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Ptsd: It's Not A Competition

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I have gotten the response of "you weren't in the army or a natural disaster." This infuriates me beyond belief!
This. I think that because the image of PTSD has been (involuntarily) appropriated by veterans (or at least, these are the ONLY people who the media focuses on), it makes it 100x more difficult for anyone else with PTSD to have their experiences validated. As far as being picked on vs being bullied, yes I do agree - there is a huge difference! I have experienced both as a child, and I barely remember the times I was picked on vs *trigger warning* beaten up, ostracized, or (urinated on) for being poor. But I understand that not everyone has that unfortunate perspective.

while one person may have had to experience a serious trauma to develop it, another may only need to experience a minor trauma or a series of minor traumas.
This is a good point. I guess my only frame of personal reference is my own, and that everyone in my family (mother, sister) has some form of PTSD from serious and prolonged life-threatening events, as opposed to a one-off episode where they felt humiliated or frightened. I do feel the eligibility criteria for PTSD will change in the future, as those with less intrusive (or false) experiences will be coddled - as seen with MPD in the 70-80s, and ADHD in the 90s. Which is unfortunate, because when it gets to that point, anyone will be able to say they have ______ and use it for their own gain. That's probably my biggest fear in terms of being taken seriously and having access to good treatment. Though I believe everyone is entitled to that, regardless of the severity.. so it's a double edged sword.
 
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Maybe I like my mental health to be minimised, but whereas I will admit to people like nurse or dentist that I have anxiety or depression, i won't say i have PTSD. Somehow, because everyone understands what it is to feel slightly anxious or a down, there is less prejudice because people feel that they understand.

When people don't understand a mental health condition, they get frightened. Even on here I've heard a supporter tell another that anger is one of the main symptoms of PTSD. When I hear crap like that, it frightens me - because if people expect me to be angry, they will judge me and act more defensively and aggressively towards me. So that kind of prejudice could have a direct effect on my life and how people treat me.

I don't want people to minimise the trauma I've experienced, I want people to understand how much damage it did, and how much damage I've overcome. But the last thing I want is for people to be shocked or be making a big thing out of my mental health.

I think sometimes sufferers of PTSD attach the illness to the validation of how much the trauma they have experienced hurt them. When I first came here, there was lots of discussion over whether the CPTSD label would exist in DSM5, and people were quite defensive about being told that there is no diagnosis of CPTSD, and I feel it's kind of a validation thing, like CPTSD means that they haven't just been through a traumatic experience, but they've been through numerous traumatic experiences.

I understand completely the need for the damage that trauma does to be recognised and not minimised. But I don't think that a mental health condition is the way to recognise that. If people attach validation to a diagnosis of a mental disorder, then it makes it seem like to find some healing would be invalidating the damaging effects of trauma.
 
I never asked for my diagnosis, though I do see a psychiatrist and therapist too. I do have severe prolonged traumas, one in childhood and another one when I was an adult. I've been on meds and under therapy treatment for over ten years. When I assumed it was PTSD and I found these Forums, I joined. I have gotten a lot of healing from this place too, and can relate so much to what folks describe they have been though. I have had many realizations while here as well.

However, I do agree with your rant, even though I don't feel the need to ask my psychiatrist or my therapist what they think my diagnoses are.
 
If people attach validation to a diagnosis of a mental disorder, then it makes it seem like to find some healing would be invalidating the damaging effects of trauma.
I completely agree and unfortunately this is the case of Western (in particular, American) medicine. Healing trauma does not make pharma companies $$, nor does it serve the psychiatric industry as a whole. Doctors cannot get paid unless you suffer, sadly this is reality. What serves best in Western medicine is to focus on and demonize the symptoms (effects of trauma), label people with (in)accurate conditions rather than looking at their individual histories and creating a personalized approach. I think this is where the issue lies with the original topic.. people seem more eager to identify with symptoms, therefore creating the label of a disorder, rather than looking at cause and effect. Generally when this done from a historical perspective, the label becomes more important than the rest of the person.

I do think we could all use a bit of dismantling when it comes to labels. I am reminded of a documentary from Finland about treating their vast Schizophrenic population with the Open Dialogue Model, and how after decades of removing labels, stigmatization and (in some cases) medication, the current population rate for Schizophrenia is at all all time low. I find this fascinating because mental illness seems to be a very First World thing (though there are documented cases of it everywhere), particularly stigmatized in rural regions where access to forward and liberal thinking ideas are limited.

