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Thanks. We're currently laying out a plan and working with my thought cycles. I'm kind of letting the intrusive OCD thoughts out a little at a time rather than blurting it right out.

Hello, I am in CBT at the moment for PTSD, but I also have OCD. They are sort of linked (intrusive thoughts etc), but they are also quite separate. I don't know whether to tell my therapist about the non-PTSD related thoughts, or whether focusing on recovering from PTSD will help the OCD as...

Hello! It turned out I didn't have to tell him yesterday. He had to cancel, and I don't think we'll be meeting on a Tuesday for a while now (we both have busy evenings, so we have to meet whenever we can!). But I think if a good time to tell him comes up, I will explain. I think it would be...

Thank you for your responses. I can't imagine him being weird about it - he's a really nice guy. But so far most of our discussions are light hearted and based on making each other laugh. I'm meeting him after therapy tonight, and I am still debating telling him I am in a meeting, or training...

Hello, I have just started a new relationship, and it is going really well so far. But I am wondering when I ought to share my diagnosis with him. I don't want to scare him off, as we're not sharing intimate details of our lives yet. But I also don't want him to wonder why I seem to have...

Thanks both. I think I will just say that I've changed my hours on Tuesdays. If I say I've changed to 9-5 on Tuesdays and I got permission from the manager, I can't imagine they will probe too much. If nothing else, the thought of therapy has given me a lot of nervous energy, so I went on a...

Hi Sam, Firstly, I'm so sorry to hear you are having such a rough time. Throwing up is a common physical effect from anxiety (I personally struggle with it coming out the other end, so often have to run out to use the bathroom!). Self harm is definitely not a viable long term option. You are...

Thanks. I very rarely have meetings outside my office, and for those my boss usually accompanies me. Now I've okayed it with my boss, I feel better about it. She hasn't mentioned it again since she emailed and said ok. My concern now is that my coworkers will ask where I'm going and I will...

Hi Tornadic Thoughts. I did as you said, I told her I was going to CBT, but I didn't say why. I also said I would make up the time in the morning. I'm so nervous about starting therapy, I just know I'm going to be a mess all day at work tomorrow.

Hello. I'm really struggling at the moment, and after over four months of waiting, I have finally been offered CBT. But I don't know how to broach the topic with my boss. I have been in counselling for a while now, but I have been going early in the morning, so I don't miss any time at work...

In my teens I had OCD, which lead to Anorexia & GAD. Then I got all back to "normal" again (I use quotation marks because who knows what normal even is??). And then the obvious PTSD which was diagnosed around April time.

Thanks She Cat. I got to a point yesterday that I just couldn't cope. I went to the doctors this morning and I have been prescribed Betablockers and sleeping tablets. I hate relying on medication, but I can't carry on with this level of panic all the time. :(

I am in a complete panic. The Parsons Green attack was 2 stops away from me. If I wasn't running late due to a hangover I would have been on that train. I was also on the bridge during Westminster. I have been panicky since it happened, but now I've been thrown into complete meltdown. I'm...

Thank you. Yes, I tried to be kind to myself yesterday, but it was so hard. I was planning on going out with my friends in an attempt to take my mind off it. But I just couldn't move from my bed. I couldn't even face my flatmate. It was awful.

So it seems my counsellor finally decided to talk about the trauma... and I went into complete meltdown and haven't been able to stop crying all day. So much for the last session. He's just signed me up for four more as he doesn't really think we've gotten to the bottom of the problem yet... Smh.

I understand the need to search for underlying/past trauma, but I have been quite clear with my therapist - I was brought up in a happy family, mum & dad still together, did well at school, got a degree then a master's, then got my dream job. Then witnessed a terrorist attack, flashbacks...

Thanks for your responses - they have been more helpful than the counselling I'm getting! (I just started a thread about that in the Therapy forum.) I wanted to open up to him about the attacks, the flashbacks, the lying, everything. But he just seems to keen to pin my anxiety on my mother...

This is a bit of a weird one - but I've been in counselling for around 7 weeks now - it's my last session next week. And my counsellor spends around 90% of the session talking about my life/my family etc. And he seems to be stuck on the idea I'm getting my anxiety from my mum (who is the most...

I am so pleased it's not just me! I already feel survivor's guilt - guilt around the fact that I ran away and didn't stop to help, which is worsened when I hear stories about the "brave souls" who stopped and helped out. I feel guilty about the fact that I am suffering so much, when others...

Thank you for your replies. I'm in counselling at the moment, but I feel like my counsellor doesn't take my flashbacks seriously. He tends to spend most of the session talking about anxiety in general and my family/career etc, then for like, 5 minutes at the end, he asks about my flashbacks and...

Hello, I don't know what to do with myself. Since the attack in Barcelona, I have had constant flashbacks from the Westminster attacks. I'm trying to avoid the news but I constantly overhear conversations about it. We have newspapers at work and there are images across all the front pages...

Don't worry - I got that. I think in a forum like this, there are very few people who judge! Thank you for clarifying though. :) People ask me about my trauma all the time! I think because it was all over the news, people found out I was there, and saw it as kind of cool or exciting. The worst...

I have just started therapy. At the moment we're not talking about what actually happened - just the feelings that surround it. It's certainly not helpful to lie - but I feel ashamed and guilty either way. I feel ashamed for feeling so upset over something that I was relatively removed from...

I'm afraid I don't have any words of wisdom on the subject, but I can assure you it's not just you. I get jumpy at any loud noise (and living in London that happens a lot!). I'm hoping to someday get used to them and be able to just carry on with them - but at the moment, the sound of a...

Hello all, I have a strange question. Does anybody else find themselves lying about or exaggerating their traumatic experience? So whenever anyone asks me to speak about it - I often exaggerate what I saw, because I feel like this makes my PTSD more validated. Does that make sense? I...