thanks for that. I have a problem with the bass as well as the volume. Some days I can have the music louder than others but whenever things are bad I need the bass and volume turned right down and avoid songs with heavy bass lines. Heavy metal would definitely be too much for me too!

Yes, I've been watching more foreign films with subtitles. They are usually less aggressive and violent in nature too. I still miss being able to see the odd blockbuster though. I've seen more romantic comedies than I'd care to admit!:crazy-eye

Claire,
I get sick to my stomach and start to panic when i see violence in the movies!! But only certain kinds; for example, usually if it's real life footage(war documentaries), or a re-enactment of true violent events that really happened (like September 11 movies...eg..'United 93' made me sick, dizzy, and panicked!!!!) I would just keep doing what you're doind by avoiding the movies that freighten you. I'm getting into this thread a little late, but i'm responding to your initial post.

DO NOT AVOID TRIGGERS, just because they make you ill. Triggers make you ill, that is the idea, but the greater idea is that exposure to triggers helps you retrain your brain to accept that these things are not actually bad for you in any physical sense, ie. they present no danger to your life, so they cannot be as bad as what your mind makes them out. The fact with people when they have violent response to a trigger, is more often they are attempting to expose themselves to early, instead of healing a significant portion of trauma first, then using exposures to known triggers in order to retrain the brain. That is where the confusion often lay, not within the trigger itself. Very few triggers will ever not be able to be gotten past, very few. Exposure helps, but it must be at the right time, not the wrong time.

Anthony, exposure therapy works becasue its controlled, gradual exposure to the trigger though. How can I do that in the cinema when I have no control over either content (if I dont know the film) or sound/sound volume? Start at home watching more scary stuff and work up to the cinema? Part of the fun in going to the cinema is the excitement, suspense etc. but thats too much for me most of the time. How can I have just a little bit of that to start with? Or leave and go back to my seat during the film? any ideas?

Claire

Claire, for me this is what I did at my worst. I went to G rated films for kids, no PGs or PG 13s when I HAD to go, when the teen went I never went with him (movies were a reward for good grades). Oh, the suspense is just as great when you are sensitive. I would panic over any form of suspense. I rarely to never watch news. I have very little/no knowledge of current politics, I cannot listen to news or talk radio... I am working my way back to it. I listen to music now on the radio and it was hard to get used to as I always had to stay on top of current politics. Now watching flight 93 when I did was bad bad bad. I get that one.

But point is you have to deal with the trauma and emotions behind it to an extent before even looking at a trigger or you set yourself up to fail. You can get a lot of that done here. Exposure works controlled but only once you deal with the trauma and emotions behind it. You can pull at a weed every day but if you don't get that root up it will keep coming back.

Have breaks claire. Yes, trying to emulate the same thing at home won't work, because your mind knows your at home, thus the effect will not be the same. You can work on parts of things uniquely, ie:

# Exposure to crowds so a packed cinema does not bother you.
# Exposure to loud noise in public spaces (work sites, public speakes, concerts, etc)

Build parts uniquely, then go back to the cinema. Yes, if scary things effect you, then whilst watching some things at home may help, scary is scary, and not all people are able to watch grewsome horror films and the like. Exposure is the key though, even if you went to the cinema and watched 15 minutes, walked outside and missed the next 15 minutes, then back in, and repeat the process, slowly increasing time in opposed to time out of the cinema. Get creative, get inventive, find what works best for you Claire without avoiding doing something that you know you love, but are only affected because of anxiety.

I've only been out to see live music a couple of times since my accident. It was too loud and I stood it but sort of switched off. Then when I got home I was bad. It took days to slow down after. Is this dissociation? So I need to stay for as much as I can stand but not go over that? I last got really bad in the cinema was when I went to see King Kong. I had to leave. I stood it for about an hour but paid for it in nightmares and bad days after.

Yes... to a point. You must force yourself to stay that little bit longer than when you reach your comfort level, because that way you have pushed yourself beyond your comfort level, thus your comfort level now shifts further out, so next time you will be able to feel comfortable for that extra five or ten minutes, then you would remain another five or ten minutes beyond the new comfort level... so each time you are creating a new boundary, until one no longer exists.

Yes, you will pay a consequence for exposure, but that is the idea, so the brain learns that the consequence is no longer appropriate, because you must be reaffirming to yourself, nothing bad happened from it. You didn't die, you didn't get harmed, nothing bad is going to happen just because you leave your home and attend something with people. People are not bad, and this is what you must learn.

Yes, you may go out one day and find one of those really bad individuals, or a small group of them, and they may do something bad that could affect you, but the chances are extremely slight compared to life itself. Life is a waist if you lock yourself up and don't expose yourself too it on the 0.00001% chance that something bad happens and directly affects you.

the trouble is you dont know whats coming in a film you haven't seen do you? If theres a car crash or something its usually sudden. At home I hit the mute button as soon as cars come on in a film/programme. That way I dont get any of the sound of the engine, tyres screeching or whatever. I know you're going to say thats a bad idea but at least I can watch it like that. The unpredicatable nature of films, the surprise etc is supposed to make them fun isn't it? Do you reckon I have to start off with live music, public speeches etc first? I'm better with crowds now and always book a seat in the cinema at the end of an row. I want to go to the new Bond film but I know its full of violence and explosions etc. I think its a 15. Do you think something less intense to start with? I need an arrangement with the cinema to allow me to leave and come back into the same film until I'm better at it. It could be expensive otherwise, I might only last 30mins or less! I just dont know. Trying to think about other ways of tackling it but not being very creative yet.

Yes, nothing bad happens. I am always telling myself I AM SAFE. Its ok, no-ones going to hurt me.

Exposure therapy is the opposite of what your presuming here Claire. Exposure therapy IS NOT about being in control, its about learning you are not in control and CANNOT be in control of everything within life. PTSD wants control of everything, human nature is to control as much as possible, yet without PTSD we accept we cannot control everything... with PTSD we want to control everything, which is the wrong mental perception of life. Exposure therapy is about finding you cannot control everything, hence exposure to the world in doses. Pausing your TV every time a car comes on screen is not doing you any favours, because your not exposing yourself to watching TV, your denying yourself watching TV.

It is TV, not your life as such. You must teach the brain, the content on the TV related to cars and screeching brakes, etc, CANNOT hurt me anymore, because its on TV, not me in a the car screeching along. That is the idea of exposure therapy Claire, not what your thinking it is. Exposure therapy is not to protect you from your fears, its about exposing you to your fears, to life, learning new boundaries, learning that you are not in control of everything, and most often, these things cannot hurt you.