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Sufferer New here, tell me what works best for you

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Roland

MyPTSD Pro
Hello everyone! I'm new here and was recently diagnosed with PTSD, Avoidant Personality Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I have structural disassociation, so like there are a few personality splits. This is due to childhood trauma, mostly from my dad. I was sexually, verbally, psychologically, and somewhat physically. My parents divorced when I was 18 after I told my Mom that I couldn't handle it anymore. My psychologist recommended EMDR, internal family systems, and a few other types of therapy. What are things you've found helpful? I feel so alone on my journey to healing, because I'm the only one in my family that has these types of mental issues, despite all of us being in the same environment and abused pretty much the same. I'm glad to have found something like this because I really struggle with my relationships face-to-face. I really want to get better. For years, I thought the flashbacks were anxiety attacks. It wasn't until right before I had the psychological evaluation that I realized that emotional flashbacks exist.
 
hello roland. welcome to the forum. sorry for what brings you here, but glad you are here. peer support might be my most important coping tool for my own psycho smorgasbord. it is all too easy to get lost in all the rapid cycling psychobabble and my therapy peers are the ones who help me sort the p's and q's of it all and find ways to apply all those academic theories to my strictly personal every day life. this very forum is one of the places i come to feel less alone with ^it^.

for what it's worth
this would be the first time i've thought of my ptsd flashbacks alongside of my anxiety attacks, but i find myself wondering if my flashbacks are just another subset of my anxiety attacks. my own anxiety attacks come in so many flavors that i file them in subsets. did you know that ptsd is generally listed as an anxiety disorder?
 
hello roland. welcome to the forum. sorry for what brings you here, but glad you are here. peer support might be my most important coping tool for my own psycho smorgasbord. it is all too easy to get lost in all the rapid cycling psychobabble and my therapy peers are the ones who help me sort the p's and q's of it all and find ways to apply all those academic theories to my strictly personal every day life. this very forum is one of the places i come to feel less alone with ^it^.

for what it's worth
this would be the first time i've thought of my ptsd flashbacks alongside of my anxiety attacks, but i find myself wondering if my flashbacks are just another subset of my anxiety attacks. my own anxiety attacks come in so many flavors that i file them in subsets. did you know that ptsd is generally listed as an anxiety disorder?
Nice to meet you! I'm glad to hear that the forum helps you a lot, I'm hoping to find the same. I do better communicating through writing, and art, I really hate talking, so it may be a good avenue for me.


I didn't know that ptsd is considered an anxiety disorder. I didn't realize until I was 15 that there is crying, and then there is an anxiety attack- that uncontrollable, shaking, terror, that makes you want to disappear. I'd had those all along, my mom just thought I was manipulative or overly sensitive. It wasn't until I realized that my "anxiety attacks" are connected to specific triggers surrounding traumas, and then not until this year at work when my boss triggered me (three times in a month xD) that I really started to think hmmmm this may be an emotional flashback. So long story short, I don't know. From my understanding, generalized anxiety disorder doesn't really have anxiety attacks?
 
From my understanding, generalized anxiety disorder doesn't really have anxiety attacks?

leaving the experting to the experts, in my own peer support network, all the flavors of anxiety have their attack modes. an anxiety attack is an attack on your entire nervous system. does it matter whether it is a strawberry or chocolate flavored attack? in any flavor, an attack is an attack is an attack. they all suck.
 
leaving the experting to the experts, in my own peer support network, all the flavors of anxiety have their attack modes. an anxiety attack is an attack on your entire nervous system. does it matter whether it is a strawberry or chocolate flavored attack? in any flavor, an attack is an attack is an attack. they all suck.
That's very straightforward xD I like it
 
Welcome to the community!

I didn't know that ptsd is considered an anxiety disorder.
It used to be. Now it’s considered a “Trauma & Stressors” disorder by the DSM & ICD. Both of which have a strong anxiety &/or avoidant component. Either way? There are anxiety attacks & panic attacks as probable symptoms.

One of the best breakdowns in symptoms/symptomology (in both science-ese & plain English) I’ve ever come across is here
 
Welcome to the community!


It used to be. Now it’s considered a “Trauma & Stressors” disorder by the DSM & ICD. Both of which have a strong anxiety &/or avoidant component. Either way? There are anxiety attacks & panic attacks as probable symptoms.

One of the best breakdowns in symptoms/symptomology (in both science-ese & plain English) I’ve ever come across is here
That post was really clear and helpful, thank you
 
Welcome @Roland. I agree that peer support is what keeps me informed and I can share anything, and someone will say they understand. PTSD is so complicated with all the crap that can trip us up.

I can come here, share what's going on, get support, be validated and not feel I am alone on this journey.

Having a good Therapist helps of course, but being able to talk to people who get it that things that do not bother 'normal' people can send us over the edge. And to be told how we reacted was normal for US, is priceless.

Glad you are here.
 
Welcome @Roland. I agree that peer support is what keeps me informed and I can share anything, and someone will say they understand. PTSD is so complicated with all the crap that can trip us up.

I can come here, share what's going on, get support, be validated and not feel I am alone on this journey.

Having a good Therapist helps of course, but being able to talk to people who get it that things that do not bother 'normal' people can send us over the edge. And to be told how we reacted was normal for US, is priceless.

Glad you are here.
Thank you very much! I've really enjoyed this forum so far, it's really cool

As far as therapy, I'm trying to decide what to do next. Between crappy insurance, bad therapy experiences, and being nearly nonverbal at times, I feel kinda turned off by therapy, but I'm not sure if that's avoidance creeping in.
 
Sometimes it's avoidance and then sometimes it's that you haven't found what works for you. It is almost impossible to do this alone. Sometimes being on a forum such as this, it helps to start laying a foundation of knowing what we need to work on.

Just hang out here and see what you learn. See what resonates with you. Give yourself permission to see what works for you.
 
I feel so alone on my journey to healing,
Welcome to the forum. One of the best things about it, for me anyway, is that eventually you come to realize that you're not alone, that there are plenty of people in the world experiencing similar things for similar reasons. That's been really helpful.

It seems like different people experience therapy differently and look for and/or get different things from it. A lot of things can be useful. I think probably the best part of my experience of it has been forming a relationship with my therapist. He's good at relationships. He's actually got my best interests at heart. It's been a chance to practice more or less "normal" and get some practice with how things are "supposed" to work in a safe setting. I'm sure everyone wouldn't have found it useful but I have. It's been a chance to learn things I should have learned as a kid and never had the chance.
 
Welcome to the forum. One of the best things about it, for me anyway, is that eventually you come to realize that you're not alone, that there are plenty of people in the world experiencing similar things for similar reasons. That's been really helpful.

It seems like different people experience therapy differently and look for and/or get different things from it. A lot of things can be useful. I think probably the best part of my experience of it has been forming a relationship with my therapist. He's good at relationships. He's actually got my best interests at heart. It's been a chance to practice more or less "normal" and get some practice with how things are "supposed" to work in a safe setting. I'm sure everyone wouldn't have found it useful but I have. It's been a chance to learn things I should have learned as a kid and never had the chance.
Thank you! Yes, I can see already how useful this forum is. I'm glad I found it.

That does sound good. Sometimes it seems f*cked up to me, a long term, dependent relationship on a therapist, like I'm paying someone to care about me. Do you actually get better from therapy, or will you always need a therapist?
 
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