Why Feeling Good Is So Important in PTSD Recovery

Back in February, I wrote a post called "Are You Sensitizing Your Amygdala?", which was all about how your amygdala (the instinctual threat center of your brain) gets highly sensitized in PTSD and then finds and seeks threat constantly - even when there really isn't anything to feel threatened by. Recent advances in neuroscience have proven that while the amygdala changes to a sort of hyper-function in PTSD, it can change again in recovery.

One of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to help your older brain change is to start 'taking in the good'. That is, creating and building up your positive experiences. Of course, if you're struggling with PTSD this can seem like a daunting task. I know in my own journey the idea of feeling good sounded like a foreign language... What????

PTSD and How To Reclaim A Sense of Joy

Actually, it isn't that hard to shift your inner experience, slightly. The key is to approach this task with low expectations. 'Taking in the good' refers to being aware of a pleasant experience and allowing your mind and body to absorb the presence of it, just by being mindfully aware that it is happening and allowing that awareness and (slightly) good feeling to expand within you.

An important idea here is that you allow yourself to shift from feeling 0 joy (on a scale of 1-10) to just feeling a 1 or 2. So often in recovery we try to make an enormous leap, or think we 'should' be able to shift far and fast. The opposite is actually true, and much better for your recovery in the sense that it allows you to evolve slowly, organically, holistically and with lasting change.

When I work with clients and we discuss this idea 99% of them look startled by it, then worried and lastly uncertain that this is a viable path for them. I remember that feeling from my own recovery when it became clear I desperately needed to tap into something good but my inner self felt like a deep black pool of ooze. How was I supposed to find a good feeling in that?!

I think we all start with a, "I can't find anything!" attitude, so if your response to this idea is, "I can't do it!" you're in good company. Just for a second, though, imagine there's a table and you can set that idea on it so it is off to the side (I promise you, it will wait; you can pick it back up again later if you want to).

Now, once you get that out of the way think back to when you were a child. What activities did you really love? Make a list of as many as you can remember from simple things that delighted you (say, blowing bubbles) to more long-lasting and engaging activities (say, fishing for a whole afternoon).

Already getting stuck? Imagine your life as a timeline: Go back as far on the road as you can remember, then turn and face yourself toward the present moment. Walk yourself slowly through the years allowing any time, moment or experience that made you feel even the tiniest bit of joy, happiness, freedom or pleasure to magically appear in whole in or the form of a symbol.

Again, make a list of all the things you can remember. Then set out finding ways to access some form of that. For example, even if it's just as small an experience as petting an animal when you were five; what can you do today to have that experience more often and in more and more meaningful ways? Would that mean owning a pet, offering to pet sit, volunteering at a local shelter? Allow your creativity to flow. Ask friends and colleagues for their ideas. Often, what delighted you as a child will still delight you today, so these activities are a great way to tap into a part of you that has been dormant for a while but does, in fact, remember what it feels like to feel good.

It is possible to feel joy again -- make it a goal to access that part of you at least once a week. The more often you feel it, the more you enjoy it, the more you will want it. See if you can put into your schedule feeling good once every day. That's exactly what I did, and what many of my clients do -- the benefits are enormous both scientifically (your amygdala will thank you!) and psychologically.

Michele is the author of Your Life After Trauma: Powerful Practices to Reclaim Your Identity. Connect with her on Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and her website, HealMyPTSD.com.