Question About Complex PTSD

[Brea]

My Psychiatrist has been talking to me about complex PTSD and saying that this diagnosis fits but that he cannot actually diagnose me with it because it is not listed in the DSM-IV. I have been doing a lot of reading about how it is different than PTSD and I agree that it fits but one of the ares that I am confused about is ruminative preoccupation and what exactly this means. I have heard the term used but cannot get a good definition for it.
I am so confused because with every doctor, psychologist and psycjiatrist I go to I get a different diagnosis added on. Not sure what to do but now with the C-PTSD everything that I have been diagnosed with fits under one umbrella. Not sure if thsi is helpful for me or not. I'm just feeling so overwhelmed right now and hoping someone out there understands.
Brea

 

[kers]

Rumination means you think about something a lot, like the trauma, or what you could have done differently, or how you are changed, or how the world is not safe, etc. Your mind is like a dog with a bone that it won't let go of.

A diagnosis is a description of symptoms that help your doctors decide how to treat you. It is very common for someone with PTSD/CPTSD to have been diagnosed with other things, too. Sometimes they are co-occurring disorders, and sometimes they are different ways of describing similar symptoms. What is most important is what you think of the treatment you are getting now. Does it make sense to you, and do you feel comfortable with where it is going?

 

[Iam]

HI Brea. kers gave you a good answer so I won't touch on that. I just wanted say that I don't know that it's the label of the diagnosis that is important. I know for my husband and I my being diagnosed with PTSD answers many of the questions we& had and still have about my thoughts and actions. Knowing that there is a valid reason is relieving to a point, it also gives my T and I direction on how to develop new coping skills. Good luck with everything!

 

[Aine]

Brea,

I won't add to kers definition of rumination either; I just wanted to say that the reason a lot of us get tons of diagnoses is because psychiatrists tend to put us in the box that fits the most to our symptoms, even if we don't quite fit. I don't quite fit for PTSD or BPD (borderline personality disorder) and that's quite common for people with CPTSD, so don't worry about all the different labels you've been given.

Love and Light,

Aine.

 

[LeoTheLion]

For me, I do have CPTSD since its not officially publish in DSM, as for now I am diagnoses as PTSD. I am sure once it published and officially in DSM I am sure it will change to CPTSD because its now recognized as diagnosis in DSM. I am sure maybe similar to your situation. Because they cannot really give you diagnosis of CPTSD if its not officially in DSM. Make sense? Even if they already know about CPTSD they can share information but not to diagnosis until its in DSM. Thats my view

 

[anthony]

I am so confused because with every doctor, psychologist and psycjiatrist I go to I get a different diagnosis added on.

That's because mental health is a) a best guess scenario, b) it depends on the physicians personal stance as pro pharmacology, anti-pharmacology or a balanced approach. The "b" statement is due to whether the physician wants to prescribe you medications you most likely do not need, but by prescribing them and you filling the script, they then get financial kickbacks. To prescribe they must have a diagnosis, so they just stack them up to appease their own selves. Not ideal, but real world.

Its more a matter of finding the right physician who balances their bottom line figure with your best interest to provide you the best care and themselves a worthy financial reward without being greedy. They deserve to be paid, you deserve to be treated correctly. Many have lost their way, some are completely insane and anti pharmacology, and others have a good balanced approach for best patient care. Trial and error.

C-PTSD is currently diagnosed as PTSD + BPD. This is the most accurate for C-PTSD, as it combines personality traits due to the longevity of trauma endured. Whilst it is nice to say that C-PTSD will enter the DSM V, currently I have not seen anything in the DSM V to prove this. The only changes to date are to the PTSD diagnosis itself. What new diagnosis will be entered, if any, is yet to be seen, as it currently has not been entered or seen discussion from the Post-Traumatic review group.

 

[Aine]

C-PTSD is currently diagnosed as PTSD + BPD. This is the most accurate for C-PTSD, as it combines personality traits due to the longevity of trauma endured. Whilst it is nice to say that C-PTSD will enter the DSM V, currently I have not seen anything in the DSM V to prove this. The only changes to date are to the PTSD diagnosis itself. What new diagnosis will be entered, if any, is yet to be seen, as it currently has not been entered or seen discussion from the Post-Traumatic review group.

anthony,

From the reading I've been doing, CPTSD should enter the DSM-V in 2013, but as you say, there's still a lot of controversy among the psychology world about the nature of diagnosis so it remains to be seen.

Love and Light,

Aine.

 

[anthony]

Aine, do you have a reference to that? I have been constantly reviewing the DSM V site and have found nothing about it conclusively stating it will be entered. In 2005 a discussion took place that it should be considered, but nothing has appeared on the DSM V site as yet. Would love to read if there is something published by the APA that I have not been able to find, as that would certainly assist those here with knowing.

I also thought it was to be included, but after review, nothing seems to be concrete about it.

 

[Aine]

anthony,

I did say "should" - like you, I've also been scouring the DSM-V site for confirmation but haven't found any.
There's quite a bit of support out there for it from various psychology articles I've read but like you said, nothing concrete yet.
I really hope they include it though. It's quite different from PTSD as a disorder and needs to acknowledged as such.

Aine.

 

[just me here]

just a thought here, I am pretty new and don't have much to judge the things I am told against my own personal experiences, but heres an angle I was given by a health care professional recently: The official diagnosis is not that important in the larger scope of things. If anything, an official diagnosis can be a problem for you if you have to change or lose a health plan and it is considered a preexisting condition. As long as the treatment is accurate to the problem, the official diagnosis means very little. Of course if there is disability involved, official diagnosis is everything. For those of us working wounded, the diagnosis is just a word in a file, the treatment is everything and recovery is the only thing to worry about.