Taking Care of Yourself in the Aftermath of Trauma: Maintaining your Balance By Bryce Hagedorn Adapted by Philip J. Lazarus

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Taking Care of Yourself in the Aftermath of
TraumaMaintaining your BalanceBy Bryce
HagedornAdapted by Philip J. Lazarus
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What is Stress Management

• Knowledge of the bodys reaction
• This includes the mental, physical, emotional,
  and spiritual factors associated with stress
• Utilization of several coping mechanisms
• Regular practice of relaxation techniques
• Periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of
  coping skills and relaxation techniques

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Rapid Relaxing

• Deep Breathing
• Breathe from the stomach rather than from the
  lungs
• Breathe in slowly through the nose and out
  through the mouth
• Breathe in to the count of 5, hold your breath
  for a cont of five, and then breath out slowly
  for another count of 5

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Progressive Muscle Relaxation

• Tension Awareness
• Where do you feel tense or stiff?
• Tense Muscles to the Count of Five then Relax to
  the Count of Five
• Repeat as needed
• Wear comfortable clothing
• Remove distractions
• Try different muscle groups
• Practice, practice, practice!

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What is Balance?

• Assigning meaning to your stress management
• Creating a balanced life in these areas
• Spirituality Exercise/Nutrition
• Work Friendships
• Leisure
• Love relationships
• Involves the creative use of time management, the
  blending of activities, and the attribution of
  meaning

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Why are we not good at Balance?

• The crisis management mentality
• Lack of attention to our needs
• Crisis occurs which focuses attention
• Lack of encouragement from above
• Desperate times call for desperate measures

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Exercise
Nutrition
Work
Leisure
Spirituality
Relationships
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Lets do an assessment
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Letting Go
Of these needs, which one are you most likely to
let go of under times of distress?

• Hierarchy of needs

• People choose to let
• go based on
• Priorities
• Past experiences
• Perceptions

Leisure
Exercise
Nutrition
Relationships
Spirituality
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Letting Go of Leisure

• The first to go (time after work/school)
• All work and no fun
• Results
• Feeling deprived
• No time to regenerate
• Not at your prime

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Letting Go of Nutrition

• Im too busy to eat
• Eating on the fly
• The physiological demands of stress
• I need energy, FAST!
• I need carbs, STAT!
• Results
• Weight gain/loss, high cholesterol, poor
  nutrients
• Physical/emotional crash

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Letting Go of Exercise

• I dont have the time
• I dont have the energy
• Some people count stress as exercise
• Results
• Cardiovascular disease
• Obesity
• Unhealthy weight loss
• Low energy / fatigue

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Letting Go of Relationships

• But I dont have time to take out the garbage.
• Initial tolerance of family and friends
• Healthy relationships take consistent effort
• Always risk of rejection and misunderstanding
• Results
• Loose contact with a close friend
• Are people avoiding you?
• Loose a love relationship
• Divorce / Separation
• Loneliness

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Letting Go of Spirituality

• I dont have time
• Whats the point?
• Results
• Ethical/moral dilemma
• Life comes to lack true meaning
• How did this happen?

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Spiritual Distress

• Loneliness
• Emptiness
• Hopelessness
• Despair
• Difficulty loving self or others
• Lack of meaning
• Loss of direction or purpose

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What you can do to stay Healthy!
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Eating to De-stress

• Eat breakfast daily
• Limit sweets
• Eat crunchy foods for comfort
• Eat six mini-meals daily (every 2-3 hours)
• Drink at least 8-10 cups of water/day
• Avoid smoking and alcohol, limit caffeine
• Eat more colorful fruits and vegetables
• Plan, PLAN, PLAN

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Exercise as a Stress Management Modality

• Detoxification of stress related compounds
• Regular exercise actually increases energy
• Moving meditation
• Enhanced feelings of self-esteem and
  self-efficacy
• Periodic solitude and introspection
• Opportunities for social support
• Endorphin theories
• Fitter to fight stress and disease

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Improving Relationships

• Communication
• Being open
• Take a risk on a new relationship
• Reestablish contact with an old friend
• Making time
• Schedule
• Prioritize
• Get out of the house!

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Meeting the Spiritual Need

• Use your car for quiet reflection
• What can you learn about yourself?
• How am I now wiser?
• Listen to spiritual tapes
• Meet with others
• Make gatherings a priority
• Find other times
• Set aside 10 minutes
• Take a long-term perspective
• Is there meaning in tragedy?
• Perhaps even a silver lining

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Be Creative

• Combine elements to meet multiple needs

Plan a regular evening walk (Exercise) with
your significant other (Relationships) and
discuss your individual, couple, and family needs
and goals.
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Once in Balance, STAY in Balance

• Commitment a deep involvement and commitment to
  an ideal greater than oneself
• Control reactions to events
• Challenge facing change as an opportunity for
  growth and excitement
• Coherence all things will work out as well as
  can be reasonably expected
• Choices engaging in consistent health behaviors
  all the time

C C C C C
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Staying Balanced

• Easier to repair than to rebuild
• Improve current relationships
• Reconnect with old friends
• Do something nice for someone each day
• Try to give at least 3 compliments each day
• Count your blessings
• Write down one blessing each morning even if
  things seem hopelessit always could be worse!
• Cut your losses and move alongespecially when
  your hope is gone
• Cant change the past

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Trust Yourself

• You will feel better in the future
• We tend to over-estimate the duration of an
  emotion when predicting how long we will feel
  about some event
• Unexpected traumatic experiences (e.g., loss of a
  child, paralysis, being sent to a concentration
  camp) often have less of a long-term impact on
  wellbeing than people expect
• Be kind to yourself
• Give yourself time to cope
• No right way to cope or feel, everyone copes
  differently
• There will be an answer, let it be!

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