General Question About Prescribed Medication.

[Johnny1975]

Hello all.

I've recently starting seeing a new shrink, who has recommended that I try some medication. He says we can experiement with dosages and different types.

Well, I'm in the process of deciding whether I want to do this.

Do you think medication for PTSD can be helpful in the short-term, to help process trauma, to move forward in healing? To make it possible to move onto a deeper level of healing?

Or do you believe taking medication is a long term fix, that suppress the past and bury it again?

Is medication a form of repression, or a way of giving us support to process deeper levels of healing?

I'm interested in what peoples thoughts are on this, as I'm not keen on taking medication to bury feelings down, I feel numb enough as it is sometimes.

But if it can help me process more, and work through issues, and get a better quality of life, I think its worth the risk.

Many thanks, Johnny.

 

[cherryblossom]

Hi Johnny.

I think medication can be useful in the short term combined with trauma therapy. Sometimes medication is needed to produce enough stability to begin trauma therapy, and to begin to deal with difficult emotions.

I certainly don't think medications shouldn't be used to bury and suppress the past for a long period. However, sometimes I think medications are necessary to help to stabilise your life to enable therapy.

In my opinion, medications aren't a long term solution, but can be a great benefit to facilitate therapy. Therapy should then help you to process emotions, and give you tools to manage PTSD symptoms, so that those medications can then be reduced.

 

[Johnny1975]

Hello cherryblossom,

Thanks for your reply. That's what I wanted to here. I hope this is the intention of my shrink also.

I've only had one meeting with him so far (He's a new one), so I need to question him further.

Maybe I should reply on this thread again when I can give information on the medication he's decided I should try, and the dosage. Then I could probably get more feedback on the specific medication, and on what I should expect.

Oh, I meant to say in the original post, "Medication for CPTSD". I've noticed there's a clear difference between the two when talking on this forum. I only became aware of CPTSD when I got diagnosed with it.

 

[intothelight]

Hi Johnny,

Cherryblossom is right about the use of medication. When dealing with multiple, or complex trauma, stability during the trauma processing is critical to realize the full benefits of therapy.

You are wise in waiting to find out the specifics to come back to this thread. But don't forget to ask you psychiatrist why is he prescribing a particular medication and what benefits he hopes to see as you take it. It also doesn't hurt to ask about duration, side effects and alternatives.

Wishing you the best.

Debbie

 

[cherryblossom]

Certainly, I think it's very wise to get as much information about a medication as possible. We're kind of lucky to have information at our finger tips with the internet these days, although we need to be selective on information we trust.

Important things to consider with any medication is potential side effects when taking medications, and also potential withdrawal effects when you come to stop taking them in the future. Many medications can cause physical and/or psychological addiction /dependency. Being fully informed is very sensible. There are all sorts of medications discussed here, and certainly someone here will have come across whatever medications your psychiatrist suggests.

As a side note, CPTSD isn't actually a recognised diagnosis. There are many discussions here about the validity of CPTSD as a specific diagnosis, which I don't know enough about to comment on. But you might want to read [DLMURL]https://www.ptsdforum.org/c/threads/wow-the-apa-really-got-the-new-ptsd-diagnosis-right.27151/[/DLMURL]
You can find other threads about CPTSD by using the search facility.

 

[Johnny1975]

Hi IntoTheLight.

My shrink did say that the meds would be used mainly to damped my fight/flight reaction, to make it easier for me to integrate back into society. Also, he wants to use therapy alongside them.

Hi cherryblossom.

Is it important that it isnt a recognised diagnosis, as long as I'm getting the right help? Are their downsides to being diagnosed with CPTSD? My shrink said something like "You have non-typical PTSD, and a personality disorder resulting from the trauma you suffered".

I've yet to receive the written diagnosis in the post. This is my second shrink on the NHS, so I have no more options. Do you believe it's something I should confront him with?

Thank you both for your replies.

 

[BloomInWinter]

Decreasing the hyper-vigilance is essential to helping stabilize our moods. It helps us sleep better, decrease the output of our adrenals, and thus decreases the intensity of our anxiety and negative emotions.

