• 💖 [Donate To Keep MyPTSD Online] 💖 Every contribution, no matter how small, fuels our mission and helps us continue to provide peer-to-peer services. Your generosity keeps us independent and available freely to the world. MyPTSD closes if we can't reach our annual goal.

OCD Can ptsd cause ocd

Status
Not open for further replies.
In my imagination, OCD and PTSD as well as other disorders are merely various manifestations of the same states of internal distress seeking an outlet. The distress follows the path of least resistance, bubbling up through the personality and resulting in clusters of behaviors that receive the attention of the DSM.

I believe getting to the bottom of the traumatic roots of most disorders, as stated by @shimmerz and @Friday above is the best course of action for science at this stage, as well as studying the ancient ways of dealing with trauma, such as shamanic healing, for why it works and how to approach healing in various ways that honor those traditions and also work for modern people.
 
or are clearly excessive
The only trouble is, when you're in that state, it isn't clear to you. Sigh.

There's another thread on OCD right now that I just answered. I have symptoms of it (different ones from the OP). I'm pretty sure I know where they come from and how they relate to my trauma.

What would the purpose of a diagnosis be? Just wondering because if you can see how the symptoms stem from trauma, you don't need to treat them separately. Or that's my thinking on it, anyway.

ETA: Sorry, I only just realized how old this thread is.
 
What would the purpose of a diagnosis be? Just wondering because if you can see how the symptoms stem from trauma, you don't need to treat them separately. Or that's my thinking on it, anyway.

If the symptoms stem from trauma? Yep! Exactly.

A person with PTSD may exhibit ADHD-like, OCD-like, Bipolar-like symptoms. But those symptoms stem from trauma, and are best treated with trauma protocols, not the half dozen other disorder protocols they're like. Treat the right disorder, and the symptoms lessen.

If they don't stem from trauma, but from a seperate disorder? <grin> Two different treatment protocols needed! :D

If they have PTSD? Treat that.
If they have PTSD + OCD (or anything else comorbid). Treat both.
If they have OCD (or anything else). Treat that.

Because I'm comorbid, the very first thing I have to do is parse where a shared symptom is coming from. Because the treatment protocols are vastly different in most cases of shared symptoms.
 
Last edited:
If they don't stem from trauma, but from a seperate disorder? <grin> Two different treatment protocols needed!
After some sleep, I get what you are saying. This brings up two questions in my mind, which probably don't have simple answers. One is, if a person is comorbid, how do they tell whether a symptom is stemming from one disorder or another when they have both and the treatment protocols are different? Is it a matter of giving one protocol a try to see whether it works?

The other is one I often muse over when people say they don't have enough trauma to have PTSD and assume their symptoms stem from some other cause. At this juncture I always think "Yes... maybe." Occluded memories are so very common. It's not possible to know for sure that what looks like PTSD but lacks a criterion A trauma, isn't in fact PTSD stemming from something that has not yet surfaced in a person's memory.

This comes to mind here in particular because I am 99% certain that my OCD symptoms come from a trauma that I only just remembered a couple of years ago. The memory has been fairly consistent since then, more details have filled in the gaps, my other symptoms fit, and yet, I've had what to an untrained eye looks like OCD (along with a lot of other symptoms) for most of my life. CBT, the gold standard for treating OCD (if it really is OCD) doesn't touch it. I can't get to first base. Working on the trauma, on the other hand, has at least made a dent in the intensity of the symptoms. I'm not through working on the trauma yet, so the jury is still out as to whether the symptoms will disappear completely.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top