All My Problems Are Because Of Ptsd

[Deleted member 18673]

All these disorders I have: generalized anxiety, panic, eating disorders, BFRB (body focused repetitive behaviors)/CSP (compulsive skin picking), paranoia, depression… they all come from my childhood trauma and are a part of my PTSD. Therapists and psychiatrists treat them like they are all individually arisen problems, and they’re not. I have PTSD. All my problems, ALL OF THEM, stem from that.

 

[somethingsomething]

Yeah, I've been through that. For years, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. All my therapists (I saw a lot, mostly because I went to the university counseling center) seemed to focus on all the wrong things. And it wasn't until one therapist started questioning me about the incident that the truth of it all started coming out. I always talked about it, but for some reason everyone else would gloss over it. And before that, it was just anxiety and depression or possible bipolar and all kinds of crap. When I finally figured it out, it was one of the most terrifying and beautiful moments of my life.

 

[Justmehere]

So what are you doing to deal with the PTSD?

 

[StellaBlue]

I have PTSD. All my problems, ALL OF THEM, stem from that.

Yes. It took me a long time to recognize that PTSD was the common thread - and trying to address my "problems" (drinking, eating disorder, depression, suicide ideation, maladaptive daydreaming, dissociation) without recognizing that they were "symptoms" of the PTSD was like playing Whack-a-Mole...I'd work on one and a different one would pop up.

That doesn't make the problems less real, or less dangerous. An untreated eating disorder or binge drinking may have to be addressed before working on the trauma - but I think they have to be viewed through the "lens" of the underlying trauma/PTSD.

So what are you doing to deal with the PTSD?

Yes.

 

[Deleted member 18673]

So what are you doing to deal with the PTSD?

I'm on 6 different medications, I see a psychiatrist and a psychologist once a week, and I am in a dbt skills group. I plan to join the fre meditation classes at the local Buddhist centre. I try to work on mindfulness and meditation. But I'm going to become more insistent to my psychiatrist that we deal with the PTSD before all my other issues.[DOUBLEPOST=1403546379,1403546292][/DOUBLEPOST]And Stella - I feel EXACTLY like I've been playing whack-a-mole.

 

[Barberian]

I hope they listen to you and help you in an appropriate manner.

And Stella - I feel EXACTLY like I've been playing whack-a-mole.

Well, I don't have as many conditions, but I feel like I've been playing whac-a-mole since shortly after I sought help in Dec 2008. I get one issue beat into submission and as I'm doing that the other issues rest and recuperate, only to play whac-a-mole with me. :(

I've since tried more of a "whole person" approach and not let issues get out of hand. I can't really say if it's been successful or not. It's like those advertisements for if your internet advertising is working - "I think it is".... but no way to evaluate it.

 

[StellaBlue]

I am in a dbt skills group.

DBT has been amazingly helpful for me. Are you keeping a diary card? I customized mine to track my specific "issues"...not to make myself feel worse, but rather to be able to see if things are starting to head south. It starts with increased urges, then actions...my goal is to catch them before they get out of control and I end up in places I don't want to be. It's just another tool to use in my trauma healing.

Also, if things do start to get out of control, I try to do a chain analysis. I can usually track things back to feeling vulnerable and then being triggered. Doesn't necessarily stop the spiral, but it's more information to use next time.

 

[Justmehere]

Sounds like you are doing a lot of great work! When I was diagnosed with PTSD and just PTSD, I did DBT and other skills building work for a good solid year and a half. Then I did a lot I CBT and then eventually I started trauma processing work. It's hell. Frankly. When I was doing all the DBT and other skills based work, I felt like we were never dealing with the real issues... It was explained to me that there are passes in the work and it can take awhile to really get through it. I still go back and do DBT work and work on the more superficial symptoms like disordered eating and ocd behaviors, and then we eventually also do more trauma processing.

I hear ya that you don't feel like they are helping enough with the PTSD - and I think it's great that you are pushing them on it. I also want to say that even if all you were diagnosed with was the PTSD, you would probably being doing much of work you are already doing - I'm trying to say you have got some really good pieces to treating PTSD already in place and I really hope you keep advocating for more of what you need too! Good work!

 

[Chava]

I can relate and it helps to make sense of things...unlike the wack-a-mole (love that analogy). While I did need treatment for alcoholism and some specialists for eating disorder I never related well to typical eating disorder diagnosis or treatment. I could just drop my eating disorder and get drunk for days...or get sober if I could starve or burn myself, etc.

Recent therapist looked at my history and suggested trauma lens...which freed me to consider experiences I had told myself didn't matter (but they did). While some manifestations need to be treated kind of separately when severe it would be helpful if more therapists recognized trauma. I just thought I was way f*cked up, like I wrote the book on 100 Different Ways to Destroy Yourself. Fitting it all together under trauma umbrella gives me hope of wholeness.

 

[Mrs. T]

What is DBT and CBT?

 

[Justmehere]

Good question! DBT is dialectal behavioral therapy and CBT is cognitive behavioral therapy. I did DBT and trauma focused CBT therapies for my PTSD, and I still use a lot of what I learned on a daily basis.

 

[Go Hungry]

I completely agree with the 'whack-a-mole' idea. It really is like rushing around trying to keep all the moles into their places, and then just having them pop back out again. Endlessly. I frequently despair about it, because it seems like this is never going to change. But I have to believe it can.

Turns out that I also have practically everything wrong in my head track back to the PTSD. It's kinda nice to have a name for it, because for so many years I thought I just sucked as a human being. And then come to find out that while I may be sub-optimal, there are very good reasons for it. Now I just have to fix it. But really nice to know where to start..