Complicated case of ptsd

[Deleted member 42783]

Nobody tries to go after the depression label or the bipolar label or the schizophrenic label.

These labels don't give them the validation they want.

Could it be because those other labels don't have anything to do with trauma and/or don't fit their symptoms? They aren't seeking the PTSD label like its a prize to be won. They are seeking what, in their mind, best fits their experience. It doesn't matter if it's not an exact fit. It's the best hope they have.

I don't think it's a fair judgment to say that they have discarded those other diagnoses simply because they don't want them.

 

[EveHarrington]

Could it be because those other labels don't have anything to do with trauma and/or don't fit their...

I think maybe you should be on the site just a little bit longer------and then come to a conclusion. I can't even begin to tell you how many people come here saying things like "I was dumped, I have PTSD". I'm known for exaggerating, but not this time. I don't mean to speak for others, but I have a feeling that others in this thread are also replying based on the fact that they see these very common posts----people want validation for hangnails! (Ok, slight exaggeration with that one.)

PTSD is indeed a popular disorder, and people WANT it like its the cool kids club.

 

[Deleted member 42783]

I think maybe you should be on the site just a little bit longer------and then come to a conclusion.

Maybe so Eve. Lol. I understand that I'm the newbie here. Just consider though that those other mental illnesses don't have anything to do with trauma. I remember when I was taught in nursing school that pain was the fifth vital sign and a patient's pain level is what they say it is. Now everyone is treated like an addict and pain is very under-controlled. I feel that is the direction we are going with trauma. Trauma is subjective to a degree. If someone's spouse leaves them, that's traumatic. It is. It doesn't fit PTSD objective criteria but it's still traumatic.

I have a hard time putting words or intentions into the mouths of others. Unless it's my T, and then of course he meant that he hates me when he called to reschedule. Anyway, I've seen plenty of people on the flip side of these struggles who have had to fight and claw their way into acceptance. They are suffering. They deserve support. Even if the PTSD shoe doesn't fit.

 

[EveHarrington]

Maybe so Eve. Lol. I understand that I'm the newbie here. Just consider though that those other men...

Nobody is saying they don't deserve acceptance. But going around telling people you have PTSD when you don't is a bold faced lie. Yes, of course people deserve validation.....but only for what they actually have.

PTSD isn't about validating ones experiences. It never has been and it never will be. Really, people need to get away from this idea.

Because if PTSD is about validation, we jump down the rabbit hole of "my rape was worse than your rape because I got PTSD and you didn't".

 

[Deleted member 42783]

PTSD isn't about validating ones experiences. It never has been and it never will be. Really, people need to get away from this idea.

I don't think anyone was actually saying that the role of a PTSD diagnosis is to validate people. I think that some of us were just explaining why people latch on to the diagnosis even if it's inappropriate. It's an very understandable reaction to a frustrating struggle.

I just don't know anybody who wants to be in the cool kid club I guess.

 

[Sideways]

@valkeasisu - there are other mental illnesses that arise from trauma.

And that's the part that I don't understand. Assigning everyone who has mental health issues following trauma with PTSD doesn't make us more compassionate.

If a person had, say, Adjustment Disorder rather than PTSD, that doesn't change how real or valid their suffering is. Not one bit. By offering out the PTSD label to all and sundry, rather than encouraging people to get the right diagnosis, are we saying PTSD is somehow better than other mental health diagnoses? That there's compassion in giving someone the wrong diagnosis?

 

[Deleted member 42783]

there are other mental illnesses that arise from trauma.

I understand that well.
Again, I don't think that anyone is saying that everyone who experiences a trauma should have a PTSD diagnosis. What I'm saying is that it's understandable why people latch onto it and that there are way more resources attached to that diagnosis that people can access.

There are other reasons people seek that diagnosis, right or wrong, other than it being the cool illness to have right now.

I don't think that people should be misdiagnosed. I don't think that PTSD is a "better" diagnosis than others and I have never expressed that. That kind of misses my point.

 

[Sideways]

Could it be because those other labels don't have anything to do with trauma and/or don't fit their symptoms?

Sorry, must have misunderstood this.

 

[Deleted member 42783]

@Ragdoll Circus
And that's understandable. A lot of this thread seems like a big misunderstanding.

 

[Nyssa]

This may be off topic. But since the OP seems to have had his answer, I thought I could add something.

A few years ago, the vast majority of people in my country had never heard about PTSD. They just had a vague idea of what a flashback is. More people are growing aware of the existence of PTSD and its symptoms. But I still don't expect anyone to know what I am referring to if I say PTSD. Chances are I'll have to explain what it is.

