To meditate or not to meditate?

[Leisa68]

Hello everyone,

Long story short I have been diagnosed with chronic depression, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. I am being treated and will be for my whole life. Life has its ups and downs, for four years from 2008 until 2012 I was seriously unwell. I am out the other side. I can have days where my mind is chattering and that intense fears come, and mindfulness helps me through sometimes. Other times it takes days. I have an autistic son, who is struggling with his emotions and I am finding it hard to keep him in a good place. To combat this I have been seriously thinking about undertaking some sort of meditation. I asked a hospital psychologist recently about it (I had a right knee replacement), and she suggests due to my diagnosis that she would not suggest that I do this. I am not quite sure why maybe it has something to do with displacement or disassociation? I was wondering how other members feel and could they give me advice on this. I would try anything to keep me well.

Thank you so much

Leisa68

[Tiredgirl]

Hi Leisa,

I think it's fantastic mindfullness is helping you, it's something I've been trying to work on. I have found meditation to be helpful to quiten the chattering - though at times I find it difficult to quiten the mind.

I have however experienced a couple of panic attacks while trying to meditate recently after a traumatic experience.

At first this scared me, until I was reassured it's perfectly normal and just a part of having unwanted thoughts pop into your head while trying to meditate, so I wonder if this is why the hospital psychologist recommended against doing meditation - perhaps he/she believes it may affect your PTSD.

Is this something you could perhaps ask your GP about? Or another health professional more familiar with your conditions?

All the best, I hope someone else can give you a better answer!

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Leisa68,

Thanks for your post and I appreciate you reaching out. I'm so glad that you're interested in meditation and finding natural ways to take care of yourself.

Having gone through trauma myself, I believe the risk with meditations are that because they are often unguided (and not in person) - it can leave you feeling pretty vulnerable. This might be because intrusive thoughts/images or memories pop up, or it might be feeling dissociated when being guided to imagine yourself in a different place, etc.

With that said though, meditation has been pretty helpful for trauma (and for me), so if you are going to go ahead I suggest doing it carefully. When you think of meditating, what sort of practice are you looking at doing? There are so many different types of meditation practices - some more intense than others. Mindfulness meditations for example are less intense because they can focus on grounding exercises which are helpful for trauma anyway. Body scans also fall in this category too which might be helpful.

Perhaps you could also talk about this more with your hospital psychologist? That way you can bounce off ideas and learn a little more about what you might expect.

Hope this is helpful,

[Leisa68]

Hi Tiredgirl,

Thank you for responding to me. It has given me some thought. I have asked my psychiatrist this question, and as they do they pass the decision onto you. Fair enough, but it really good to hear what others are experiencing. I think I am going to give it a go. Maybe I will learn what is right for me, and what I cannot tolerate.

I hope you are doing well,

Kind Regards

Leisa68

[Leisa68]

Hi romantic/thi3f's,

Thank you for your insight. I think you are right I should tread carefully. I would like to try as I want to experience peace and a little regulation. I was actually looking into Transcendental Meditation, but after reading your post, I may try something a bit smaller and gentler.

Hope you are doing well,

Leisa68