Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Workbook: Practical Help and Information for PTSD

By Sheri McLaughlin RPC CPCA

Traumatic experiences need only be one chapter in your life.
You get to write the last chapter of your story.

PTSD is stealing far too much from the lives of trauma survivors. Many suffer in silence. This workbook provides transformational tools for working through:

• Fear
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Losses
• Panic attacks
• Low self-esteem
• Triggers
• Destructive patterns

Writing down your feelings enables you to analyze your thoughts and behaviour, reason them out, and effect change. Scientific research shows that by learning to think differently, we can change the brain. This book will empower you to initiate the necessary changes to restore order in your life.

This book includes an easily understood explanation of how trauma is stored in the brain and what trauma does to the brain. Inside this book there is a plan for overcoming the symptoms that hold you captive and a personalized path forward towards peace and freedom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Word Alive Press
• Release date: Dec 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781486614905

Book preview

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER WORKBOOK

Copyright © 2018 by Sheri McLaughlin, RPC, CPCA

All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

The information outlined in this workbook is the result of decades of experience and research by the author. It is intended to provide practical and helpful information regarding the subject of post-traumatic stress disorder. Any use of the information in this book is at the reader’s discretion. The author and publisher specifically disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use or application of any information contained in this book.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained herein is accurate. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for consulting with a medical doctor or psychological health care professional.

EPUB Version: 978-1-4866-1490-5

Word Alive Press

119 De Baets Street, Winnipeg, MB R2J 3R9

www.wordalivepress.ca

Cataloguing in Publication may be obtained through Library and Archives Canada

Contents

Introduction

1. What Is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

2. Negative Cognition and Mood

3. Losses

4. The Inner Person: Your Spiritual Self

5. The Areas of the Brain and What You Should Know About Them

6. The Effects of PTSD on the Amygdala

7. Biblical Restructuring: Allowing God to Change Your Mind

8. Overview of Healing from Trauma: A Biblical Perspective

Bibliography

Introduction

As a person who has personally suffered from PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks, I find it unhelpful to be labelled as someone with a mental illness. For me, I felt kind of odd and wondered why I just couldn’t get on with my life. I would hear about murders on the news and often the perpetrator would be described as someone who had a mental illness. I didn’t want to be labelled in the same category and it greatly disturbed me.

I am choosing to describe PTSD as a struggle with our emotions due to circumstances we were unable to control. We would not have chosen to have traumas inflicted upon us.

In my opinion, the healing process related to PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other emotional issues isn’t much different from the healing process in regards to physical injuries. The brain is a physical part of our makeup, just as any other part of our body. The brain encompasses our minds and our emotions. If we have an injury here, it only makes sense that we will experience difficulty with our emotions and thought processes.

If you broke your arm or leg, likely you would have a cast put on, and it