Differences Between Combat And Abuse Related Ptsd

[Ronin]

Since combat PTSD happens in adulthood,

Not really.
Can we please not go with this assumption?
It's pretty alienating those of us who witnessed combat one way or the other while still children.

Edit, to be more topical: This assumption for starters. Combat means adulthood & voluntary enlistment, only. Yeah, sure, bite me. Counting 'childhood' about being only possibly CSA. Look amigo that wasn't nearly as traumatic as the bodies of people I just met. A lot more political nonsense thrown in, as if it's supposed to matter the most in everything (or as if that wasn't in the lair of f*cking Personal.)

People don't tend to bring that nonsense into pure rape discussions. Then they, suddenly, are able to stick to the topic of trauma & healing from it. Or ASK before discussing the perpetrators in any depth or going all invasive questions.

 

[strangelings]

this is an interesting topic for me in a number of ways.

-first, my father was a Holocaust survivor as a child (in a camp, experimented on). although that's not directly combat ptsd it was always very- validated. unfortunately other family members and even the CPS people used it as an excuse for his behavior (he chose to inflict his trauma on others including me).

-i am male and in my mid-thirties and am often asked if I'm a vet. I honestly answer that no, but I was in non-military combat (I have a really complicated background). It bothers me that people *assume* a male with ptsd *has* to be a vet, especially since I'm on disability.

I like to think I don't compare most of the time, aside from that parts of me (the ones who were in combat situations particularly) wish there was some recognition of our experience and that we could access some of the non-VA things (like a wonderful place here) for former soldiers but our experience is too- outside the box. Same thing as being a torture survivor and all the resources (there's a good center for that here) being for refugees, not people tortured say, growing up by heinous assholes.

I don't assume I *can* relate but I think because of the violence and amount of death I've seen including as a teen and young adult when I was say, in a trauma program with some vets we seemed to- relate. Because while I hadn't been there- I'd been in similar sections of hell as it were.

I've thought that once I've gotten myself together and finished my degrees and am a trauma therapist I might want to start out, like an amazing therapist I had, working with the VA, not because the VA is great or anything but because I'd be able to help.

 

[desiderata310]

The last person I admitted that I had PTSD to started out being really kind. We'd kind of gotten to know each other over the course of my stay at my friend's house and I finally felt comfortable telling him why I had Charlie: for PTSD.

That's when he asked the first question which made me squirm a bit but I expected it so I had a pat answer. How did I get it? years of abuse. I was vague. Then he asked the stupid question which shut me down: "are you gonna shoot us up?"
The f*ck? REALLY?
I smiled, said, no I'm more likely to freeze and cry. But it made me regret opening up.

*sigh* side note: this trip has been a complete disaster from beginning to end.

 

[Kailani]

I'm not sure combat PTSD happens only in adulthood! The abuse I suffered was a lot physical and emotional, some sexual and a lot of life traumas; drowning... Growing up in a military family I heard a lot of comments the military heard, from what I have read on combat PTSD also no blood, no tears, just not allowed to have emotions. i always considered myself a different kind of soldier when I was a child and felt my life was like war because there was torture involved frequently. However my PTSD was a lost cause; wasn't for saving the lives of those in my country comparatively. Always had problems but the real problems began at 15 then horrifically at 19. Like Chava said developmental appears a lot dissociative. I have dissociative PTSD. Flashbacks are more of a lifestyle. Feel I live in it and don't just have 10 minutes. It's never ending and every trauma is constantly triggered. EMDR helps me and grounding. It's like being an alcoholic constantly but not ever having a drink. Get all the side effects but I didn't choose it. Sucks!!!! Thank God for the veterans! When I was diagnosed civilians weren't much talked about and they were the only ones to relate to otherwise I would have been utterly alone. I feel bad for them because they had a life before PTSD and they know the difference. This is all I have known and see the difference in other people's lives.

 

[Anarchy]

[ Since Combat PTSD happens in adulthood ]
Not really.
Can we please not go with this assumption?
It's pretty alienating those of us who witnessed combat one way or the other while still children.

[Multi Like]

It's an easily made and culturally based assumption. apart from false flags (Operation Gladio and the supposed "far left terrorism" in Europe from the mid 60s up to the 80s are the ones we definitely know were false flags - someday we might get confirmation of some of the other shit that appears to follow the same timing and same scripts http://freedominourtime.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/lights-camera-entrapment-homeland.html ).

Western Europe, North America, Britain, Oz and Kiwi land's post 1945 experience of Military has all been overseas and the news "sanitized" prior to broadcast.

I'm not going to be nosey, Suffice to say that @Cashew 's first language is used over an area comparable to the size of western Europe.

Within that area, "military" doesn't necessarily get reported in the west as "war", for example the Kenyan army has been used (funded by the UN!) to burn villages, torture and murder people (castrations, disembowelling of pregnant women etc) along the border with Uganda (Inland, the colonial boundaries are straight lines that were drawn on maps in Europe, without regard for who lived there and what community and trading links they might have), in the name of "civilian disarmament".