Sorry to derail on a tangent lol
 
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Maybe I like my mental health to be minimized,

I may be missing something @Meadowsweet because I don't understand your desire to have your mental health minimized, to me minimization is the same as invalidation.

I do agree that not everyone needs to know the severity of our PTSD or even that we have it, but I think that here at the forum it is important that we receive validation from our peers and that other people who suffer from anxiety understand what the disorder really is. (as opposed to say GAD for example, or simple everyday anxiety).

I will go back and re-read your post and perhaps then I will understand or if you wish you could enlighten me. I am sorry, I totally do not mean any disrespect to you in any way!!!

Thank you,
Lionheart777

Addendum: I believe after re-reading your post that I do understand what you mean and I am sorry that I misunderstood you!! There is definitely prejudice and misunderstanding running rampant among those without the disorder and I believe I now see your point. Once again I apologize for misunderstanding!:(:unsure::confused:
 
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I completely agree and unfortunately this is the case of Western (in particular, American) medicine.

I live in the UK, and the health system is as polar opposite to the US as it could get. Our media talks about an over stretched NHS on a regular basis. The national health system is at the core of political vote gathering, so for political reasons it has to be proven to be efficient and big things are made about waiting lists for operations not being too long, and the government will put money into areas that provide those favorable statistics. Progression in mental health treatment is never going to provide neat, predictable statistics. At the same time, there is a national identity that the British maintain a 'stiff upper lip' (show no emotional weakness) in times of crises. So we are very behind in mental health, and unless a person goes to a private therapist, there is no benefit to diagnosing a mental health condition - it just messes up the figures.

Saying that, from my experience, the people working in the NHS are very genuine, know their stuff, and want to do the job they are trained to do. My first therapist seemed very sincere when she told me that she believed that I would respond really well to treatment, but that she wasn't allowed the time to take it at the pace that she felt I needed, and she was concerned that trying to rush everything through the limited number of sessions she was allowed, would destabilize me.

So in terms of mental health, in the UK there is a very different culture and attitude towards mental illness.

@Lionheart777 , there is no need to apologise, not everyone will agree and not everyone will 'get' what I'm saying, and that's ok. I'm happy when people can disagree politely and respectfully without anger, and you do that, and re-read and everything. So In my book, that's brilliant.
 
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Even more disturbing are the amount of people who self-diagnose because they've filled out a questionnaire or read something that they think applies to them - with no intention to see a psychiatrist or therapist, and basically just to say they have PTSD because they think it makes them special or to get attention from others.

I agree, with one small caveat, that I you didn't articulate, but I expect that you would agree with. That is, I personally have only reached out recently to see a Therapist, the last time I tried was 20 years ago and I couldn't go through with it, I froze and didn't even make it into the building. My point is if someone has no intention to see a therapist, it could be me for the past 20 years where I didn't believe that I ever could do it. which is different to those who know they don't need to.

Now, its important for me to disclose that I am not diagnosed (very new to therapy) and may not have severe enough symptoms to be diagnosed....but I know that my trauma fits...the symptoms fit...and thinking about it from a PTSD perspective is helping me. Having said all this, the only people/place I have mentioned PTSD with are this forum....I have never mentioned it out in the 'real' world.

Hopefully the above reads as I intended it. I agree with this thread and I can't stand it when people swing words around with no understanding of what they are really saying. I had a friend who used to say as a colloquialism 'he just raped me' to describe situations where some one took advantage of her, but these events were like eg in a business context claiming credit for her work .... still makes me mad.

I wanted to add my thoughts...which I think comes from my need to not feel ostracised by this forum due to lack of formal diagnosis... Which I know intellectually the group would not do, but ....
 
@ghotiff - very well said.
@yoshixvx - I agree with what you have said as well.

I am sort of baffled by people who self diagnosis themselves as having PTSD, when they do it without professional to confirm the diagnosis or without seeking any help for it.

I can understand how validating and what a relief it can be for someone suffering to know a name for what they are dealing with... but to just find out they have signs of a major mental illness and to announce it, but not seek help... I don't understand that.

