PocketRocketNew Contributor
Advice for family members on how to support someone after a dissociative episode
Hello,
My husband and I are supporting our son's fiancé (21) who has been experiencing dissociative episodes due to complex childhood trauma. While she is getting professional help, we (and our son, 23) are living in the day-to-day experience of supporting her before, during, and after these episodes.
As they live with us, we have had a trial by fire exposure to the complexities of her trauma and are doing our best to understand and support her. She is working so much on her recovery and feeds back to us how our attempts to support her work or don't work.
So we know that we are doing what we can to manage the ongoing needs of her and our son, but there are times that we just feel inadequate and unsure how to proceed, particularly directly after an episode.
We are currently using the first aid steps used for a person having an epileptic seizure (as suggested by a number of organisations providing information on dissociative seizures) and trying to keep tabs on potential triggers and triggering situations to mitigate and minimize further episodes.
Are there other steps we can take, especially after an episode, that would be effective in helping her recover faster? I am thinking of things like how to have a 'debrief' kind of conversation, helpful questions to ask, ways to provide practical support (changes in the household environment - no tv, quiet time, etc) and so on.
I am trained as a chaplain and have some basic mental health first aid training and knowledge regarding childhood trauma, however, would like more training/knowledge/guidelines to take our knowledge further.
I'd be grateful for any ideas, links to support, etc.
Many thanks in advance!
