip of his testimony at the Truth Commission On Conscience In War, Riverside Church, New York City, March 21, 2010

After returning to the United States in January 2005, Joshua submitted CO (conscientious objector) paperwork in February and was honorably discharged in May. Since returning, he has been active in the peace movement, serving on the board of directors of Iraq Veterans Against the War and chairing IVAW's Religious Dialogue committee. Joshua attended the University of Iowa graduate playwright workshop, wrote two plays about his experiences in Iraq, and earned an M.F.A. His story was featured in Robert Greenwald's documentary film, Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers. Letters from Abu Ghraib was published by Essay Press and excerpts from the book were printed in Harper's Magazine.

Currently, Joshua is undergoing intensive treatment for stage IV cancer. His family is with him as are many friends and supporters. He is doing well enough that he plans to resume teaching one day a week. But, even so, more help and loving care is needed. Please go to http://joshuacasteel.com/?p=65 or to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshuacasteel/resources and give what you can.

Eva Usadi
Founder and Director
Warrior Camp
a program of Trauma and Resiliency Resources, Inc.

Healing Our Warriors TRR

Supporting Joshua Casteel