A child’s metaphor for PTSD

Just thought I’d pass on an idea that came to me when cogitating on a young client referred with PTSD after a road traffic accident. I wanted an easy-to-grasp way of normalising what was happening so they’d have some hope it could be solved – ie a metaphor. Readers of this blog will know I love metaphors.

If we assume that all responses to an incident are downloaded into the body and stored until they can be discharged later, and if we assume that sometimes they don’t get discharged or organised or whatever, then we have an overloaded and unstable part of our mind where things are not processed yet, and are constantly bothering us in the present because they need seeing to.

So picture this. Why not invite the child to learn how his mind is at the moment? We’d give the child toys (Lego cars, toy vehicles, puppets, plastic figures etc) to hold, one at a time, two at a time, until can hardly carry them in their arms. We’d agree with them that it’s awkward, some fall off, their body will be constantly adjusting and alert to keep the pile steady. In this state, they “can’t manage”, can’t do their usual activities on account of the pile, find it a bothersome “nuisance”, are permanently afraid of more coming along to be held, and constantly hypervigilant as to whether something is about to fall off. They might even find it hard to sleep, holding that pile!

Now – what to do about this problem? Well, if we help them to unload the toys together and put them in neat sets/rows, they can actually see if they want one back in their hand, they can revisit them if they want, but they will feel they “can manage” them, it’s “okay to look and pick up” when they want, they wouldn’t be “afraid of the toy problem” and could get on with other interesting things, just like they did before. And we’re going to help them sort the pile out.

Well, it was just a thought. You can use it, adapt it or leave it!

There’s a good article about PTSD in children in general at Hidden Hurt.

And may I again mention the new Routledge book about a cognitive therapy approach to PTSD? I mentioned it in my last post and you can find it here, but it bears mentioning twice. I can thoroughly recommend it for everyone whatever your model. It covers all the same things we’d need to know anyway. Except of course my lovely metaphor…