Delayed Onset - I Just Don't Get It!

[Abstract]

jd and digger, I am grateful that this isn't something that stops me from progressing or keeps me stuck. Plenty of other things do! I am just curious. I like understanding things and there has to be an explanation as it is exists.

Digger, I am living it too.

Barconian, I struggle to see how the software problems don't have to be instant. Its like the code is punched in and everything still continues to work for 10 or 20 years and then mutates into a virus.

 

[Abstract]

Because we're in survival mode, the symptoms get blocked because the priority is survival. Sometimes survival mode becomes our default mode, and we just continue on like that for years and years, even if the trauma is no longer happening. Then something may happen that triggers us to come out of survival mode, and suddenly those symptoms come out, seemingly out of nowhere (especially if our minds have blocked the actual events that caused the trauma but not the effects of the trauma).

This does resonate with me thanks Mayday.

, may not notice that they have injuries, until they are out of that situation and in a safe place

I like this analogy! Makes a lot of sense.

Until one of those poles break(or all of them) and it gets messy and that house need A LOT of support and re-building the ground....until it can stand on it's own again.

Great analogy too Zaniera! I have never been fine either. In fact it is very possible there were times when I was fully symptomatic and I certainly was subthreshold. When it comes to things such as emotion moderation, coping skills and being able to manage basic things in life I was totally dysfunctional but good a front on it.

I have to say that I have a problem with them not treating sub threshhold traumatic responses because of my own experiences.

 

[zaniara]

I have to say that I have a problem with them not treating sun threshhold traumatic responses because of my own experiences.

What does this mean? Sorry, English is not my native language.. :) And who are 'they' and don't they? :)

 

[Abstract]

Sorry Zaniara! My typo not your English;)! Sub threshold PTSD is when the symptoms are either not often enough or one of the criterion is missing for it to meet PTSD. I saw some research that hypothesises that most delayed onset PTSD sufferers were sub threshold prior to being fully symptomatic.

I just think mental health environments should screen for trauma always and make attempts to deal with indications of trauma. I know that won't solve it all but I know for me most of the therapy I had over decades was wasted.

"They" are the psychological professional world.:bookworm:

 

[zaniara]

I just think mental health environments should screen for trauma always and make attempts to deal with indications of trauma. I know that won't solve it all but I know for me most of the therapy I had over decades was wasted.

"They" are the psychological professional world.:bookworm:

I agree so much!! The system here in Sweden dealing with psychiatric illness is REALLY rotten in that way, and many others. It's like a big joke, but it's not funny at all and people end up being over and misdiagnosed, on several pills for years without any other treatment or they die. Despite seeking help from those who should be able to help. But it's like some kind of social form of denial. As if they don't want to deal with the traumas that caused the person to get that damaged from the start! Here you can hardly get the diagnose PTSD even when it's really obvious and not at all sub-anything. I even had flashbacks already 14 years ago but they said I only had Generalized Anxiety Disorder!!! And then they gave me more pills and no help... :mad:

I think the denial isn't only a personal thing/problem, it's there all around us. So it's not strange that it's easy for the sufferer him/herself to get lost and trapped in it.

 

[jd9900]

I try not to get too frustrated at the mental health community. I am starting to try and look at things with a more...well, on a larger timeline.

PTSD has been around for (likely) as long as primates have, give or take that 5-20 year period where it took the first one of them to "break" that way. As such, we are looking at about 65 million years' worth of PTSD sufferers, and that is if we just count primates.

The first recognized diagnosis of "Mental Hygiene" (The precursor to modern mental health treatments) began in approximately 1850.

That is a metric ass-ton of time between a bunch of beings dealing with this disorder and the studies we have now. Approximately....(does the math) A long time. :)

As such, I am turning more...inward to seek my solutions. I have a strong appreciation for the sciences, but as long as they aren't making a better pill, I am going to make a better me.