In that context, a PTSD diagnostic hardly gives you any outside validation of your suffering. To get that, you have to tell people what you went through. I can see how it would more comfortable to just go with "I have PTSD". I don't really need people to tell me I went through some bad shit. But sometimes, I wish I could just say "I have PTSD" to explain some of my behaviors.

I am not sure where I am going with this... I guess it is just a reflection on the potential social implications of a PTSD diagnostic.

 

[joeylittle]

Just consider though that those other mental illnesses don't have anything to do with trauma.

I think underneath this is the stigma about mental illness, generally.

If your mental health problems are a result of trauma, or can be attributed to trauma - then, it's not your fault you are 'sick', 'crazy'...whatever stigmatizing word is most frightening.

But if you just are - so, you're bi-polar and you don't know why, you're schizoaffective and the only explanation is 'it runs in the family'...you're unable to leave the house because you are too depressed to move, yet nothing has happened that warrants it.

Unless - maybe it can be explainable. Maybe it's because you were criticized a lot by your parents. Maybe it's because you never really socialized through your school years. Maybe it's because of your sibling's terminal disease and slow agonizing death.

I'm very very empathetic to people wanting to understand what is the cause, what is wrong with them. And PTSD - among other mental illnesses - has a very definable cause.

It's not just "well, your family history..."...or, "well, we don't know..."...or, "well, maybe if you tried harder..."

PTSD (and now, CPTSD) has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning is awful, the middle is a horror show, but the end - finding relatively consistent relief from symptoms, or at least, being able to manage them - the end is not guaranteed, but it is something you can strive for. There are therapies that have been studied that have high success rates.

Broadly speaking, the other disorders don't have as well-understood a recovery arc.

I'm being very general about that.

But, I think people look to PTSD not because it's 'cool' - but because it means, it's not their fault. It's not them. Even if they have tremendous unresolved guilt around believing it was their fault, someone is always going to be able to say, "you didn't start out with bad wiring; someone or something caused you damage".

I live with major depression and, currently, PTSD. I was depressed before the PTSD. And I was unable to really see it. Partially because of the type of depression I started out with...and partially, because there was a lot of mental illness in my family; a lot that wasn't talked about, but eventually became too visible to ignore.

No one can tell me why I've been depressed since I was a child. And I did have a rather terrifying experience as a child, that I think influenced my personality. But I never considered it to be a qualifying trauma. Even now, I don't. Legitimately, it doesn't fit.

The only reason I know that, truly, is because I also have a trauma that does. And the way my mind interacts with it is vastly different from how my mind interacts with the things that came before it, and the depression I've lived with.

I have more pain around the depression than I do around the PTSD. Because the depression is just something I was probably born with. If not born with, then awfully prone to. It's just...in me. There's no reason.

So when people are looking to PTSD as their answer (and I'm not taking about you here, @valkeasisu - from the beginning of this thread you've been clear that you are somewhere between the cracks - like ptsd without the traumatic event itself) - when they want it to be PTSD, and you can just feel that coming off of them - I just have a lot of empathy for that. Because under all the defensiveness and anger that can rise up out of this topic, there's one thing true always: something is wrong for that person, and they are struggling.

That's why I think it's worth it to talk about the diagnosis, about the DSM and ICD, and to try and educate about the whole framework. Because, as @shimmerz pointed out - there are diagnostic codes for things that do not conform fully to the more commonly known diagnoses. There are ways to talk about what might be happening that are not PTSD - according to the latest book - but are something else, or something not yet named.

Better to be part of the something not yet named - because that's how it ends up being named. If there were not enough instances of people who almost met the criteria for bipolar I, but had some distinctions excluding them - there would never have been bipolar II.

This is just how it works.

I wish it was 50 years from now already, because there would be so many more answers. And I wish that clinicians took more time to teach their patients about the entire category around their disorder, and were diligent about not jumping too quickly to a conclusion. And I wish that we as a species were not so generally afraid of the things that can go wrong in our heads. Stigma influences a lot.

That was long, sorry. I'm appreciating this discussion.

 

[Deleted member 541]

I also think that many psychiatrists, and psychologists diagnose PTSD because symptoms FIT PTSD. And way too many regular Drs get too involved and diagnose PTSD when they have no business doing so. Before I was actually diagnosed a DR actually told me I had PTSD and prescribed medication for me to take. I almost really lost my mind from that shit. Never went back...