For me, I struggle with accepting the diagnosis at all. I have really struggled with accepting that I am a victim at all. It makes me feel so helpless to say I am a victim, or to have anyone validate that I was a victim, and that feeling freaks me out. I was punished as a kid for saying I hurt, or that someone hurt me - - so I have this extremely strong reaction to being properly labeled a victim.
Personally, I buck my diagnosis at nearly every turn... but the body reactions tell the tale.
I can relate. It took me 7 years of doctors and others telling me I had PTSD before I finally accepted it... well, sometimes I still ask my therapist if she is sure this is PTSD...
Maybe I like my mental health to be minimised, but whereas I will admit to people like nurse or dentist that I have anxiety or depression, i won't say i have PTSD. Somehow, because everyone understands what it is to feel slightly anxious or a down, there is less prejudice because people feel that they understand.
This is similar to my own personal experience.

I try to be honest on intake forms for doctors and list that I have PTSD. When I tell doctors (other than psychiatrists) I have PTSD, the VERY next question has almost always been, "what from?"
I usually respond, "trauma" and sometimes I will say "child and adulthood trauma" and invariably the doctor pauses and moves on, sometimes making an awkward comment. I think they expect me to say more. I really don't think it is their business most of the time.
One doctor (an eye doctor no less) once said, "Oh, I guess it would be hard to talk about."
I responded quite flatly, "yes... um... can we get back to figuring out if I need new glasses or not?"

I could be wrong, but I used to be a part of a "mental health support group" for people with any mental illness or people who had a loved one with a mental illness. it seems like PTSD is the only major mental illness that people ask, "what is it from?" - which is the VERY last question I ever want to answer.

Being validated about the trauma, and my struggle to deal with it now, doesn't make me feel much better. At the same time, being invalidated about the trauma drives me up the wall.

I feel stuck in my own double bind.

In the end, I simply wish the trauma had never happened and that I never developed PTSD in response to the trauma...

As much as I struggle to accept it, the trauma did happen, and I did end up with PTSD. The biggest reason why I joined this forum was to feel less alone in facing that reality, and you all have helped me so greatly there. Even my therapist has noticed I'm much more accepting of the diagnosis and I push back on it less, and I'm beginning to change/heal more deeply. (Many thanks to everyone here!) It's beginning to make me realize how much the trauma and PTSD has taken from me... and then I am back to square one, where I struggle to accept validation that I was a victim and that I'm struggling now.
 
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I agree with @Justmehere. I hate that the second question is always "what was your trauma?" I want to scream "I WAS RAPED AS A FOUR YEAR OLD. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR MAKING ME VERBALIZE THAT I AM DAMAGED!!!" But of course I don't and just say bad people did bad things to me as a child.

I guess it's a double edged sword. We are glad (ha) to have a mental disorder that has an external cause...UNTIL this question pops up. Geesh.
 
I don't know whether PTSD has just become the "diagnosis du jour" because of the media coverage or because people see it as an opportunity for attention/access to medication and so on, but there seems to be an increasingly alarming rate of people claiming they have PTSD (not specifically on here, but on the internet in general). Even more disturbing are the amount of people who self-diagnose because they've filled out a questionnaire or read something that they think applies to them - with no intention to see a psychiatrist or therapist, and basically just to say they have PTSD because they think it makes them special or to get attention from others.\t
Welcome to the Internet... this is not new, and has been an ongoing issue since the media took veterans + PTSD into the spotlight. Everyone wants to have the new diagnosis, because it is one of the few available that prove traumatic instance.
 
@Justmehere I like to put a spin on things and refer to myself as a survivor. It's 100% true, and it empowers me (and shuts nosy people up) rather than referring to myself as a victim. I might have been one when I was a child.. but I grew up into an adult that has and can basically survive anything ;) I am certain most on this board will say the same!
 
@yoshixvx , I was reading your opening post on this thread, and was agreeing with pretty much what you had to say, until I got to this part

As someone on the near-extreme end of the posttraumatic spectrum, I can't really relate or validate these experiences, especially when they are not backed by a medical diagnosis. I also understand that not everyone is going to have gone through the same things as I have - which is great, because I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
Doesn't that somewhat contradict your title of "Ptsd: It's Not A Competition"? I totally agree with the part about 'not backed by a medical diagnosis' by the way.


Additionally, I think that the posttraumatic spectrum is pretty straightforward (PTSD-CPTSD-DID),
CPTSD is not a DSM diagnosis.

I'm just confused, you say that you have near-extreme PTSD, yet you also say PTSD is not a competition. So long as it fits the criteria, and is professionally diagnosed, PTSD is PTSD, whatever the cause. I don't understand what you mean by extreme-end of PTSD, is PTSD divided somehow into mild, moderate, severe, extreme?
 
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