News Can Watching Violent/scary Movies Cause Ptsd?

[H89]

There is a difference between symptoms being 'triggered' by media vs. media giving you PTSD.

The first is factual, the second is nonsense. People should not try and confuse the two... as IntoTheLight answered... trigger is not cause, the prior abuse was the cause of PTSD, not the media act that is triggering the symptoms.

You cannot GET PTSD from media, you can only GET PTSD from an actual traumatic event that you personally experienced in real life via the defined diagnostic methods.

The DSM V has even gone as far to ensure people do not confuse this with second hand information, ie. confused with grief vs. experienced.

This has nothing to do with the current debate or my situation. I just wanted to set those members on here straight who were saying that a person themselves HAD to go through trauma. According to the APA themselves you can get PTSD from quote "Learning that the event(s) occurred to a close relative or close friend; in such cases, the actual or threatened death must have been violent or accidental" I was going to post a link but it says I don't have enough posts to do that. I'm going to copy and paste the actual information. I hope that's not against the TOU. I got this from the DSM V website.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder *

A. The person was exposed to one or more of the following event(s): death or threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violation, in one or more of the following ways: **

1. Experiencing the event(s) him/herself
2. Witnessing, in person, the event(s) as they occurred to others
3. Learning that the event(s) occurred to a close relative or close friend; in such cases, the actual or threatened death must have been violent or accidental
4. Experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the event(s) (e.g., first responders collecting body parts; police officers repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse); this does not apply to exposure through electronic media, television, movies, or pictures, unless this exposure is work related.

 

[Muzikluvr]

I just wanted to set those members on here straight who were saying that a person themselves HAD to go through trauma.

4.

Experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the event(s) (e.g., first responders collecting body parts; police officers repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse); this does not apply to exposure through electronic media, television, movies, or pictures, unless this exposure is work related.​

H89, I think you should consider the abuse you experienced in childhood as the source of your PTSD. When I was a kid, I sat and watched Little House on the Prairie, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Mommy Dearest, Walking Tall... each of those shows is a trigger for me. The first one, my dad compared me to all the bad kids, the second one my dad compared me to Old Man Winter, the third was the first I knew that my mom was abusive, and the fourth... I was terrified for Buford... and elated when he beat the shit out of those bikers in the bar.... but seriously terrified that he would then be in trouble with the law. He was in the same catch 22, I was in...

I think you are projecting all your issues of abuse onto these movies and TV shows you watched to avoid facing the abuse that your family inflicted on you, and continues to inflict on you by minimizing the abuse and ridiculing your responses.

 

[anthony]

I just wanted to set those members on here straight who were saying that a person themselves HAD to go through trauma. According to the APA themselves you can get PTSD from quote "Learning that the event(s) occurred to a close relative or close friend; in such cases, the actual or threatened death must have been violent or accidental" I was going to post a link but it says I don't have enough posts to do that. I'm going to copy and paste the actual information.

Edit: I answered this near midnight on the way to bed... which was my fault. Thinking about it overnight, I have now posted the correct response.

You're talking about Acute Stress Disorder: [Litz and Keane, 1989] and not PTSD.

ASD is and is not a precursor to PTSD, depending on what study you read. There seems to be no definitive outcome on that one.

DSM IV PTSD: [DLMURL]http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/ptsd.htm[/DLMURL]

DSM V PTSD: [Litz and Keane, 1989]

I have zero doubt that insurance companies will review claim files... this is standard practice for any borderline cases they have current approved treatment claims for.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Honestly, I think it's pointless to argue with H89. He believes his PTSD is from watching TV, which is IMPOSSIBLE according to diagnostic criteria. Having said that, he does not have PTSD, so why is he here? Last I checked this was a forum for people who LEGITIMATELY have PTSD.

It's situations like this that make the rest of us look bad. Oh, I saw a scary movie! PTSD! Now let's charge up a gazillion dollars in medical costs because I have a bogus Dx!!

Sorry if I sound snarky, but watching tv is not on par with being brutally raped as a 4 year old as I have, or going to combat, being held up at gunpoint, being in a horrific car crash, etc as others have experienced.

No offense, H89, but if I see you post on the forum I'm going to ignore it from now on because you CAN'T get PTSD from tv and as such, have nothing to add to conversation. Because, after all, your abuse has nothing to do with your PTSD.

