Types Of Trauma

[Idah]

Hi,
I was just wondering if a massive conflict with a group of friends can be considered as a traumatic event leading to ptsd. I must say that before and during this conflict I was suffering from major depression and I was feeling extremely vulnerable. I've been to different doctors and they've all diagnosed different things hence I would appreciate any help from this forum.
Many thanks in advance.

 

[Iraje]

Criterion A of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD lists the types of trauma that can cause it

A. Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in one (or more) of the following ways:

1. Directly experiencing the traumatic event(s),
2. Witnessing, in person, the event(s) as it occurred to others,
3. Learning that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or close friend. In cases of actual or threatened death of a family member or friend, the event(s) must have been violent and accidental.
4. Experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(s) (e.g., first responders collecting human remains; police officers repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse).

If the situation does not fall into one of those categories then it will not have caused PTSD. It could however act as a catalyst for PTSD if you have suffered a previous Criterion A type trauma.

 

[Idah]

Criterion A of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD lists the types of trauma that can cause it

A. Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in one (or more) of the following ways:

1. Directly experiencing the traumatic event(s),
2. Witnessing, in person, the event(s) as it occurred to others,
3. Learning that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or close friend. In cases of actual or threatened death of a family member or friend, the event(s) must have been violent and accidental.
4. Experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(s) (e.g., first responders collecting human remains; police officers repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse).

If the situation does not fall into one of those categories then it will not have caused PTSD. It could however act as a catalyst for PTSD if you have suffered a previous Criterion A type trauma.

Okay, so does traumatic event refer only to near death experience and sexual abuse?

 

[Fopo]

Not really sure what you want to know you have answered your pin question

 

[Pupit]

Actual or threatened death.
Serious injury (and they mean physical, not emotional injury)
Sexual violence.

You can experience these yourself (one or more)
You can be right next to someone experiencing these things (one or more)
You can be told that those things happened to someone really close in your life - but it has to be unexpected, with the death things, not "my friend has been dying of cancer for 6 weeks and she passed today"
You can be exposed to these things over and over again as part of your job. (one or more).

It's really very clear. I've been badly, badly bullied, and I've had my life threatened. When I was bullied I felt like I was going to die - when my life was threatened I actually was going to die. I got PTSD from the second one.

 

[Uzi]

If its akin to breaking up with your boyfriend/girlfriend, then no, it can't cause PTSD. Yes, people think that a breakup can cause PTSD, but in the absence of other factors such as abuse, no, it can't. Does your situation involve abuse? Death threats? Anything that could fit into criterion A?

 

[Jukolek]

A massive conflict with friends can bring on mental health symptoms - this is very possible, especially if you were already fighting depression and vulnerable. Stressful events can bring on all kinds of problems.

Unless the event meets the criteria above, it's not ptsd. The events that create the major mental health problem of Ptsd are specific to those listed above because of the way they impact the nervous system.

It does not mean what you went through is less bad, or that it did not contribute to current mental health symptoms you may have now - it's just not ptsd.

In the end, none of us can diagnose. It would be best to talk to a therapist or doctor about what you are experiencing.

 

[Idah]

A massive conflict with friends can bring on mental health symptoms - this is very possible, especially if you were already fighting depression and vulnerable. Stressful events can bring on all kinds of problems.

Unless the event meets the criteria above, it's not ptsd. The events that create the major mental health problem of Ptsd are specific to those listed above because of the way they impact the nervous system.

It does not mean what you went through is less bad, or that it did not contribute to current mental health symptoms you may have now - it's just not ptsd.

In the end, none of us can diagnose. It would be best to talk to a therapist or doctor about what you are experiencing.

Many thanks for your help everyone. Its definitely not ptsd then. The problem with doctors is that I've been several and they all say its a different thing.

 

[Hobof]

That's tough. I was given different diagnosis early on too.

Perhaps working with a therapist might bring more clarity. There are even therapists who do testing to most accurately determine a diagnosis.

 

[Dovo]

Something can be traumatic, painful, awful, life altering... without reaching the level of trauma needed for PTSD.

I liked the bullying v life threatened example. Feeling like you're going to die, versus actually about to die / immediate threat to life. When you're in pain, it's often hard to imagine things getting worse. And then, yep! A whole nother level! Crap.

That said... An often minor seeming thing can be the straw that breaks the camels back on past trauma. Ditto not so minor stuff, but not criterionA. If there were past CritA stuff? Then losing a support structure / crutch can absolutely be the tipping point to send someone down the PTSD rabbit hole. It's not that the crutch caused the PTSD. It's the past trauma that was being kept in check that is the thing. Quitting smoking, for example, seems to be a common one.

 

[Enica]

Maybe a safe encounter with friends verses conflict? Maybe that would be the difference? Interesting topic. Not so sure what you mean my conflict

 

[Idah]

Maybe a safe encounter with friends verses conflict? Maybe that would be the difference? Interesting topic. Not so sure what you mean my conflict

I didn't have a gun pointed towards me or anything like that. It was mainly arguing, the strange thing is that after all this had hapenned I started getting all these symptoms like phobia, depersonalization, i started isolating (although i've already started hanging around with other friends) and also blunted affect. What's even more strange is that I started having compulsions (I started washing my hands more often) and apparently this is more to do with ocd, so I'm not sure whether symptoms of ptsd and ocd can take place simultaneously. Another thing I was wondering is if any of you have tried the linden method. Although I'm not 100% sure of my diagnosis, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to try it. Any advice on this will be appreciated :)