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I have read and met one person that criticized me for labeling myself as having CPTSD as it is limiting myself to do such a thing.
It is boxing me into being my diagnosis rather than an autonomous human who has struggles like the rest of people. Can you help me understand this. I can somewhat understand.
i've seen it happen where someone receive a diagnosis and that dx becomes their identity. i'm a cancer victim. i'm an asthma victim. i'm just a victim. personally, i believe it is the same phenom as the one-trick pony who has a tunnel vision of their lives and can't see beyond their roles as executive, wife, christian, non-smoker, whatever. any label or stereotype will do, as long as no personal awareness is needed to get the job done. does your acquaintance, perchance, label themselves, "radical" or "free-thinker." any label or stereotype will do.
personally, ptsd is a condition i live with. it is not who or what i am, but it is downright handy to have a name for ^it^.
If you’re under the age of 32-40 it cuts you off from any form of employment requiring a deep background check (as does any history of mental illness), and makes you uncompetitive for a wide swath of other fields that only do standard background checks. If you’re over 40, your age will cut you out of most of those jobs anyway, but it can still effect some employment, as well as custody of children or grandchildren.
CPTSD is not recognized as a disorder, full stop. So it requires either a) someone just making shit u, as was happening globally before the ICD decided on a definition or b) someone using the ICD as a guide. Which severely limits therapy options. As there is ZERO difference in PTSD & CPTSD treatment? It seems a silly distinction to cling to, if you’re in this country.
Ditto, insurance covers absolutely %0 of CPTSD treatment. As it’s not a recognised disorder. But will cover up to 100% of PTSD treatment. As it is a recognised disorder.
If you’re under the age of 32-40 it cuts you off from any form of employment requiring a deep background check (as does any history of mental illness), and makes you uncompetitive for a wide swath of other fields that only do standard background checks. If you’re over 40, your age will cut you out of most of those jobs anyway, but it can still effect some employment, as well as custody of children or grandchildren.
CPTSD is not recognized as a disorder, full stop. So it requires either a) someone just making shit u, as was happening globally before the ICD decided on a definition or b) someone using the ICD as a guide. Which severely limits therapy options. As there is ZERO difference in PTSD & CPTSD treatment? It seems a silly distinction to cling to, if you’re in this country.
Ditto, insurance covers absolutely %0 of CPTSD treatment. As it’s not a recognised disorder. But will cover up to 100% of PTSD treatment. As it is a recognised disorder.
i've seen it happen where someone receive a diagnosis and that dx becomes their identity. i'm a cancer victim. i'm an asthma victim. i'm just a victim. personally, i believe it is the same phenom as the one-trick pony who has a tunnel vision of their lives and can't see beyond their roles as executive, wife, christian, non-smoker, whatever. any label or stereotype will do, as long as no personal awareness is needed to get the job done. does your acquaintance, perchance, label themselves, "radical" or "free-thinker." any label or stereotype will do.
personally, ptsd is a condition i live with. it is not who or what i am, but it is downright handy to have a name for ^it^.
Thank you. I think I have defined myself by CPTSD…I have labeled myself as defective and not able to be just me with some disorder…not recognized…..I have a lot of rethinking about this. Let’s just say it is sorting out how to deal with this. Confusion. I don’t need to wear a badge.
My acquaintance is free from labeling herself as anything .she just is extremely aware of herself and does not go down that lane that I can see.
i started on my recovery road with sub-zero self esteem. "defective" was a good day. i didn't know myself, at all. the montage of injustices that had robbed me of my self-esteem was staggering and tough identify, much less put into words. having that mental file folder marked, "mental illness" gave me a place to put all the dysfunctional pieces buried in the mindslides of injustice and uncover the real me. turns out, i kinda like the real me, defective parts and all.
now i've got that song from "the king and i" stuck in my head. . . paraphrased, of course.
getting to know me
getting to know all about me
getting to like me
learning how to just let it be
I can't say the bulk of it better than @arfie did. It is a label, not an identity, so as long as you're seeing it like that yourself, then A-OK. If you're making it your identity, you need to stop now.
PTSD is a label that comprises a set of common symptoms in which can range from annoying to debilitating. Its a spectrum, and this applies to many mental health diagnoses. If you make it your identity, you will never recover and be someone better, a person you either used to be, or a person you want to be. If you take it for what it is, a label to help you treat the underlying cause, trauma, which is causing the spectrum of symptoms, then you can reach recovery. Even that, recovery, is a spectrum. Some will never experience symptoms again, some will endure some mildly, some will have to balance the rest of their life to ensure symptoms don't kick their arse.
I don't tell people I have PTSD. Its not an excuse to justify anything in life, especially piss poor behaviour. If I'm having a hard time in public, I can either throw PTSD out as an excuse OR I can do what I should do, which is use appropriate words to explain what is going on within me, remove myself if required.
I've seen people, a few times now, use PTSD at hospitals as an excuse that they believe they should be seen immediately. Why? Because they don't like sitting in the waiting room? Nobody likes sitting in hospital waiting rooms. Everyone there is in need of medical help. The nurses prioritize patients for this reason, and anxiety and lack of patience is not a medical emergency. They got angrier from being ignored, which amused me. I told one guy many years ago to shut the f*ck up and sit down, that his PTSD was not a reason for priority treatment. He turned to me and before he could continue much further, I told him I was a combat vet with PTSD and he would not be happy if I have to get up. He stopped in his tracks, sat down and STFU. The nurse just looked at me with one of those silent thank you. He tried to befriend me, like we're PTSD buddies or something, which was quickly shut down and told to f*ck off.
