What Is A Stuck Point

When I start started trauma piece of work with my therapist this summer, I had no idea what to expect. Almost of my previous knowledge of "trauma processing" either came from highly dramatized tv set shows or social media threads virtually eye move desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and my therapist had made it very articulate that my work with her would await nothing like those examples. Instead, my therapist and I spent an unabridged session discussing the 3 forms of trauma treatment she idea would best work for me, and together we mapped out my treatment program.

Like most other types of therapeutic modalities, trauma treatment rarely starts with any of the "heavy lifting." In fact, the first several weeks of trauma piece of work involved learning skills that almost paralleled those I'd already picked up through dialectical beliefs therapy (DBT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). However, I was instantly hooked when we started working through my "stuck points."

As the name suggests, stuck points are thoughts that keep u.s.a. from recovering. They are usually concise, overarching thoughts or beliefs that you concord about yourself or others that are often exaggerated and inaccurate, plus they almost always hold a negative connotation. Stuck points not only skew a person'southward view of themselves and the earth, simply they also atomic number 82 to a bicycle of painful emotions and negative thought patterns, hence causing someone with a history of trauma to become "stuck" in an unhealthy country of mind.

As I began identifying my personal stuck points and identifying situations where the stuck points led to emotional responses, I began to sympathize just how problematic these thought patterns were to nearly every aspect of my life.

For instance, the stuck betoken of "everyone will abandon me eventually" automatically puts me on the defense in nearly all of my interpersonal relationships. Because I already fear abandonment from the beginning, I bend over backward to hopefully convince the person to stay, panic and grow overly clingy at even the smallest hint of drifting, or lash out and use passive-aggressive advice to push people away and so that I can blame myself for everything. Of course, all of these behaviors are problematic and make lasting relationships all but impossible, so I remain "stuck" in this constant wheel because of my own idea, my stuck signal.

Evidently stuck points stalk from trauma, which means these thought patterns became a habit for those of united states of america living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and are obviously difficult to break. However, I am trying as much equally I tin can to not merely identify a list of my own stuck points, just I'm also using assignments from my therapist to tease autonomously my stuck points so that I tin can see how much they harm me.

As I go along to evaluate everyday events and look at the stuck points that automatically enter my mind, I am starting to recognize my emotional responses and work through them before I let my trunk'southward automatic responses take over. It'south not easy, and I'm still non getting it correct all the fourth dimension, but I am besides seeing glimmers of hope where I just saw despair before.

I call back that for many of usa, the real work in building a life worth living doesn't involve changing our lives, but changing the way we expect at our lives instead. After all, sometimes the mode we meet the world is merely a perception that's skewed past our past experiences and our ain preconceived notions of what the earth should be. By recognizing the thought patterns that we've allowed ourselves to get "stuck" in, we can eventually reframe our thoughts and turn on the lights in the room so that we're no longer stumbling around in the darkness.

Photo by Artyom Kim on Unsplash

How-do-you-do, I'g Megan, a Community Leader hither at The Mighty who too runs the "BPD Safe Zone" group. I'm very open nearly my struggles with Borderline Personality Disorder and other mental health atmospheric condition because I hope that by sharing my story, I can help erase the negative stigma surrounding mental illness. Too writing, my daughters are my life. I love board games, traveling, and big quantities of ice cream. You can follow my personal journey at Living On The Deadline, or cheque out my writing on The Mighty, Thought Itemize, Unwritten, Thrive Global, Moms, and Project Wednesday.

megan-glosson