Treat Trauma with its Enemy, a Pleasant Memory

Birth trauma is a very real phenomenon and one that is gaining recognition as a trigger for developing PTSD. What if the antidote to healing was tied to training yourself to recall positive memories. This is the case for ridding the effects on any trauma memory and let’s face it we all have experienced trauma at some point in our life.  The memory of it is carried in the body. Sometimes telling your story or being reminded to it can be re traumatising and bring on intense emotions. Our pleasant memories are also stored but often not recalled in the same potency as stressful ones. 

I was a skeptic. I first tried to recall a negative event and felt the pain and discomfort of it.  Recalling a pleasant experience required more work to experience its fullness.  Imagine yourself there and draw on all your senses to amplify it. It should trigger a pleasant feeling assuming you are not trying it for the first time as you juggle dinner, a tantrum and bath time. I then paired recalling a positive memory when stressed and noticed a reduction in my stress response. 

I’ve explored many techniques through this blog and this is one to practise and use if it helps regulate your stress response. I suggest you practise recalling positive memories twice a day in low stress situations. Once you can do it automatically generalise it to times of distress. When we keep ourselves calm it allows us to problem solve and make decisions more effectively.