Healing is the focus, not the label. Anyone with PTSD needs the label to know what they're dealing with, so they know what to treat and how best to treat it. Everything beyond that, forget the label/s and focus on treating the cause.
Of course the USA uses the DSM V, but in other countries where the ICD-11 is utilized more extensively (my own country is one - Canada favors the ICD) -> we will very likely see a surge in people who are diagnosed with actual CPTSD.
I deeply agree, however, that the distinction between CPTSD and PTSD is non-existent - or rather, that what does exist, is not relative to PTSD.
PTSD has such an evident neurological "profile" that anyone with the disorder, regardless of trauma history, is going to have the same-"ish," approximate constellation of symptoms. The biggest distinction between PTSD and CPTSD as I read it, is "orientations of selfhood, organization of self," -> which is simply... not a PTSD-based issue, diagnostically.
These are social/relational instability, and fixed/stable trait dysfunctions which are far more accurately defined by personality and dissociative disorders (particularly Borderline Personality Disorder). Even the very diagnostic criteria of PTSD within the ICD-11 does not make mention of these things. Which means the only difference is in affect and fixed/stable traits. Which... ya know.
1) re-experiencing the traumatic event or events in the present in the form of vivid intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares. Re-experiencing may occur via one or multiple sensory modalities and is typically accompanied by strong or overwhelming emotions, particularly fear or horror, and strong physical sensations;
2) avoidance of thoughts and memories of the event or events, or avoidance of activities, situations, or people reminiscent of the event(s);
and 3) persistent perceptions of heightened current threat, for example as indicated by hypervigilance or an enhanced startle reaction to stimuli such as unexpected noises. The symptoms persist for at least several weeks and cause significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.
I was unsettled to learn that the ICD-11 now includes CPTSD, as it gives legitimacy to the idea that PTSD + symptoms of fixed/stable trait dysfunction = a brand new disorder. It so heavily contributes to the stigmatization of personality disorders. There should be no distinction in symptoms between CPTSD or PTSD that aren't better accounted for by PTSD + personality disorder/attachment disorder/dissociative disorder.
Frustrating! Because now, of course, we're contending with people who have an actual, legitimate CPTSD diagnosis.
I have read and met one person that criticized me for labeling myself as having CPTSD as it is limiting myself to do such a thing.
It is boxing me into being my diagnosis rather than an autonomous human who has struggles like the rest of people.
In terms of the actual thread (I apologize for going off-track, there - I was just excited to see that @Friday thinks along similar veins to me - it's a rare viewpoint to find these days and I constantly get downvoted for it!)
My advice? Ignore this guy. His opinion is irrelevant. How you want to conceptualize yourself, your diagnosis, your trauma, your history? That's entirely up to you. FJ makes a great point about having an official diagnosis on paper or telling co-workers, for sure, but this dude going on about "boxing you into a diagnosis instead of being an autonomous person" is just wildly unnecessary.
Trauma and PTSD are by definition hugely impactful on our identity, our worldview, our conceptions of ourselves and our environment, our loved ones, and our occupational pursuits. It would be far more foolish to ignore it. Making it your entire identity? That's up to you, as well. If that's where you're comfortable, you're allowed! People tend to be more than one or two things, but it's fine if you're not right now. Maybe you will be in the future.
These things can grow, and change, with your choices.
I'm someone who has an engrained sense of myself and a big part of that identity is (often, but not always) rooted in surviving extreme circumstances and neurodivergence. Maybe it annoys people! But I'm not doing anything wrong. I take issue with anyone who claims I am not an autonomous human being as a result - considering a vast majority of my trauma deals with dehumanization.
I define who I am. I choose who I am. I commit to agency and self-determination every single day. I certainly wouldn't need some dipshit Philosophy 101 drop-out to "school" me on who I am.
I passed the edit threshold so just wanted to add on, @anthonydoes also make an excellent point that there does come a time that using these labels can be an attempt to avoid responsibility for one's behavior and to renege on accountability both to yourself and to other people. It's at that point where labels and diagnoses can be more harmful than assistive. Using PTSD as an excuse or to justify entitlement signifies poor behavior, and can even become outright abusive. As long as you're taking care to avoid harming others (or yourself!) you are free to choose exactly how you identify relative to your diagnosis.
Healing is the focus, not the label. Anyone with PTSD needs the label to know what they're dealing with, so they know what to treat and how best to treat it. Everything beyond that, forget the label/s and focus on treating the cause.
Seems I mention this elsewhere but yeah - labels in daily life are not very useful. PTSD even means very little to physical health professionals and to most people.
I do mention it when dealing with medical stuff because its a huge stressor because traumas happened in hospital, so some small things they can do help me out a lot.
I choose not to wear a PTSD label, but instead to have a CPTSD diagnoses - to describe what I have to mental health professionals.
Yer, a good example of when diagnostic labels are relevant. They have a time and place, and when used appropriately, they should aid and not cause problems in their use.
I passed the edit threshold so just wanted to add on, @anthonydoes also make an excellent point that there does come a time that using these labels can be an attempt to avoid responsibility for one's behavior and to renege on accountability both to yourself and to other people. It's at that point where labels and diagnoses can be more harmful than assistive. Using PTSD as an excuse or to justify entitlement signifies poor behavior, and can even become outright abusive. As long as you're taking care to avoid harming others (or yourself!) you are free to choose exactly how you identify relative to your diagnosis.
Thank you that is freeing. I thought from all that was said that when you are newly diagnosed there would be that tendency. However, as we grow in knowledge and skills that goes by the the wayside. I don’t use it as a badge and on two fingers count the people that know. This is an internal mindset with me. I suppose then it is what motivates me to learn and grow in my healing process. Thanks.