I noticed you said 'confront' in terms of asking your psychiatrist for more info. Asking for more info isn't a confrontation if we just ask. But I sure do relate! Before I had trust in myself and my therapist, everything I wanted to say was a 'confrontation.'

Now, it's just info I wish to ask about.

I am no fan of being overmedicated. Once I agreed to finally try an anti-depressant, it raised the bottom of my dark moods enough that I could begin practicing the skills necessary to develop my distress tolerance and affect regulation.

It's no substitute for doing the work. It just decreases the distress and other symptoms enough so our attention can be better focused on the skills.

 

[Johnny1975]

Hi BloomInWinter.

Thank you for making me aware of the words I'm using. It's very true that I approach situations as confrontations, especially with shrinks and mental health professionals. It very much shows "where I'm at".

It sounds like meds have been an important tool for you. I'm pleased I'm hearing positive things about meds, as I'm pretty worried about trying them. Makes the risk very much worthwhile.

Thanks for sharing what you did.

 

[Rumors]

I didn't want them either, EVER! However, I now realize I need them in order to move past the road block I was in.

I am not versed on length of time one should or should not take meds. This I do know, a true chemical imbalance may never correct itself therefore leading me to believe there are some people who may be candidates for meds forever. In the beginning, that worried me so much it kept me from moving forward with the process. Now that I am 8 or so months into it, I realize it is ok because the path I was on would have lead to pure destruction. I can tell you that I am 1000 times better but it in no way represses my feelings or ability to deal with my story. It has just given me some breathing room which I desperately needed!!!
Good luck!!

 

[timid_flower]

I completely agree with the previous comments. I don't think medication is a replacement for processing our trauma through therapy, but it can provide the stability needed to do so.

I was terrified of medication. I feared it would make me worse or I'd become dependent on it. However, I definitely needed it at the time. My symptoms were completely out of control. I wasn't able to function in everyday activities, let alone try to confront my problems. I don't think I would have been stable enough for therapy without medication.

 

[Phenioxrising]

Medication helps stabilize our moods by replaceing the chemical imbalance. Thus reducing our depression and anxiety. They can take up to 6-8 weeks to get the full effect. This makes it easier to control your symptoms. However processing trauma has to be done by you.

Traumatic memories arn't stored on the correct side of the brain, and are fragmented. When we verbalize them especially, the brain processes them, and they are transfered to the correct memory center of the brain. However, scar tissue remains; on the side they weren't supposed to be. This affects our concentration, and takes time to break through. There is no real cure, and during times of high stress, your symptoms get worse.

It's an ongoing battle that you have to learn to cope with and "master."

 

[Hashi]

Is it important that it isnt a recognised diagnosis, as long as I'm getting the right help? ... This is my second shrink on the NHS, so I have no more options. Do you believe it's something I should confront him with?

Hi Johnny,

The term Complex PTSD (CPTSD) is used in the UK to refer to PTSD arising from repeated trauma. PTSD Forum asks people not to use the term because it isn't actually defined. It isn't in the American Psychiatric Association's list of disorders or the UK equivalent. However, the Royal College of Psychiatrists use it in patient information (Link Removed) and in training courses - so it's normal for a psychiatrist, psychotherapist etc to use the term in a diagnosis if it meets the definition in the link.

So, I don't think there's an issue about a CPTSD diagnosis in the sense of being a patient in the UK, because it's used and understood here as if it was a listed diagnosis. (No issue as long as it makes sense in terms of your history, that is.) It's that PTSD Forum doesn't recognise it because it's not listed. So here it's best to say PTSD or PTSD from repeated trauma or something like that.

The Forum admin/mods might feel that it actually shouldn't be used by mental health professionals either, but that doesn't seem to be the view of mental health professionals in the UK. The reasons put forward for questioning it are in the link cherryblossom gave. Personally, I wouldn't confront anyone over giving me that diagnosis (I haven't... it is my diagnosis).

Hope that helps!