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

[Friday]

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

Oh. Yep. That's why. Drug Induced Psychosis is actually an exclusion from PTSD.

Criterion H: exclusion
Disturbance is not due to medication, substance use, or other illness.

Criterion A trauma can happen while under the influence of drugs/alcohol... and PTSD can develop from that; like if you were raped or shot someone when you were high, or were in a car accident when drunk... The PTSD that develops is from the rape, killing, car accident; not your mental state at the time of when those things occurred.

And anything, no matter how big bad & gnarly, or teeny tiny & insignificant and trigger pre-existing PTSD. From a whole new CritA trauma, to being given a kitten as a Christmas gift.

But if what f*cked you up was purely the medication/substance/or other illness? Then it's a different disorder. It may share symptoms with PTSD, but both the cause & the treatment will be different.

- Like if you ran through the streets naked, because demons were chasing you, and they could find you from your clothes because they were bought with blood money? (A friend of mine's very bad trip). You don't go to places where demons congregate, in order to accustom yourself to being around demons. The demons aren't real. They were a delusion. A product of his own imagination. //
- But if you ran through the streets naked because you were being chased by a gang after having just been raped? You may well need to go to a running track to accustom yourself to seeing people run, or having people run behind you, without kicking into flashbacks. Because you really were being chased. //

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Oh. Yep. That's why. Drug Induced Psychosis is actually an exclusion from PTSD.

Ah, didnt know that. I love learning new stuff!

 

[joeylittle]

Drug induced psychosis is also excluded from Acute Stress Disorder (ASD).

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

I want to say, really good work in telling your psychologist about what happened to you. It's a scary thing, to go ahead and open up to your doctor about something that you've been afraid to talk about, for whatever reason.

And good news - you don't have PTSD. This is good news. Repeat - good news.

It does not in any way mean that what you are experiencing isn't real, or important, or deserving of real medical support.

Everyone has a different set of life experiences. These experiences can contribute - somehow, they don't always know how - to creating mental health problems. And the actual names for these problems - the disorders - are used to 'group' a specific combination of experiences and symptoms.

There is a diagnosis for both Other and Unspecified Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorder. You would need to ask your doctor if one of those would be where your diagnosis would sit. Your diagnosis might also include General Anxiety Disorder, or possibly one of the mood disorders. Only your doc can actually tell you.

The other good news is, the treatment for many of these things is the same, regardless. Treatment strategies overlap various diagnoses.

It sounds like your doctor is telling you that you don't have PTSD, but still would be grouped inside the larger category of Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders, as opposed to grouping you inside the Anxiety Disorders. And so, there are things that you will be doing that relate very much to the same things any person with any of the Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders would be doing.

What does your doctor recommend for how to proceed, treatment-wise?

 

[EveHarrington]

I think you may unfortunately be one of those people who has PTSD but because of the structure of the DSM you are excluded from diagnosis. (Hear me out!)

Yes, the DSM excludes diagnosis if the trauma is a result of drug use, but in your case (if I'm reading this right), you were drugged by a "friend" so this is a bit different than someone who voluntarily uses drugs in that you were indeed violated by someone else unknowingly and this violation resulted in a loss of "self" and even your freedom (for a time).

But------you will likely never know what you experience because of the bad trip and what you experience due to the violation by your friend and involuntary hospitalization (which I'm guessing was pretty terrifying)-----as it all happened at once.

Of course if I'm reading this wrong and it was just a case of a friend convincing you to drugs then it probably isn't PTSD as you don't have the same level of "victimization" (for lack of a better word) that would rise to the level of being something that could cause PTSD.

Sorry if I'm not Crystal clear. It all makes sense in my head lol.

Regardless, even if you never get a firm diagnosis, you can still heal. :hug:

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Regardless, even if you never get a firm diagnosis, you can still heal.

Very true!

Whether PTSD or a "PTSD type response", the healing modalities will be similar, if not the same.

Healing is still possible, and that's really all that matters.

Ben

 

[TormentedSoul]

I've never took any drugs before nor even thought about this happening and wanted to join the military before my traumatic experience happened.

The traumatic experience has never stopped in my mind. It's still very much with me.

My best "friend" betrayed me with drugging me and left me alone until the police and ambulance came.

I get flashbacks and get triggered when I see certain people or things that ordinary people wouldn't freak out about.
The nightmares are the worst. I re-live it.

I stay home all day and don't want to go anywhere due to all these things happening to me when I go outside.

 

[TormentedSoul]

My Psych wants to do therapy and not sure what else.
I hope I will get some sort of help to end these flashbacks that keep reoccurring.
I feel like I'm a shell of a person that I once was.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

My best "friend" betrayed me with drugging me and left me alone until the police and ambulance came.

How did she get the drugs in you without you knowing? If you arent comfortable talking about it, I understand.

That seems pretty traumatic but i agree fullt with @joeylittle, i forgot about the "not otherwise specified" meaning "im not sure why you have this" and other stress disorders. In any case, the treatment of it is the same. Id say forget the diagnosis and just treat the symptoms. The diagnosis is just a label for symptoms anyway.

Im sorry your friend did that! :hug:

ETA: I also agree that you were very brave to tell your therapist!

 

[TormentedSoul]

I think my doctor wants to try medications on me. I'm really am terrified of that.

Is a service dog is even applicable to my situation?

I don't have any pets of my own, but I can't even go out of my home without getting triggered by police or even an ambulance that might pass by me.

 

[joeylittle]

I can't even go out of my home without getting triggered by police or even an ambulance that might pass by me.

Therapy is going to make a big difference. Don't be afraid of medications - sometimes, short-term use is very helpful in getting enough control over the predominant symptoms, so that you can work on the therapy side more effectively.

 

[TormentedSoul]

What medications might be good for flashbacks and nightmares? Hopefully not antipsychotics.
I dread the thought of taking daily meds.

Would a Service Dog help with any of the symptoms?
Or is it not applicable in my case?

 

[EveHarrington]

A service dog might help you stay grounded in public. I don't know the ins and outs of service dogs though other than they can be hard to get, which is why some people opt to train their own dog.