The reason that guys in the area armed themselves was to fight off attempted genocide from the western side of the border, perpetrated by Idi Amin's military in the 1970s.

A former colleague did some work in that area, he said the locals were great, once they realised that he was neither UN nor Kenyan army. He did come across some camped Kenyan army guys and said that very different, he thought he was going to get killed.

apologies if I have touched any raw nerves.:hug:

 

[blackemerald1]

I can't tell anyone, all my friends that I had before I got PTSD slowly but deliberately stopped calling, stopped being normal towards me. Some just never contacted me after I got sick. I didn't know I had PTSD, I was too sick to know.PTSD was not well known about then.
My last friend & probably the most informed about the cause of my PTSD sent me a text one day saying HE could not cope with me anymore despite the fact that he had sought me out on numerous occasions for comfort because "you would understand." (We were in the same profession)

Yes, I did understand, literally been there & done that... so I was his wailing wall after a trauma he'd experienced but he really did not reciprocate when I went to a bad job or felt I need to talk to someone...

His last text to me was "where is the old you, what happened to the good old days?"

I never responded. I've not heard from him since.

It's my secret now. I don't make friends because that claims a right to that horrible question, then did you ever shoot/kill anyone or did you get shot?

I learned to my terrible disappointment that people who do not have PTSD become morbidly voyeuristic if they find out I have PTSD. And I cannot, will not tolerate their insensitive lust for my personal information.

So no real world friends, no disappointments.

I talk to my psych about it, since he's known me so long. He too says that to tell my trauma (s) to some one would require a whole lot of boundaries. I can't begin to start that.

Yes all of our experiences that caused us to get PTSD are different, but in different guises, it is the same monster.

 

[Chava]

Alight, hold on. I didn't mean to alienate anyone. Several members of my family have been in combat, but there has never been combat right within my environment, so I don't relate to being a young person around that. But yes, understandable that combat trauma is real for children elsewhere.

I hope it was obvious that my post was actually about not alienating trauma survivors through comparisons. Sorry if I missed a bit of detail there in my way of generalizing (OP also mentioned combat trauma in relation to service).

But, if I could generalize a bit, my point was that the trauma of fighting in a war, killing others and being shot at and constantly in that zone, is more often an adult trauma. Since we're talking about Combat PTSD vs abuse. If we're talking about childhood combat PTSD, then we're sort of talking about the childhood trauma part, which would in many cases present as more globalized symptoms, including greater chance of dissociative symptoms. Childhood combat trauma might be different than abuse trauma though, in how it presents in symptoms...although facing either long term through childhood would have a more global impact, symptom-wise, than facing in adulthood (and I'm not saying worse, I'm saying more global, like more wide-spread). The symptoms would be terrible no matter what.

Finally, in making sure I don't miss any gray or in-between area here...the child who has to serve as a soldier/fighter? Total tragedy and should NEVER happen (though I know it does in other parts of the world).

Okay, carry on.

 

[Ronin]

Because while I hadn't been there- I'd been in similar sections of hell as it were.

I'm not sure your experiences specifically, or where you looked, but I came to find NGOs can be pretty resourceful in that regard.

Find an intersection to what's closest to your particular needs & circumstances.

Found places working with street kids & child soldiers that way as homelessness common denominator, places working with torture survivors because they worked with prosecuted populations as a whole, places working as shelters in many ways just because they were non-listed non-labeled places everybody in fear of their life hid at for a short enough time, and the like.

And often times just plain out good people who don't ask and don't want reasons as long as you're not an immediate danger to them for the time's sake, can do wonders.

 

[greenleaf]

Not really.
Can we please not go with this assumption?
It's pretty alienating those of us who witnessed co...

Thank you for posting this here, @Cashew; lots of us born/living in countries that have been stable for our lifetimes have a lot of trouble really trying to put ourselves in the shoes of the (hundreds of millions?) of people who aren't; many members of the news media in my country seem to promote that distancing too, maybe it makes their audiences feel all safe... our local "National Public Radio" (NPR) stations seem to make an effort to promote empathy though, which I am very glad to hear though the segments have been very difficult to hear.

In many Western countries, we do have more and more refugees coming in, it is a huge issue. Trauma and emotional issues are not discussed so much as physical ones, that I have heard.

I think that the NPR efforts to promote empathy in general are very important. I'm trying to get a feeling into words here...

People in general mostly have empathy (let's not talk about Trump) but also our fear of being overwhelmed, life generally feels hard or harder or much harder, never easy for long, and we all die sooner or later. Ways of talking about things that reduce peoples' fear and help them not raise walls of fear against relating to another person or group seem important to nurture.

What I'd noticed about one discussion that helped me feel empathy toward a different very difficult experience... The NPR segment I heard last week talked about one small child in an area with a lot of combat, and the interactions of some U.S. folks with the child, their efforts to help, how wonderful the kid was and totally like their own children, but demonstrated their ultimate inability to stay and help that single child and the clear grief of the kid upon their leaving.

