Poll Can PTSD Be Cured?

[HoosierGal]

"PTSD is the curse that keeps of cursing." - My therapist.

 

[Deleted member 8714]

I voted yes. It depends on what one calls a "cure." It no longer affects me like it used to in some ways. That to me is a "cure" of sorts. I'm as normal as I'm going to be. I'm not reacting like I used to react. That tells me I'm "cured" to a certain point.

 

[420kitty]

At first I thought there was a cure and then I learned it permenantley changes the brain's chemistry. I was so devastated. I'm just working on managing them now. Unless we have a technology to reverse our brain chemistry then I don't believe we will have one.

 

[SophiaWisdom]

I voted yes without a thought, and partly b/c of what I've learned on this forum.

I'm so curious how the neuroscience and information has changed over the years since this poll and discussion began. This forum was the first time I heard someone call PTSD PTSI - for injury.

And then I think someone linked to brain scans and showed new research showing that brain injuries can actually be healed (EDMR was cited as one of the few procedures that could accomplish this.) Of course it could be all conjecture, but I took it as gospel b/c it's what I needed to keep the fight during this terrifying bout of CPTSD that I'd never seen in my life.

I keep going because I do believe I can recover and that very very very slowly I can rewire my brain - the amount of differences I've already seen in myself through spiritual development and the 180 turns of philosophy that I once counted as integral to my identity are proof that the unexplainable (or wha thumans cannot yet see with our minds and eyes) does indeed happen. If I didn't believe in miracles, life would certainly be a darker place than it already is for us sufferers.

 

[Richard Davis]

I suppose anything is possible. I cant rule out that some might completely recover from ptsd. yet for others it is not possible. I have had ptsd for around 15 years not. there were a few years when my ptsd was much better. but now it seems that not much helps anymore.

 

[eloc]

One day they will discover which slew of genes have been turned on or off and they will reverse those epigenitic changes - hope so - for now they don't even really know where the start points are.I see some of the research switching on or off genes in rats related to cortisol and fear conditioning - so maybe its only 10 years away? I also see they think they can reset cortisol circadian rhythms so maybe some of it will come sooner.

 

[Deleted member 8714]

So much for my answer above. My beloved dog, who was a major part of my support team, died and I lost it completely. Death triggers me. So...no. I'm not cured. Sad reality. But so true.

Another huge trigger is the blades on knives. I have to permanently hide them. Though even if I use one for any purpose I start having flashbacks where I see blood and other gory, gross things I won't mention here in this topic.

I've had PTSD since I was three years old, at least that's my estimate considering what occurred then. I'm now sixty-four. So I've had PTSD for sixty-one years!

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

I voted no.

This vote is based on my experience (give or take sixteen years of PTSD at this moment).

It does get better. This is partly due to experience - every time you go through an episode or experience a trigger, you try to figure out how to deal with it, and then you use the best strategy the next time. So you develop a good toolkit to manage symptoms.

It is also partly due to age - it has been my experience that as you get older, you become more patient, and you learn to see things from different points of view. You know that nothing ever is permanent, just as nothing and nobody around you is completely permanent. So every episode you have, you learn to see that it will pass.

However based on my own experience I cannot say that the uneasiness in the brain, the basic mistrust of people (in my case from childhood trauma) ever goes away. I don´t know if this is more true for CPTSD than for "regular" PTSD. If you had a good childhood, and experienced a traumatic event later on in life, perhaps your chances to overcome are bigger, as the brain might be able to revert to its previous state (just a wild theory, nothing I can prove).

However with children who go through a prolonged traumatic event, lasting years, I´m not sure that a complete reset can be achieved.
No reason to despair though. As I said above, time and wisdom does heal most of it.

 

[Deleted member 43454]

Yea I agree with Rad for sure.
We learn to cope an overcome through endurance an time with proper rest and recovery.
In the beginning of the trauma I looked for escape through alcohol or drugs and various bandaid's but slowly I believe as I weened off of those substances I came to face the pain an move through and process the experience.
It's okay to have escapes as long as they're not detrimental to your life an those around you.
Now I escape in the form of creating an learning how to create things in various programs.
It never goes away, but it lessens with time and understanding.

7 years going strong. Still a newbie learning in this PTSD roller coaster ride called Life.

 

[Jantien Seinen]

Ok, at present, it is medically factual that PTSD has no cure, however; it has been stated that people have le...

Yes, it can be cured. (Not erased). Cured because i can see lots of my traumas are memories now, instead of reviving the stuff, uninvited. Not all traumas, because they are too many, and I was too young, but I am so free of others, I feel, I see colours, I am self-aware. So, cured yes, finished, no.