 

[Kas_Can_Fly]

I agree with the flight/fight response, but also dissociation from the original events can cause that delay, either because you dissociated from the experience during it or after because it was to difficult to deal with after. I then believe your brain tries as hard as possible to protect you from what you've experienced not really aware of the fact that it can't do it forever. When it perceives that you are either safe enough or strong enough (or both), the walls it created between you and the trauma breaks down and with it the increase in symptoms.

Kicking you when you're down often feels bad, but you are half expecting it and it just lumps in with the rest of your downess. Kicking you when you're up is a shock and often knocks you further down and it definitely feels like it.

I'm sorry to hear that you're not doing too great at the moment. Safe hugs if wanted.

 

[Abstract]

misdiagnosed, on several pills for years without any other treatment or they die.

Yes! Pills. Easy. Or maybe a quick course of CBT if you if you are lucky.

The other thing for me is that I was so disconnected and avoidant it didn't occur to me to bring many things to therapy. A general questionnaire with a full spectrum of mental health symptoms as well as questions about past experiences would improve things a bit in my opinion.

Jd, the important thing about diagnoses is merely about getting appropriate treatment. Thank goodness we know more than way back then and the more we learn the more helpful treatment is likely to get. In general. I am also very keen on making a plan for recovery for me personally. I guess that's why I want to understand delayed onset as it seems to me it reveals many things about PTSD itself.

 

[Abstract]

Thanks for the hugs Kas. Back to you to if you want them. Mostly I am frustrated with myself at present. Tired of battling the same things and making such small progress.

flight/fight response, but also dissociation

Yes. Essentially fight, flight and freeze I suppose. Probably the story of our lives for so many of us. A lot of us with addictions, eating disorders, OCD and many other things too.

When it perceives that you are either safe enough or strong enough

You are very right. That in many ways is what happened to me. It seems to me it one of two things or both. Either you are stronger/safe enough or there is a new trauma or stressor. Often the stressor taps into the old stuff in some way. Mine was both of these things. The stressor wouldn't be considered big objectively but it did tap into past stuff for me on some strange level. Maybe that is like the straw that broke the camels back.

That interests me as in many ways from my experiences it doesn't feel like traumatic or damaging experiences are stored separately but rather that they add to each other and strange connections and separations that seem random somehow. It feels like a cup that is filling - maybe like the stress cup - and the defence is us bailing and bailing frantically and then another thimble full gets added and we are not bailing as quickly as in a false sense of security and it all spills over the top.

Many times people don't have a new stressor though.

 

[Abstract]

@digger1 I think you are right that everything is a distraction from dealing with the trauma. How on earth do I get past that when I can't get into therapy. :bag::banghead::spitdummy:

 

[digger]

Not sure I'm the best person to answer that as my answer ended up being just make the appointment anyway and spend the year not actually talking to your therapist! Seriously though, I think you just have to reach a point where you just have to jump in anyway. I probably have the most dysfunctional therapy sessions going and they're certainly not following any textbook rules or examples, but progress is progress however unorthodox or painfully slow. (note to self: re read that last statement at least a hundred times a day ;))

Sorry, I'm still having trouble with getting words to behave coherently today AND I've just realised that I've misread your question too...

How on earth do I get past that when I can't get into therapy

...I think my answer is still - you get into therapy.

Seriously, if I can, then you can, and I don't think I'm alone on this site in believing in that and in you. I think you just have to accept that getting anywhere with therapy is going to take a long time because of all the extra hurdles.

I had to stop overthinking the thought of therapy. I had to just switch off and click send on the email and I have to switch off to make myself leave the house each week and get there, because if I let myself think about it too much I would have and will talk myself out of it again and again and again.[DOUBLEPOST=1384948694][/DOUBLEPOST]I'm not sure if any of that is actually helpful or answers what you were asking at all.

 

[jd9900]

Sometimes, if I am alone, I actually yell at myself to...anti-trigger me, if you will. I will just say, "BOB! GET OUT OF BED!" (that is the non-explicit version). It startles me, but in a different way. Kinda snaps me back into reality. I save it for bad days, but it has come in handy.