It's simply AMAZING how powerful denial is... Soooo much easier than blaming people who were supposed to love you! Blame the world and continue loving those who abused you. How CONVENIENT. Wake up and see the truth of the situation and you'll gain some credibility. Otherwise, continue living in your comfortable world of denial.

 

[Jet]

Many years ago I read about a study involving children and what they saw/watched on television. They said that even if the kids were old enough to understand in their conscious mind that what they were seeing on tv was not real their sub conscious mind reacted as if it were. So, if for instance a kid saw someone on tv get violently murdered they might understand that it was fake and just on tv but their sub conscious reacted as if it had happened right in front of them.

As I said, that was several years ago so it might not really apply at all. But at the same time I can't help but think of that when I see parents watch extremely violent movies with their kids in the room (example: went to a friends house and they were watching Natural Born Killers with their 3 year old sitting on the couch beside them) and think nothing of it.

Whether or not that could cause PTSD (or something similar) I have no idea. However I have no doubt that repeated exposure to such movies could cause some kind of damage.

 

[anthony]

There are other disorders that accurately depict persons who believe they have something from watching TV... Internet, etc... and its not PTSD.

 

[amethist]

I have mentioned this earlier in this thread, but this happened last weekend.

My husband wanted me to sit and watch Dr who with him last Saturday night, normally this would be a good thing for us to do together.

But the dreaded cyber men were on, so I said no you watch it on your own. He tried to push me into watching it, saying they were not that scary anymore. Oh yes they are to me. After I told him, " I do not push you with spiders, so do not push me with cyber men", he backed off and watched it alone.

This is fear from being a child, have they caused me to suffer with PTSD, have they b######s. Given me the Eaby Geeby's maybe, but that,s as far as it goes.

If I even see someone dressed up as one, I can run at warp speed in the opposite direction, but still not PTSD.

 

[Jet]

Like I said...I have no idea whether such exposure could cause PTSD. However, it seems to me that for a small child exposed to those types of movies the outcome would be a bit different then "believing" they got something from the tv or internet. I would also think that the result would be different then amethist's Dr. Who or my strong dislike for The Wizard Of Oz.

I'm not saying that any time a person watches something they perceive as scary they will or even could develop anything. Yet I can't help but think that if a (young) human mind unconsciously reacts to something as if it were real the results could be similar to PTSD.

 

[H89]

Honestly, I think it's pointless to argue with H89. He believes his PTSD is from watching TV, which is IMPOSSIBLE according to diagnostic criteria. Having said that, he does not have PTSD, so why is he here? Last I checked this was a forum for people who LEGITIMATELY have PTSD.

It's situations like this that make the rest of us look bad. Oh, I saw a scary movie! PTSD! Now let's charge up a gazillion dollars in medical costs because I have a bogus Dx!!

Sorry if I sound snarky, but watching tv is not on par with being brutally raped as a 4 year old as I have, or going to combat, being held up at gunpoint, being in a horrific car crash, etc as others have experienced.

No offense, H89, but if I see you post on the forum I'm going to ignore it from now on because you CAN'T get PTSD from tv and as such, have nothing to add to conversation. Because, after all, your abuse has nothing to do with your PTSD.

It's simply AMAZING how powerful denial is... Soooo much easier than blaming people who were supposed to love you! Blame the world and continue loving those who abused you. How CONVENIENT. Wake up and see the truth of the situation and you'll gain some credibility. Otherwise, continue living in your comfortable world of denial.

First of all sweety, I haven't had a sex change that I'm aware of. I'm a SHE not a he. I was hoping not to get nasty about this subject but you forced me too. I remember my abuse well and it does NOT cause me any anxiety, flashbacks, etc. I'll even talk about it here for you all to see(warning may trigger!). ONE of the many times I was abused was over me dumping my plate of food on the floor by accident. My mother and I were watching the movie "Ransom" we were sitting on the couch and I dropped my plate by mistake. She went nuts, started screaming at me hitting me telling me to pick it up. When I didn't clean it up fast enough, I got hit again. I do flashback to my daily verbal abuse at school and that causes me symptoms.

