Hello Dear CJ97,
A warm and caring welcome to our forums,
Im so sorry your struggling to sleep because of flashbacks of your trauma..
I also had a violent traumatic past, and as hard as we try to live our lives the best we can, these memories and flashbacks do at times come a long and take us back….I reached out to my Dr. for help, she then set up a care plan with psychiatrist and psychologist so I could get some professional help…yes it did help me..to learn some strategies on how to better cope with sleepless nights, panic attacks, and flashbacks….by learning some distractions along with how to ground myself quickly when I needed to…..Is reaching out to your Dr. something you would consider?
Unfortunately we cannot erase those memories from our brain…the next best way, is to learn how to cope and manage them when they pop up into our thoughts….by distracting those thoughts onto something else….I find singing a long with a song is helpful, as well as at night when I lay down to sleep, I listen intently to the words of a sleep story….these work for me and I understand won’t work for everyone…but maybe it’s worth a try….
We have a thread called “Grounding yourself, what is it and how do we”…please search that title in the search bar if you feel like it…their are many different techniques on things you might like a try at…also we have a “Sleep” thread you might like to search for also…no pressure, just gentle suggestions that might help you..
Please keep posting here when you feel up to it…you are not alone..
My kindest thoughts with my care Dear CJ97..
Grandy..
