{"id":1697,"date":"2014-04-19T20:36:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-20T00:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healwritenow.com\/?p=1697"},"modified":"2014-04-19T20:37:45","modified_gmt":"2014-04-20T00:37:45","slug":"guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"Free-Write Friday on Saturday and Finding What Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belleruth Naperstek\u00a0was a therapist for three decades and is the\u00a0author of Invisible Heroes: Trauma Survivors and How They Heal. She’s warm and tough, has\u00a0a hopeful optimism and no-nonsense directness\u00a0that makes me think she’s channeling Hilary Clinton,\u00a0Kwan Yin and Dr. Phil.\u00a0 She loves research and studies almost as much as providing people with accessible and\u00a0helpful tools\u00a0to help\u00a0ease or eliminate post-traumatic stress symptoms.<\/p>\n

She believes Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) is more of a physiological condition than a psychological one.\u00a0Fearless and ahead of her time,\u00a0she\u00a0challenges\u00a0other mental health colleagues who consider PTSD incurable or don’t stay on top of what works best for people with this condition. One of my favorite quotes by her is from a Huffington Post article where she wrote:<\/p>\n

“You\u00a0can recover from posttraumatic stress. Certainly, you can significantly reduce – not just manage – its symptoms. But – and here’s the thing – not with traditional treatment. The problem is, a lot of my colleagues don’t know this yet. So they go about it in traditional ways and pronounce the condition incurable, based on the results they get. \u201c\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The following video has helpful information.\u00a0Start the video <\/b><\/a>at\u00a02 min. and 17 sec. to hear\u00a0about PTS specifically or watch the entire thing to learn about\u00a0guided imagery in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about it, traumatic stress is the great big grand daddy of all mind-body conditions. It\u2019s the primitive brain. It\u2019s the mid brain that\u2019s in survival mode. It\u2019s totally activated. You\u2019re not going to get to it talking to somebody here (front of head). You have to talk to them back here (back of head). \u00a0That\u2019s where the condition sits in the brain. Guided imagery does that. \u00a0It speaks to perception, emotion, muscular reactivity, sensation. It\u2019s all that primitive stuff. Talk and psychotherapy is not gonna touch it.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

To which I say, I want a refund or at least an apology for all the friggin talk therapy. I’ve done a lot of talking for a lot of years and it wasn’t cheap.<\/p>\n

I know some of it was useful but I was diagnosed with PTS\u00a0in the “feel it to heal it” days where if talking once a week didn’t help, coming twice was suggested. I’m glad I couldn’t afford that because it likely would have made a hard time even worse.\u00a0educated about what my body needed to soothe my brain.\u00a0 Luckily, I have the chance to focus on that now. writing which all engage the body and the senses and often feel fantastic.<\/p>\n

What I realize though is how often I pull rank with my brain and boss my body around. Instead of asking, “What do I want or need?” and staying open and curious I have berated myself for feeling agitated or anxious.\u00a0 I want to become a person who says even if I’m the 1 in 100 I will advocate for myself instead of comparing myself to the other 99. I’m not there yet but that’s what I admire.<\/p>\n

I’ve spent a lot of years as a by-the-book person trying to boss myself around and\u00a0order myself to get in line despite how rarely that benefits me.<\/p>\n

Being a pacifist who wars with the self is not good for peace at the core.<\/p>\n

So, this brings me to the free-write of the week.<\/p>\n

Free-Write in 2 Parts<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)I War With Myself When I…….<\/p>\n

2)Making Peace with Myself Might Mean…..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belleruth Naperstek\u00a0was a therapist for three decades and is the\u00a0author of Invisible Heroes: Trauma Survivors and How They Heal. She’s warm and tough, has\u00a0a hopeful optimism and no-nonsense directness\u00a0that makes me think she’s channeling Hilary Clinton,\u00a0Kwan Yin and Dr. Phil.\u00a0 She loves research and studies almost as much as providing people with accessible and\u00a0helpful tools\u00a0to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[63,1,54],"tags":[111],"yoast_head":"\nFree Write Friday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Write Friday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Belleruth Naperstek\u00a0was a therapist for three decades and is the\u00a0author of Invisible Heroes: Trauma Survivors and How They Heal. She’s warm and tough, has\u00a0a hopeful optimism and no-nonsense directness\u00a0that makes me think she’s channeling Hilary Clinton,\u00a0Kwan Yin and Dr. Phil.\u00a0 She loves research and studies almost as much as providing people with accessible and\u00a0helpful tools\u00a0to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Heal Write Now for Trauma Survivors & Adults Abused as Children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HealWriteNow?ref=hl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HealWriteNow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-20T00:36:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-20T00:37:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/HealWriteNowLogoEARTH2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"324\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@healwritenow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@HealWriteNow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cissy White\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/\",\"name\":\"Heal Write Now for Trauma Survivors & Adults Abused as Children\",\"description\":\"Writing & Inspiration to Heal Trauma\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/\",\"name\":\"Free Write Friday\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-20T00:36:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-20T00:37:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/21a13a82ce4000c7383830e1634cb9bd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Free-Write Friday on Saturday and Finding What Works\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/21a13a82ce4000c7383830e1634cb9bd\",\"name\":\"Cissy White\",\"description\":\"Essayist \/ Journalist \/ Activist \/ Strategist \/ Feminist\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.healwritenow.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HealWriteNow\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/healwritenow\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/author\/cissy-white\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Free Write Friday","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Free Write Friday","og_description":"Belleruth Naperstek\u00a0was a therapist for three decades and is the\u00a0author of Invisible Heroes: Trauma Survivors and How They Heal. She’s warm and tough, has\u00a0a hopeful optimism and no-nonsense directness\u00a0that makes me think she’s channeling Hilary Clinton,\u00a0Kwan Yin and Dr. Phil.\u00a0 She loves research and studies almost as much as providing people with accessible and\u00a0helpful tools\u00a0to […]","og_url":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/","og_site_name":"Heal Write Now for Trauma Survivors & Adults Abused as Children","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HealWriteNow?ref=hl","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HealWriteNow\/","article_published_time":"2014-04-20T00:36:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-20T00:37:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":324,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/HealWriteNowLogoEARTH2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@healwritenow","twitter_site":"@HealWriteNow","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cissy White","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/","name":"Heal Write Now for Trauma Survivors & Adults Abused as Children","description":"Writing & Inspiration to Heal Trauma","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/","name":"Free Write Friday","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-20T00:36:10+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-20T00:37:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/21a13a82ce4000c7383830e1634cb9bd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/guided-imagery-protacted-post-traumatic-stress\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Free-Write Friday on Saturday and Finding What Works"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/#\/schema\/person\/21a13a82ce4000c7383830e1634cb9bd","name":"Cissy White","description":"Essayist \/ Journalist \/ Activist \/ Strategist \/ Feminist","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.healwritenow.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HealWriteNow\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/healwritenow"],"url":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/author\/cissy-white\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1711,"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697\/revisions\/1711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healwritenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}