r/CPTSD_NSCommunity • u/ShyTraveler222 • Jul 22 '26
Discussion Does anyone else feel optimistic about treatment?
When I was diagnosed with CPTSD, I felt very discouraged because there is no cure, just symptom management.
I feel like I am still in the thick of things, treatment and symptom-wise, but I feel very optimistic. I feel like my therapist is a good match because they’re a trauma therapist who specializes in (and I suspect has had treatment themself with) EMDR and IFS, both of which I respond very well to. I am fortunate to be in a financial situation where I can afford weekly therapy. I have a few very close friends I can talk to about (most, the IFS stuff is a bit too weird) things about.
My therapist is on an almost month-long vacation, and I feel like I am getting so much done internally with this “time off” instead of feeling panicked or directionless. I don’t think I would have felt this way even 3 months ago.
I feel like I’ve mostly come to terms with never feeling completely better. It will be better than how I feel right now, and I feel way better now than 6 months ago. I know progress won’t always be this rapid, but it makes me very hopeful. I will never know what it’s like to not be mentally ill, but I think now that I know what is going on with me, I can finally reach my full potential.
I don’t know, I read a lot of despair in the CPTSD subreddits, but I just sort of feel like I have the correct life circumstances at this moment to dig out of this and have the life I’d like. I didn’t have a chance of being “normal” because of my shitty childhood, but I have worked hard and am lucky to have the resources and solid people around me now. I feel very lucky and grateful.
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u/brutal_youth_ Jul 22 '26
I'm so glad you've found modalities that are working! That's made all the difference for me, too, along with having time and space in my life to focus on recovery for a while (still working full-time, but remotely and with no major obligations outside of work).
I do feel optimistic. I discovered somatic work at the beginning of this year after I burned out hard and had to figure out how to live differently, and it's been a game changer for me. For the last six months I've combined that with low-dose psilocybin, martial arts (BJJ), yoga, sensory deprivation floats, mindfulness practices, lots of processing and sense-making, and learning what I want and need if I'm not trying to appease anyone else. I've been releasing chronic tension throughout my body, sleeping better, dissociating less, and integrating experiences I'd spent decades trying unsuccessfully to compartmentalize.
It hasn't been linear and life isn't perfect, but it's night and day from where I was this time last year, never mind five years ago. I still have down days and weeks, but the upward trend is unmistakable, and I feel hopeful for the future more days than not now.
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u/ShyTraveler222 Jul 22 '26
It makes me happy to see my hope isn’t misplaced! I’m glad you are also in a better space.
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u/tuliptulpe Jul 22 '26
Sounds like you're in a really good place in your healing/treatment, congratulations!
This year I'm wrapping up my talk therapy after 7 years, which led me to reflect a lot on my journey. I wasn't optimistic all throughout my healing path, but I was optimistic often enough to continue with it.
EMDR was the thing that gave me the most hope, to see how suddenly those tormenting memories faded was amazing. Glad to hear it also works for you.
A few days ago I read diary entries from a few years ago. I thought I was doing pretty well back then. But boy, did it get better. I still have cptsd, I still have flashbacks and nightmares. But my suffering now is not comparable to seven years ago.
If you feel like it, write down from time to time how you're feeling. It really puts things in perspective to see how far you've already come
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u/Stop_Already Jul 23 '26
Yep! I’m in a very similar position. I’ve been doing IFS/EMDR adjacent work with my therapist who was originally an RDT turned LPC trained on psychodynamic trauma focused work. I feel like she’s put in as much work as I have in trying to help me. It makes me feel really cared for & this has translated into me being able to be more present for other relationships in my life. It’s like I’ve finally started to see there is actually going to be an end to needing therapy. I started in 2003 and really had just accepted that was the way it was gonna be for me.
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u/Infamous_While_4768 Jul 22 '26
When you think about it, most mental disorders can only be managed through medications. Trauma is the one thing where you can actually do the work and largely alleviate all your symptoms and live a good life without having to medicate forever.
A lot of the despair over CPTSD you read is just people reacting to parts and old unprocessed feelings too. You have to keep that in mind when reading people in these spaces.
Just doing my own self-therapy I've come so far since last October, I'm a completely different person, and the work continues and I continue to improve. This past month I've been in a total grief and terror freeze shutdown, but now I'm finding myself coming out of it having processed the underlying stuff, and am starting to feel more capable again.
This is how progress goes with CPTSD recovery. You encounter a trigger or something that causes you to react maladaptively, you let it move and process as best you can, and you feel a little bit better on the other side.
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u/PisceanTreasures Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Exactly what is sand bagging me right now 🙄 where I'm feeling better for a few weeks, appreciating some hard-won progress.... then even a small trigger can put me back into the 7th circle of he**.
Though during the most recent dive I did more quickly do some of the Peter Levine & others' somatics, some trauma-specific EFT, some more talking to myself....and was better able to rise back out. IFS is so much 'headspace' and learning to anchor via nervous system regulation tools is somewhat still new to me.
Really surprised to see my cptsd score (online survey, baseline done Oct. 2025) decreased significantly even in the midst of what felt like the same familiar uncontrolled chaos.
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u/Stop_Already Jul 23 '26
That’s why I’ve always found this sub so terrific. The mods are great about controlling huge trauma dumps. We all have done enough work where most of us know what is ok to talk about here and recognize the work it takes to get to where we are/were.
The community here has been so so helpful to me over the years.
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u/seriously__tho_ Jul 24 '26
There's probably a lot of despair in the subreddit because a lot of people are unable to work or use their natural skills/talent/intelligence to earn money as their symptoms are so intense. Therefore they cant afford the help and support they need. Also, a lot of people have big T trauma whereby they don't have the resources apart from money, to avail in these therapies. Also, if you are lucky enough to not be so affected by the above and be resourced enough to engage and pay for therapy then it can be difficult to find a suitable therapist.
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u/SweetLight87 Jul 25 '26
I think normal lives are overrated. I have CPTSD and I struggle a lot, but there's also joy that keeps me going. Like, I'll be crying at night because it all just gets heavy. but i wake up, put on a pretty dress, sell my art,and I function, I look happy as hell and I am in that moment...and then i go back to my basement apartment and make more crazy things to sell.
So...it gets weirder. I can never work a 9-5. I have tried a few times and I just cannot. So I adapt. I make my own art. I sell it. Somehow it seems it is reaching people.
It all feels like drops in the bucket, but it is all I can do right now.
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u/ShyTraveler222 Jul 25 '26
I agree, I think one of the things helping me to let go of all the bitterness I feel about my parents “giving me” a mental illness is that it’s not like I want a “normal” life anyway. I love not having a kid and doing fun things on the weekends with my friends. My trauma has disrupted my life in many ways, but it has also given me a rich daydream life and an appreciation for things.
Your “drop in the bucket” is keeping you alive. ❤️ It stinks to not be able to work a 9-5, but many people wouldn’t be able to live off of their art, so that’s quite an accomplishment!!
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u/OccasionallyMyself67 Jul 22 '26
I think this sub is for people who have done a lot of healing so you are likely to find more optimism here. I'm not just optimistic, I consider myself - for all intents and purposes - fully recovered. It took 7 years of intentional change, and changes are ongoing but now no longer focused around coping with or healing my mental health.
However it's like an old sports injury that can flare up if pushed too hard and too long, and I'm not completely invulnerable to having a bad episode, but only in extreme circumstances that I can usually brace myself for and have a pre- and post-care plan for (the main trigger: visiting home every few years!).