Poll Can PTSD Be Cured?

[satara]

I voted 'yes' but the question was not truly clear.
PTSD has really many factors.
genetic, the type of trauma (long term-multiple injury versus short term and single injury and degree of that injury and how the mind perceives that injury)
and the time between recognition and event.

I truly believe in the research being done around the 'flight or fight' responses.
Research from Australia catching traumatic events in accident victims and addressing the event soon after is decreasing longterm reports.

The bodies responses to a trauma is natural, and a protective experience--problem lies when the body does not reset.
I search deligently looking for ways to reset the traumatic events in my life, that is where the gentics kick in--I believe my body does not have it naturally and due to the long term it may never be able to take advantage of the hormonal research.
So I also look for peace. I try to tell my body that the feelings and behaviours that I sometimes act with when my ptsd is at its heights are there to protect me, but now I'm safe and its time to put them away.

Before the reinjury I was able to put away most of the behaviours and received peace and normality to a great degree.

I will take that experience over a cure for now.

 

[Mahtalat]

No. Most believe are stuck in the past, and will heal but will always remaine traumatized because they will never have let go. But I believe that it is possible to heal (the word cure isn't the right word I think) because you can't Cure* PTSD, you can only heal. You can only re-learn, you can only move forward. And those who have not released their triggers, have not made amends, have unresolved issues with their victimizer, with themselves, or with the world, will heal to some extent but won't ever be free of it. And being free of it is not being 'cured' (in my opinon). Being free of it is healing and becoming one/whole with yourself.

I think most of us here are on the journey to healing, are making successes. But there are very few people who ever completely heal, because there are very few people who have made peace with their inner person. My goal in my life is to spend the rest of my life helping to heal others (children and people in pain in my home), and to me that is the ultimate step...carrying on the cycle of healing. To me, for me I believe that fully healing in that last complete way will not end until I've died.

So I guess...yes...but I believe healing is a lifelong process. And that we have to actively do something for the rest of our life that aids our cause that to me is healing. But then, everyone is different so I don't really know about the rest of you, but for me :) that's the way.

 

[Tinyflame]

Hi Mahtalat,

I have heard healing described as "becoming whole" and that that part is more important than even a "physical cure". If it brings peace, understanding and happiness that pretty terrific, too.

Welcome, btw, to you and your partner and best wishes to you both.

 

[moog]

Cured is the wrong word. Complete recovery is what I consider to be "cured".

I think that statement is an excellent way to define the absolute fault in the polls question. If you think that you can be "cured" or "completely recovered", then you will either not be able to make it to the point of stability where you may feel near "cured" or if you do make it there; you will not be prepared to handle the "crash" that happens when new trauma or stressors hit you.

Until you accept that you are sick, that you are not alone, that there are people out there that can help you, are willing to get that help; then you will be stuck in a constant circle of pain.

 

[Mahtalat]

Hi Mahtalat,

I have heard healing described as "becoming whole" and that that part is more important than even a "physical cure". If it brings peace, understanding and happiness that pretty terrific, too.

Welcome, btw, to you and your partner and best wishes to you both.

Thank you Junebug :). And I agree, becoming whole, healing is more important than curing. Because I think of what it is, a cure...like curing cancer. There are these cancerous cells multiplying in the body, and then when its cured, those cells are no longer multiplying, they're gone. But with PTSD, ptsd is how we are reacting to something that we can not erase, we can not erase our past or what happened to us. What happened is now apart of us, it will always be apart of us and who we are, and has forever altered how we view or world becaues it is an experience that we have learned.

All we can do in this case I believe is to come to terms with those events that have us up in a loop, to 'cure' PTSD would be to erase our past I think. It would be as if to say all these 'experiences, these cancerous experiences no longer affect me' but they do. They will always affect us. We may learn to live with it, but it will always be with us, it will never go away, it is an experience gained it can not be 'un'gained'. And the only solution I have found is to learn to heal and make piece with all the parts of me that are not ta peace. To understand myself, to love myself, and to find peace with myself and others. (I'm not saying I'm all there yet) but I am saying that for me its the one solution, working on becoming hole with myself, and doing something in my life, working towards a goal in my case with Shamsi that will bring a cause that will help others (including animals), filling my life with enrichment and somethng that makes me feel like I am fulfilling something inside of me. I think all those things are important and part of it.

It's definitely something in my life that I work towards together with Shamsi.

*smiles* again thanks for the welcome its nice to meet you :).

 

[Deleted member 1860]

The day they figure out a way to re-wire the brain is the day that they've found a cure.

I suffered my trauma at the age of 4. I don't know any other way to be. My whole life I've lived with one symptom or another. I am learning coping techniques, and am hopeful that I will be able to go on living a functional life.

Perhaps if I had endured my trauma at an older age my outlook would be different.

 

[lrs]

The day they figure out a way to re-wire the brain is the day that they've found a cure. .

Yes, I agree.
Incidentally, to some extent, you CAN re-wire your brain.

 

[silvershadow]

i hope that one day they will find a cure for this debilitating disorder. it would be a relief to wake up just one night without fear.....just let this happens sooner rather than later for all of us....

 

[BlankCanvas]

I replied with 'yes'. I think people can be healed from PTSD. I don't know if 'cured' is a word I feel comfortable using because I don't think of PTSD as a disease. I have negotiated my own definition that I feel comfortable sitting with. Given the events I've experienced over the course of my life, I don't consider myself 'diseased'. It makes sense to me that I have learned to respond to situations with panic and anxiety, and I do believe that I can learn to manage these reactions so they don't misfire as intensely or sporadically.

I don't think of myself as "having PTSD". I do not feel like I own it and don't want it to be part of my identity, if this makes any sense. Maybe I'm in denial, I'm not sure. I visualize PTSD as an illness that creeps up on me once in a while, takes the reigns and sends me on a hell ride. It's almost like a common cold, although much more inconvenient and annoying. I have common visits from the 'PTSD virus'. Thank goodness it isn't contagious.

Much like building up an immune system, I know that if I am mindful of my health in terms of eating healthy, exercising, sleeping well, etc that I can keep the PTSD at bay. Much like someone with an immune system deficiency, I take extra care to be mindful of my well-being and need to be especially careful in regards to managing the stressors in my life. In terms of becoming 'healed', I am still on that journey. While I continue to learn and practice healthy living skills I can also expose myself to the traumas I've experienced. Thereby reducing the intensity and frequency of trauma-related triggers.

I wish you all the best in your recovery.

 

[Scott Likes Popcorn]

I think a real cure is possible someday, but we're not there yet. I've had great success personally with "adventure journalling" (writing down positive thoughts for 15 minutes/day, every day), but that's a treatment, not a cure.

 

[PerfectEmpire]

I don't think anyone can be the same after a traumatic event. If personality change is ever considered a symptom then there can be no cure if it is impossible to go back...

 

[blynn895]

I totally agree, and they've proven that Complex PTSD is a lifelong thing because the brain is actually changed by early trauma. I'm still learning about how to "heal" not cure my PTSD, in a great program through the hospital here that says healing is possible with alot of work, so I have some hope I'll get better. but like you said, I have no "before" healthy self to return to like a one time trauma survivor, so its alittle more difficult!