PTSD - should we listen to his therapist

[IvyBush123]

Dh was diagnosed with ptsd. He is processing this in therapy and got much better.

Dh had the habit of making other people remove things that trigger him because he didn’t want to see them or even touch them. His therapist was very much opposed to that and told him to tell his loved ones not to do him the favour.
Dh has found better ways to cope with most of his triggers.

Now I accidentally bought a little thing that triggered him. Basically because he sent me to buy something similar that does not trigger him and I accidentally bought the thing that triggers him.

He is quite stressed by that little thing, avoids looking at it, is afraid to touch it. This has been going on for weeks now. He has asked me to throw it away. That would be easy for me but I know that his therapist would not want me to do this.

WWYD?

Feelings of disgust and anxiety are a sort of ‘emotional flashback’. Grounding techniques may work well for those feelings too.

Is this things like concentrating on his breath? Things like this? It doesn’t seem to help in this case.

I just googled that putting the hands under water or having a shower us considered a grounding technique - but he is not allowed to do this things, he is not allowed to wash his hands to often or clean to much because that has become obsessive for him.

He washes his hands however because this trigger stresses him so much but he actually is not supposed to.

Once the trauma work is done I think there can also be advice to take care with triggers. My therapist told me I don't need to spend time thinking about it.
I would get rid if it - it's been bought accidentally and us causing distress. Part of trauma work is no more avoiding, but once the work is done I don't see the point in unnecessary triggers.

I am not 100 percent sure if I understand what trauma work is.

Well it's been a long time and a wobbly road.
Therapist says doing really well.
We have triggers that can be in the same room , this has changed from being thrown away or panicking. He won't touch or use or eat them but other people can.
We have a few specific triggers that aren't safe yet and I wouldn't risk them.

Trauma is making sure the memories get processed so that the person doesn't keep reacting 'in the moment' to the trigger or reminder. That's my simple understanding from our conversations.

Trauma work

Trauma work is trauma focused CBT or similar - usually an agreement to have specific sessions devoted to telling the trauma story in therapy and reframing it and releasing the emotions in tandem with grounding techniques and managing the emotions

I see. I think he did something like this.

OP, I went to the first EMDR today, it was ok, therapist explained how it worked very simply and while I'm not exactly looking forward to talking about my experiences in treatment I can see how it could work. I was referred after already having had specific trauma CBT, which did help, so I'm hopeful. So, I don't know if you can access the same, but today I'm feeling positive about a solution and recovery. Best wishes to you and your family.

I think if he is generally doing well in dealing with it, I'd remove this one thing. But let him know you won't do it for all.