Certain foods and memories.

[Koriandr]

So...

I have been diagnosed PTSD, and I'm still struggling with it, particularly with eating certain foods.

This is my third day being outside of the hospital, and my mom decided that we could eat at Panda Express... But two years ago, I was suffering extreme depression and I ate Panda Express everyday.

Today when we went to Panda Express, I went from feeling really happy to feeling really depressed, because I remembered how I felt when I was depressed last year. I remember thinking about how bad it was, and all of the thoughts running through my head and I even remember all of the sad songs that I listened to at the time, even when I thought that I had forgotten them all!

It's sort of a silly question, and I know that most of you might not be able to answer it, but since this may be one of the symptoms of my PTSD, can I overcome it, and still be able to eat certain foods without being triggered? Or is it best to avoid it entirely?

Has anyone else had any experiences similar?

[CaiteeBug]

Hi sweetie,

To answer your question, yes, you certainly can overcome it.

[roiben]

As Caitlin says, you can overcome it. One of the main ways of doing this is to accept that the food is not the cause of the mood you felt, the memory was, and that food can be related to other, new memories should you so wish (or, just be food).

Once you accept that you may have been depressed, but are not now (assuming you are not) but the Panda Express was not the cause of this, nor does it have to only be linked to that mood/time, it will be easier to let go of the strong emotional connection you have made between the two things.

A good thing to do after that, is to go to the place e.g. Panda Express and do something/listen to something/think of something that is decisively happy. This new memory can then be associated with the food and help break the cycle of it affecting your mood negatively.

Hope that makes sense.

Be gentle with yourself.

Roiben x

[Koriandr]

It definitely makes sense!
And thank you so much for the suggestion. Hopefully, in time I can get it to work.

Thank you so much, though!