Yesterday, I heard on the news about people taking Ecstasy to treat PTSD, a diagnosis I also have. And although, I have never done drugs, it appeals to me by reason. The way I understand my own coping and healing of trauma is this:
When we are in the middle of a traumatic event, we can't deal with it being a trauma at the same time. When someone dies, we can cry and grieve, but the actual impact it has on us, has to be dealt with later. Especially, with traumas that involve still living people, who needs to be held accountable and apologise.
To deal with a trauma, we either shut down and/or incapsulate our emotions together with our memory. As soon as we become triggered, such as by a flashback, a haunting feeling becomes known and beckon us to deal with it. We can do this by regular therapy, or things like EMDR, or other forms of physical assistance. What we need to do, is to "relive" the trauma safely with a therapist, and feel our feelings then.
How I healed my grief, is shared in my book "The Call for Divine Mothering" and features how I reclaimed my passion for dancing, embraced my femininity and using the ocean as a metaphor to understand my own emotions, as well as receivied Lomilomi treatments and performed a forgiveness process.
Here is more about the study on using MDMA to treat PTSD, which is supposed to get its approval by the end of next year.