 

[Ellabella44]

when im asked i just say childhood s*ucked, and usually its left alone. For me, i was told my parents had me so my father didnt have to go to vietnam. I feel like my mother, brother and i ended up serving in a battle at home instead. Home life was my war. I took my beatings, and had a man i could not leave behind (my brother) when our father lost it and went after our mother. Childhood, unlike serving in military, you dont sign up for.

That said, I dont believe that vets sign up exactly for the situations they find themselves in. Loosing friends to an enemy, walking through areas on constant watch, injury, or near death. and apologies ive only seen military combat on movies and tv. And I also thank the vets for their service.

Trauma is experienced by more people than it should be. From my time up here, it seems to me that our language for personal threats is the same or very similar. Some basics like hypervigilance are at similar levels. And i bet things like a list of "what can you use for a weapon in a small room" would be on the mind of most ( reguardless of how you got ptsd) when faced with unfamiliar place

I feel we all should have access to care for this. Vets get noticed more, and i agree that its the shame factor that makes non vet sufferers hidden in the population. Really who wants to raise their hand and yell out why they have PTSD? Unfortunately someone has to do that.

I tell people I have it because i want to have a reason to give for some of my behaviors. Poor eye contact, raising my hand to my forehead when anxious, etc. I want to be given patience and tolerance when im not at my best. I want to be seen as a person who can eventually thrive in a new environment given that patience and tolerance. We can only get rid of the shame factor by coming out of the shadows.

 

[AllieD.]

This topic fascinates me. It is something that comes into my world fairly often.
I had PTSD, really all my life, toddler-hood on, morphed from childlike nightmares and spread out into all the usual stuff once I hit teenage-hood. I was still fairly functional, able to get a degree from a good college.
BUT I was involved in sept 11 that at the beginning of that last year of college (I don't generally discuss that but it is important info relating to this topic) and I ended up sort of extending my symptoms exponentially.

Since I am now on disability, this question comes up fairly often.

So, I've got a little girl's PTSD. But I always use the second "excuse" - as I have told a couple of people closer to me, it is "socially-acceptable". If for some reason I have to say anything further, anything about other stuff that happened to me at a younger age, my stock reply is "the usual reason a young girl might have ptsd".

it's important for me to keep a secret because of my relationship with the person involved, we simply cannot tell family.

Even my go-to response can lead to upsetting situations, though. I was in the hospital several years back...this time for physical not mental...but one of my doctors had heard this vague thing, "involved", and while she's examining me she said "Oh you're the girl from new york. WHICH BUILDING WERE YOU IN."

I've never heard a worse response than that. I do not recall how I responded! In general this reason does not prompt further questioning. For some reason abuse/rape DOES prompt further questioning, in my experience. Of course it should not happen at all, for any reason for having PTSD. It should be enough just to say that - and then you let the person who is ill and vulnerable guide such a topic

That "secondary thing", though, that happened to me at the end of college, is still a go-to answer that is not nearly as upsetting as the other, the first thing - and most people do not inquire further than "involved". So I feel for you - "you" in this case meaning anyone who's "just" got the abuse/childhood card. It is of course more than enough explanation to say PTSD and people should not be so nosy no matter what. People are idiots, they are not thoughtful, they almost never intend to do harm, but you'd think at least medical people would have gone through sensitivity training or something. I could not believe that doctor.

So I know what it's like on both ends and I prefer it this way, with that later thing has pushed me over the edge after all. Combat would probably be "even better".
It is wrong, a sickness in our society, sad that "socially acceptable" enters into the equation at all. It is not just a reason, it becomes an EXCUSE. People expect information WHY WHY WHY. Argh.

Sorry for all the " " air quotes. :)
I'm new to this board so if I've said or done anything wrong I'm sorry.

 

[USAF_Veteran]

The points you raise are interesting. You've made the distinction between PTSD caused by veterans in combat versus non-military related PTSD - as if those are the only two classifications. I've suffered with untreated PTSD for decades. It was not, however, caused by anything combat-related. But, it was incurred during my military service. Where would you say I fit into your scenario?

It wasn't until thirty years after I was discharged that I began getting my healthcare from a VA medical facility and they (unbeknownst to me at the time) diagnosed me with military-related PTSD. Yes, I had experienced several severe non-combat related traumas while serving in the military. I, too, feel shame from that diagnosis because it was "non-combat" related. I compare myself to those who witnessed horrible elements of war and think "How can my repeated traumas even compare to the horrors that they were forced to confront?"

The truth of the matter is that it's all very subjective. We're all human, and each of us reacts to trauma in our own unique way. Some are unscathed when exposed to the same event that others who suffer varying degrees of trauma are. And then there's the intensity of one's PTSD which may increase as he or she is exposed to similar traumatic events over and over again.

I also subscribe to the theory that no matter what may have caused our PTSD, shame is just an inherent part of it. We all consider ourselves to be emotional Rocks of Gibraltar; yet, when we break down due to traumatic events we interpret that as a major sign of weakness - and we're ashamed of it. We just need to remember that we're human and that with emotional weakness comes emotional strength.