I’m so sorry to hear that!

I don’t know a lot about PTSD. So I don’t know how much useful advice I can give you. However, I can provide some help with anxiety problems and managing stress.

What I have come to use in many situations where I feel overwhelmed or I am inside my own head, is to do mindfulness-based practices. Such as mindfulness meditation.

The idea here is that by being trapped in your own feelings. Or try to resist those feelings. You simply let those feelings play out. Much like water flowing down a river.

You shift from “Doing” to “Being”.

This, of course, isn’t easy. Western society has conditioned us to always do something. Change things when we experience pain or go for pleasure. Or when you feel stress. To change it. But there’s something peaceful when you stop resisting things from happening. And you let go of your mindset of control. That’s what mindfulness is. You simply become “aware” of the experiences, tastes, sounds, sights,… And don’t try to label them of change them.

That’s what Consciousness really is.

It’s the space in which everything occurs. Nothing more, nothing less.

The question is, how do you put yourself in such a state. Or How do you do this when you have such an experience?

My advice is to direct your attention to those emotions. Don’t try to run away from them or suppress them. Don’t try to change them. Or force yourself to do anything.

Try to first direct your mind to become aware of your breath and then slowly shift your attention towards the feeling you have. Ask yourself in which part of the body you are feeling those emotions the strongest. And to be mindful of those feelings. You let curiosity play out.

What I have found in my own experience is that I simply get calmer. I don’t get more anxious or anything.

The first time I went skydiving, I had serious anxiety and stress. I got inside my own head. That was like days before the jump. But one day before the jump I realized that I could lower my stress and anxiety by simply trying to stop to change those feelings.

I still felt those feelings but I got more sense of those emotions.

I’m only telling this from my own experience. This might not work! It’s very dependent on the person. But mindfulness has been shown to lower stress.

And If you lower stress, you downregulate your central nervous system and activate more the parasympathetic nervous system. You get more relaxed.

I hope this helps a bit.