I could name a very long list of movies and TV shows we happened to be watching at the times she abused me. Listing those would cause me NO anxiety. Guess what? I don't have flashbacks to a single one of those. It's the other movies and TV shows that cause me extreme distress. One of the movies has been mentioned twice on this forum and has triggered me badly. As for me legitimately having PTSD, I'm sorry you don't agree with what I was diagnosed with by 3 different professionals. When you've gone to med school than you can disagree with them all you like. I DIDN'T self diagnose. My treating psychologist is an evaluater for social security, he diagnosed me with PTSD, depression, and my phobias. He's been in practice for 27 years. He knows his stuff to word it nicely. I had two different social security doctors review my entire medical record when I applied for SS disability. They both diagnosed me with PTSD, depression, and specific phobias(in addition to my multiple physical health issues). They both agreed with my treating psychologist.

I've said what I'm going to say next at least 3 times on here but you all keep not seeing it. It's NOT just "scary" movies and TV shows that I flash too. I'm triggered by 3 COMEDY shows that I bet good money most of you have seen. The last time the instant fear reaction happened with a TV show I was 19! You all keep going on about how I was upset as a kid, when I've been freaking triggered as an adult. I can't control what gives me phobias, nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks, etc. I can't help that the "wrong" stimuli fu*ked me up and gave me PTSD or whatever DD you all want to label me with. Next time I'll tell my brain to control it's automatic fu*king reactions to suit you all.

 

[H89]

There are other disorders that accurately depict persons who believe they have something from watching TV... Internet, etc... and its not PTSD.

I didn't start seeing my psychologist "believing" anything. I just knew I had irrational fears that were extreme in nature, I didn't know what the cause of them was. I didn't know why in the world certain people's faces caused a fear reaction in me, and I still don't. I noticed you (and everyone else on here) avoided that fact that I'm terrified of my great grandmother's appearance. She greatly resembles one of the actresses I'm phobic of. I of course laid eyes on my great grandmother LONG before I ever saw that damn movie. So please explain to me why on earth I've been afraid of my own great grandmother's face since I was 3 years old? That "something" I got was specific phobias with in addition to my abuse caused my PTSD. Social Security agreed with him(my psychologist). I don't agree that my abuse has anything to do with my PTSD, and he and I have discussed that. We've talked about the possbility that I could have a PTSD LIKE illness triggered by my specific phobias. Or the possibility that I could have something "new" entirely.

 

[amethist]

You just nailed it here H89, all the abuse you received from your mother, while watching TV is the mostly likely reason on this planet for your PTSD. Your just linking it in to the TV programs, maybe this is most of what you remember occurred. Maybe time to dig deeper into it yourself.

Oh well some get it, some dont, some deny it for what ever reason, and then go on to try and convince those who DO know what it is all about, that suddenly there is a new reason for PTSD. Hence the tightening up of the Diagnostic criteria.

 

[Jet]

Actually the idea that a child could get PTSD from violent tv/movies is not new. I found several studies relating to the effects of violent television/movies on kids and all of them pointed to PTSD like symptoms. Not that long ago the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) listed violent tv/movies as one of the leading causes of trauma/PTSD in children.

The reason for this is because a child's mind can not tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Therefore the brains reactions are the same as if it were all real and happening in front of or sometimes to them.

I full well understand that the DSM criteria is changing and this will no longer apply. But that does not mean that a person is imagining, making up or simply believes that they have a problem related to this or that the symptom's/issues created do not cause a serious impairment.

I don't know what the deep down root cause for H89's problems are (tv, abuse or a combination of the two) but what I do know is that the treatment she has received on this board is deplorable. I understand that many may find it unfair to compare the illness of someone who has suffered abuse or been in combat with someone who watched tv. But it is also unfair to mock someone, call them a liar or accuse them of making something up simply because someone does not agree with their belief or dx. I often see posts or responses I don't agree with (not just limited to this forum) or come across people I disagree with...that does not give me the right to treat them like dirt.

H89 was dx'd by an apparently knowledgeable, experienced mental health professional. It really shouldn't matter to any of us what the actual cause of her symptoms are because the last time I checked (on this board) the trauma was not the point...the symptoms were. She has been dx'd with PTSD and has the symptoms of PTSD. Whether the cause was from tv (as believed) or something else is for her and her therapist to work out.