Ptsd Vs Ptsd Reaction? Finally Told My Psych About My Traumatic Experience.

[TormentedSoul]

Today I finally told my Psychologist about my traumatic experience 10 years ago and that it still is effecting me to this day.

My Psych said it's not PTSD, but only a PTSD reaction.

What is a PTSD reaction?
Is my Psych downplaying my traumatic experience that still effects me?

I keep having very vivid flashbacks and nightmares, plus triggers on a day to day basis. I told my Psych that.

My anxiety and Panic attacks also make it hard for me to feel like a regular person. I struggle with this PTSD reaction everyday.

Can someone explain this to me?
Thanks you.

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

This doesn't make any sense to me, either - unless possibly he doesn't consider what happened to you to be a 'valid' trauma? (Sorry, poor wording, I know, but I couldn't think of anything other than 'valid'.)

What I mean is, the diagnostic requirements for PTSD say some experiences are considered 'traumatic' but others not. So, maybe he thinks whatever happened to you was not an actual trauma?

I am grasping at straws, here.

Ben

 

[Friday]

Something like a divorce? Or some other kind of stressor that isn't traumatic enough to cause PTSD, but that kicked off symptoms from earlier trauma?

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Something like a divorce? Or some other kind of stressor that isn't traumatic enough to cause PTSD, but that kicked off symptoms from earlier trauma?

Yes, exactly.

Ben

 

[TormentedSoul]

No, it was real trauma.

4 days of totally losing the person that I once was.

It resulted in a 72 Psych hold. I was messed up from unknowingly being drugged.

I was a teenager that didn't want to even do drugs...A "friend" did this to me.

I can't trust people now. I get triggered by a lot of things and get daily flashbacks and nightmares.

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Thank you for explaining.

I suspect - I don't know, but I suspect - your therapist is implying that, while what happened to you was clearly wrong, it did not rise to the formal level of trauma. So, he is stating that while you did not, in his understanding, actually experience a literal 'trauma' recognized as causing PTSD, you were certainly harmed enough to develop a 'PTSD-Type Reaction'.

Again, I don't want to put words in your therapist's mouth - I could certainly be wrong - but I'm just putting this idea out there to you.

Could it be that you experienced a true trauma as a child? If so, it could be that the drugging experience exacerbated the previous childhood trauma, then bringing forth PTSD signs and symptoms you'd never had before. Could that be?

The latter happened to me. I was traumatized as a child but, according to my parents, did not show any signs of trauma. Later, as an adult, I experienced a seriously stressful experience and THEN all of the trauma signs and symptoms appeared, and I was diagnosed with PTSD and DID.

My therapist later explained that signs and symptoms had, indeed, been present in childhood but that my parents had not recognized them for what they were, so I was never taken to a therapist.

Ben

 

[lostforgottensoul]

What I mean is, the diagnostic requirements for PTSD say some experiences are considered 'traumatic' but others not. So, maybe he thinks whatever happened to you was not an actual trauma?

Not a criteria A trauma, which is a requirement to diagnose PTSD. So trauma nonetheless that is exhibiting signs of or symptoms of PTSD, just possibly not a Criteria A trauma.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

From the DSM 5:

Criterion A: stressor
The person was exposed to: death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence, as follows: (one required)

1. Direct exposure.
2. Witnessing, in person.
3. Indirectly, by learning that a close relative or close friend was exposed to trauma. If the event involved actual or threatened death, it must have been violent or accidental.
4. Repeated or extreme indirect exposure to aversive details of the event(s), usually in the course of professional duties (e.g., first responders, collecting body parts; professionals repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse). This does not include indirect non-professional exposure through electronic media, television, movies, or pictures.

Link Removed

 

[scout86]

I have no idea what the difference between PTSD and a "PTSD reaction" it's. Your best bet, probably, it's to ask your T for clarification. Obviously, you have real problems that complicate your life. Is your T up for helping you work on them?

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I have no idea what the difference between PTSD and a "PTSD reaction"

I think (could be wrong) not a crit a trauma but exhibits PTSD like symptoms but i'll do some research on this.

ETA: I do agree with asking the therapist. Sorry, Im just curious to know.

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Here's an example of what I was trying to explain.

US researchers were trying to figure out why some US veterans came home with PTSD while others did not. After combing many case studies of both veterans with and without PTSD, they came to the conclusion that some veterans developed PTSD because they were primed to develop it due to negative childhood experiences. In other words, they found that veterans who had negative/traumatic childhood experiences, but entered into the military without any signs of PTSD, were statistically more likely to develop PTSD as a result of their military experiences.

This is, by the way, the reason the US Veterans Administration does not, for the most part, pay for PTSD therapy for veterans; they claim military training and field experience, in-and-of itself, does not cause veteran PTSD.

Not saying I agree with the Veterans Administration assessment, mind you.

So, it could be that your therapist is claiming that, in his professional experience, the PTSD signs and symptoms you are experiencing are not directly due to the drugging incident.

Ben

 

[lostforgottensoul]

@TormentedSoul, has the trauma been longer than 4 weeks ago?

Im only asking as ASD has the same symptoms of PTSD but a shorter time frame from how long ago it was.

PTSD requires the trauma and symptoms to be suffered 30 days or greater.

Id def ask though as other than ASD, im not finding anything "PTSD like". I mean other disorders have cross-over symptoms but there is just nothing out there unless:

1. The trauma doesnt fit Criteria A but is giving you PTSD/ASD like symptom
2. There hasnt been enough time of 30 days of suffering symptoms.

Other than that and the possibilty of other disorders that cross over symptoms, im not sure.