How do you recover from a psychological scar?

I think it´s important to remember that you´re not alone. Many people go through terrible things and are able to eventually heal.

Time does help and other than that different coping mechanisms may work as well. Depending on the type of trauma you´re referring to, attending therapy or a support group could be helpful as well. Mediation, and spiritual self care can also be really good if you´re comfortable with that.

Sending you positive energy and hope for healing.

You learn to live with it, learn from it, and go on. ^ is right, time & distance do help.

Psychologically.

@LeavesNoTrace
@KNOWITALL

So therapy or medications won’t be able to cure it? or mitigate it to a significant extent?

What about PTSD in particular, is it possible to get rid of the triggers?

@raven860 I´m definitely not an expert on PTSD but from personal experience I would say to approach any type of Rx med with extreme caution.

Unfortunately with many things, it´s impossible to avoid all triggers but I´ve had a lot of success working with a good psychiatrist. Look into Gestalt therapy. It´s my personal favorite as it emphasizes personal responsibility and puts the power to cope back in your hands.

@raven860 My bro-in-law has PTSD from military action and yes, he’s on meds, but the scars are still there. Not sure if he’s tried therapy honestly.

@KNOWITALL

Do the meds help significantly?

“You have to live through your pain gradually and thus deprive it of its power over you. Yes, you must go into the place of your pain, but only when you have gained some new ground. When you enter your pain simply to experience it in its rawness, it can pull you away from where you want to go.
What is your pain? It is the experience of not receiving what you most need. It is a place of emptiness where you feel sharply the absence of the love you most desire. To go back to that place is hard, because you are confronted there with your wounds as well as with your powerlessness to heal yourself. You are so afraid of that place that you think of it as a place of death. Your instinct for survival makes you run away and go looking for something else that can give you a sense of at-homeness, even though you know full well that it can’t be found out in the world.
You have to begin to trust that your experience of emptiness is not the final experience, that beyond it is a place where you are being held in love. As long as you do not trust that place beyond your emptiness, you cannot safely re-enter the place of pain.
So you have to go into the place of your pain with the knowledge in your heart that you have already found the new place. You have already tasted some of its fruits. The more roots you have in the new place, the more capable you are of mourning the loss of the old place and letting go of the pain that lies there. You cannot mourn something that has not died. Still, the old pains, attachments, and desires that once meant so much to you need to be buried.
You have to weep over your lost pains so that they can gradually leave you and you can become free to live fully in the new place without melancholy or homesickness.”
— Henri J. M. Nouwen, “Go Into the Place of Your Pain,” The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish To Freedom

One of my favorite quotes from a book…. Read it :)

@raven860 Do you mind if we ask for more details about your situation? Not to pry, just wondering.

@He is an addict who has agreed to an open marriage to keep his cheating wife home. It’s hard to tell.

@KNOWITALL I see. Thank you. I don´t see that going well. Maybe getting rid of the wife may be helpful in the long run… Might give some peace of mind at least.

@The family agrees with you. The ptsd is probably from her not war sadly. But she’s gorgeous so there’s that.

Therapy can often help a person learn how to cope with the psychological scar from a traumatic experience. Medications are sometimes helpful at the beginning of therapy but often the person can benefit from therapy even without drugs.

Sometimes, traditional “talk” therapy is retraumatizing. Talk enough to feel heard and supported… then focus on changing your triggers. Imagine yourself creating new neural pathways. Be patient with yourself. Talk positively to yourself. Look at yourself every day in the mirror and genuinely smile. Forgive yourself. Work at forgiving others. Take small steps. Imagine a better future.

To summarize… I suggest:
– cognitive behavioral therapy
– dialectical behavioral therapy
– mindfulness
– meditation
– guided imagery
– patience

Feel free to PM me if you’d like to talk.

I was sexually abused from birth to age 13, and had PTSD, general anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Therapy was very helpful in that it got me to the point of taking actions I needed to take to make my life better. Medication was very helpful, too, and continues to be. Time, of course, is an important factor as well. Know that you are not alone, and that it is possible to not only survive, but to thrive!

I’m available for a PM conversation, too. :)

I spent four years in counselling to deal with primarily abusive relationships. I don’t think we ever fully heal our pain. It comes back in waves and through triggers. For me it’s a constant commitment to my self and my own mental health. I’ve done CBT since the therapy and that helps somewhat. But it’s hard. It’s a daily battle. Today I’m having a bad day. Relationships are a huge struggle for me, even with family and friends, I have to continually ask myself, am I honouring myself? Sometimes, like today, I just don’t know and I don’t know what to do about it. Sometimes there is just no feeling better, so I wait and hope that tomorrow is better.

You can relieve some of the pain, and help put it into perspective by re-wiring your nervous system. Listening to classical music, esp Bach and Mozart, or listening to sanskrit chants can install or recover harmonious pathways in the nervous system and help calm parts of the nervous system that are stuck alarm/pain mode as a result of trauma.

@dabbler

Is there a name for such type of therapy? have there been studies regarding its effectiveness?

Mantra has been used for thousands of years to build and train the human nervous system, and to rebuild from trauma.
The use of Mantra was described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali written around 2300 years ago.