Hi Elizabeth
Thankyou for starting this thread, I also have PTSD, maybe C-PTSD, but was also diagnosed with anxiety.
I'm very sorry you've felt distressed. I hope things work out for you with this therapy!
Today, my 3rd session was via zoom for the first time. Sessions 1 & 2 were via phone so I've never 'met' her.
My specialist trauma psychologist (STP) started a little "exposure therapy" with me today.
My STP intends to do "prolonged exposure therapy" with CBT once we can meet in person in July, with the approval of my Counsellor who I've been seeing for around 4y. I'm sure my counsellor will agree.
Do you think prolonged exposure therapy and simply stated exposure therapy are the same thing? I get the feeling they are not.
STP said I did well in self-settling after mild exposure today. SO she gave me huge homework to do which she explained is exposure therapy in itself. I'll have to set aside a few hours to write it all and then to do some grounding & self-care after.
She aims to have me be able to "Journal" myself through any future exposure therapy should needs arise at a later stage. Or between sessions soon.
Homework: I'm to write about an action I'm avoiding & describe precisely every thought, bodily sensation, everything... so when she reads it, she can feel what I'm going through. Dealing with the trigger itself, providing reasons why these reactions occur and "filing" the memories to have zero emotional attachment are the aims.
She described prolonged E.T. as extremely challenging. My triggers are experiential, past IRL events. She intends to take me back to the event, for me to relive the entire event, then to teach me how to deal as above. There are many such events for me but she feels confident that prolonged E.T. with one event may enable me to generalize the newly learned responses to cover several. Many events were of similar "type".
The broadest aim of hers for me is to not avoid ANYTHING I want to do because of the traumas / previous triggers. To be free of them. She thinks we can achieve this - we'll see lol.
I understand that "effective" therapy for PTSD and C-PTSD is stated to take between 20-30 sessions then lifelong support (cited - Blue Knot Foundation).
It seems like your E.T. is slightly different in format also maybe the triggers you're having are different in "type" than myself?
Maybe our psychologists are "tailoring" programs due to our specific needs. I hope so! What do you think?
EM