Returning to normal life after a stroke may seem a daunting task especially if you are still under shock from losing the normal functioning of your body. As stroke survivors commonly experience depression, it is important then to address psychological shock as soon as possible to allow the process of healing to begin and avoid depression.
1. Acknowledge
The first step to treating shock after stroke is to acknowledge feelings of anger, sadness, fear, and regret. Burying your emotions will only make matters worse. This is an important time for family members to provide support through love, patience and understanding that the stroke survivor is having a hard time digesting what has happened to him or her. Helping survivors acknowledge their emotions by going through counseling together is an important process.
2. Accept
Denial of your current situation will only prevent recovery. Once you have already mustered the guts to be honest with yourself will you only be able to accept your current situation. Humbling yourself to your new limitations is a very liberating experience that will give you a peace of mind and heart.
3. Reprogram
Being in a state of shock is the aftermath of an illusion that our lives are defined by the things that we can do and not on who we really are. Reprogramming your mind from this lie is empowering. As the saying goes, anything that harms you but doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. In this case, you're still alive and you can definitely do something about your situation, beginning with changing how you perceive your current situation.
4. Identify Options and Reinforce Strengths
There's always a positive side to any circumstance. Being alive and surviving a stroke is one of them. Being able to still do certain things is another benefit. Identify how you can work around it by seeking therapy, using what able body part you still have and strengthen it. Focus on your options and not on your dilemma.
5. Affirm
The mind is a very powerful aspect of a person. Best-selling author and international speaker Andrew Matthews preach that we gravitate towards what we think. Thus, whatever one conceives, the body follows. Part of treating shock involves affirming what you think by visualizing it. Mental visualizations have been the secret tool of successful persons over the years. They visualize how they want to become on a daily basis. You can use this strategy to visualize being able to use your affected body part again and how you want to become in the future. In a way, this concept is applied in motor imagery, which is used in stroke rehabilitation. Affirm the fact that you can recover from stroke.
Treating emotional and psychological shock due to stroke is a valuable step to begin stroke rehabilitation and to avoid further complications such as falling into depression.
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