Poll Can PTSD Be Cured?

[Deleted member 12723]

I used to think it can be cured but now I think not. I still have symptoms when I am stressed. I have experienced alot of healing and do not suffer as I used to which I am very happy about. I think it will always be there like a shadow hanging over me.

But I continue to learn better coping skills to manage the symptoms I do get.

 

[Abstract]

I have not yet read all replies but will come back and do so.
I think for me it comes down to language use and how we understand "cure".

Someone on the first page compared it to eating disorders and said that neither can be cured.
I do believe I can be cured of my eating disorder and am very close to full recovery after almost thirty years. Something I thought was impossible. I have no thoughts or behaviours and for a long time now.
Would I be at risk of a relapse if I engaged in certain things that are triggers or stopped doing others that keep me healthy? Yes. Absolutely. I have no doubt I would slip and possibly more quickly than even I think I would.

Can I be the same person as I would have been if I had never had an ED? Absolutely not. Many aspects of it was traumatising in itself and it changed the way I interacted with myself and the world and changed my health. Personally I think the concept of going back to who we were before any event in our lives is pointless and not relevant to the argument. We move forward and whether difficult or not we are changed by all we experience and can never go back. I like to rather think of always trying to move with what happens.

I may be influenced by having had PTS symptoms from a young age so don't know what I would have been like without it but to me I can consider myself cured if I can fairly effortlessly manage symptoms and know how to keep them down.
We are permanently changed by almost all experiences we have in some way and there are no guarantees in life. Some new experience that is either horrible or wonderful can come up any time and have a big impact on us. Yes, PTS stays with us in a special way :depressed: but still.

It may not be "cure" in a certain sense but to me I like to hold onto the hope and thought that I can take the symptoms away and manage it relatively easily. I do know someone who had severe chronic PTSD and has had zero symptoms for a long time now. I hold onto the idea of brain plasticity and the power of the body to heal.

I didn't vote as I realise it is mostly semantics. :)

 

[heidi]

I guess while realizing it's forever has helped me in some real ways, I still do believe that I'm going to get better and I often fantasize about figuring something out.

Like yesterday I went hiking and the terrain was rocky and at night when I closed my eyes my brain was still walking.

I was thinking what if walking on rocky terrain would help because the mind is engaged.

 

[Privateer]

I've been ill before. As far as I'm concerned this is just one more illness. I'll beat it and I'll get back in the game, same as always.

I don't believe pharmaceutical means will play a role in that, though. I don't believe that any external agency will come along and make me better. That's up to me and me alone.

 

[Invisible-Guy]

I believe that with the right treatment and enough time, you can be relieved of most of the symptoms and severity. I recently watched a really good documentary that followed 5 victims of 9/11 and how their recoveries we achieved. It's hard to say if it can be completely cured though.

 

[EvenStrongerNow]

I have to believe the yes to be able to survive the work it takes to deal and to keep me active in working on it. I believe new neural pathways can be created and integrated, which will remove the disordered part of the process. Since disorder is defined as a state of confusion as a noun, and to disrupt the neat arrangement of as a verb, then I believe the healing process, in its time, is the overcoming factor.

I could be wrong, but I try not to think about it.

 

[EvenStrongerNow]

PTSD is a disorder, not a disease. There is a medical difference between disorder and disease.

A cure can be defined as many things Dead Link Removed

 

[Orglethorp]

I don't think there's just one answer, yes or no, to this question. Some people who experience PTSD are lucky, and they do eventually get to a point where they no longer experience any symptos and consider themselves cured. On the other hand, others (the majority, I think), live with PTSD for the rest of their lives.

I think for most people, PTSD is something that can be managed and improved, but not necessarily cured. I'm a writer by hobby, and I like exploring PTSD is my characters (call me morbid if you will, I don't care), and I've had to figure out how to have my non-suffering adult characters explain PTSD to the children of the suffering adult. This particular conversation has changed so many times over the years that I've been playing with this particular set of characters, but she always compares it to a chronic illness like diabetes. When it's under control, the sufferer doesn't appear "sick," but that doesn't mean it isn't there, and that doesn't mean they don't have bad days.

 

[David Robbins]

Hi All/Anthony

I am looking into this in the country where I am living and there is nothing that sug...

I suffered a near death experience 3 times in 2008 and after being diagnosed with PTSD, I had 3 1/2 years of therapy with 3 different therapists without a complete recovery. The perpetuator of this trauma is the mother of my children and thinks my situation is fake. I have not and cannot forgive her and I certainly will never forget. I have rejected drugs due to the well documented side effects, which would further deepen my chronic depression.
I am unemployed and disabled, but high functioning, just unhappy.

I live with the complications of that trauma, which include seizure disorder and heart medications.
I have two young children which requires interacting with my ex, who is their mother. Our relationship is contentious and has not abated.

I am starting my own company which may take me out of the area for lengthy time periods, a mixed blessing/curse. On one hand, I will be able to see my ex less often, but on the other, less time to be with my kids; they are 8 and 10 years old.

I often wish I was dead, but suicide is not a consideration, given the stats about teen suicide after the parent takes their life. I do accept that dying naturally will be preferred, but not until my company has been funded and well on it's way to being successful. After that time, I simply won't care about living.

 

[Gadgie]

I would like to believe that PTSD could be cured, but since I've had it years now, I don't think so. It's true that I can go for a time without the nightmares and mood swings, but then, a sudden sound, smell or vision will cause a trigger that takes me right back to hell again

Then one day I will wake to find a cloud over me, that will follow me, no matter where I go it just stays there, causing me to feel so depressed, that it's hard to carry on, or even think of a future.

 

[Changing4Best]

I answered YES, because it feels that way now. It has taken me about a dozen years of therapy to get here though. And also a lot of meds, which I still take.

 

[Friday]

Wow. This is a really old thread!