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Derealisation? Or secondary trauma??

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SeekingAfrica

Diamond Member
I am not sure what happened to me. It's weird. It's like reliving the same episode of a TV show.

When I was diagnosed I was in a relationship that consequentially broke up. I was working online and at the very same week I was left without work without warning. It was his apartment we were living in so I needed a new place. The one good thing was that at some point I wanted to have 'an office' and had rented this one room apartment with bathroom and a resemblence of a kitchen in a hallway. It didn't have an oven, just stovetop and a mictowave, and a mini fridge. Still, it was enough, it had all the basics. Three days later I moved in and realised everything I'd known had changed. And that whilst we were licing together, all the apartment stuff belonged to his family, which left me lacking dishes, sheets, blankets. And I forgot to mention, I got PTSD abroad, and years later moved to a country next to mine, for that guy. So I didn't have family there.

But, I had spent 5 years building a life there. And I was born stubborn.
Wasn't going to let that get me down. Except that I was super depressed, but didn't realise that yet.

2 more address changes later, 3 ankle sprains, pandemic, 2 roommates, relationships, job trouble after trouble... I feel like I am sleepwalking through it.
Like after the really tough beginning I grew a LOT in some ways... but in others, in work, in getting in shape, in having all the clothes I need, I am reliving the same thing over and over.
And OVER. It's like I never moved forward from wanting to have an online shop and more clients, or get a local job. I start diets and regimes and they don't stick and you would think- well so do so many people. But...
I go to ballet. I used to have iron discipline. When I got PTSD I was a mess, but I still finished my last university year. And I was in maybe the best shape I've been.

Right before the relationship broke I was starting therapy for a first time, private, weekly. Every part of my life was improving, except my relationship.
And breaking up broke me. I am in THE relationship finally, I think, but...that break up broke me, I thought he was the guy. It wasn't anyone's fault. I was still making my way through the PTSD bubble and relearning how to live, and he wasn't ready for that. None of us yet knew what I needed yet.

I learned A LOT in the following years, at first out of necessity. I was a foreigner, on my own, with no home items that I needed, still building my social circle and broke.,
Now I got the calling people, errands, parties, dates, groups, language down.That first year I had weeks where my weekly budget for food was what was enough for daily budget. I reused coffee so much it was more like water. I lived on rice, popcorn (made at home from actual corn)., and occasional apple. I walked to places 90min in one direction daily because I couldnpay bus. I lived. I refused to admit how I was doing to people. I was too depressed to work and counting food 3 dayd as a time, but God forbid I admit that reality, And that all still feels like some weird dream. But I did it. All the things that were scary. But in some ways I am STUCK. It's like I never organized my files on my computer and if I have to move to a new laptop I move the old files in 'ORGANIZE' folder and never get to it. And then the folder plus all the new folders moves to the next laptop. I stopped organizing and downloading my pictures. I lost and gained weight and jobs so much my wardrobe is a mish-mash of gifts, clothes from friends, clothes in bigger and smaller sizes and none fitting my life now. The only sheets I did buy were bought for a previous apartment and don't fit. A lot of kitchen stuff didn't survive the depression periods so I still usually have only some of the things I need at a time. I have learned a lot about organization and repairs, half the time I'm the organization queen and my apartment is spotless and half the time it looks like episode of horders. I may or may not have thyroid issues or something else, but yet again I do not have the insurance to find out.

It's like I have so many people that care about me now and I want to be better.
But a part of me is still broken and stuck, It's like I never woke up from that breakup, like my reality was so set then and everything since is like a dream I'm about to wake up from.
Jobs, diets, any change I attempt to make sticks for a few months and breaks apart again. Can you be traumatized from a breakup that wasn't abusive relationship?
Or by being broke?

HOW do I start feeling like I am the age I am again and sort out repetative issues like an adult?
How do I wake up? Any apartment I live in continues to look like I just moved in half the time, I am chasing jobs again, I gained weirght again. I don't know.... I want to move out of this apartment but I can't until I pay off my rent debt. I feel surreal here as I have in the 2 previous places. And pills or no pills I'm still scared to go to bed without watching something in bed. I'm just... in many ways socially I am doing so much better than in that long relationship, but in so many ways... how do I wake up? It's like I'm not brave enough to feel present or look at myself in the mirror and take a shot at NOT disappointing myself for a change when it comes to work. I was scared to apply when I was younger and better looking and had less history gaps to explain and now I am SO LOST.
How do I wake up? Why does this keep feeling like that? Like I never moved forward even though I moved forward?
Like I take some steps and got stuck forever on others?
 
Last edited:
I’m so sorry. 19 incrediably valid Q’s I cannot wrap my mind around, all at the same time

Which Q do you care about the most? (They’re ALL valid/awesome. I just cannot concentrate. PTSD+Sick. Others may well be able. IE NOT a dig, or correction, “just” a request from limited resources.).
 
It sounds like your dealing with what I am. I think you need to be more compassionate with yourself. There are physical concerns to consider yes but you sound like you’re beating yourself up about not being able to perform like you used to. Trauma is like that. The unexplored feelings and what the trauma taught us about ourselves and the world make it hard to move on after other bad things happen to us. It’s like that one bad thing confirms something in our head and hearts that the trauma put there. I experienced the same. I’m not sure where you are in healing, but I suggest Pete Walker’s book “Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving”. It’s what brought me here actually and I saw your post. This book gave me so many of the answers I needed. My emotions aren’t as intense and I feel myself getting better after only a few days. I hope you have the same experience with it if you choose to read it. Please don’t rush your healing journey.
 
I’m so sorry. 19 incrediably valid Q’s I cannot wrap my mind around, all at the same time
Hahahahaha. Thank you for that! Yes, I do write too much, I know, and it's worse when I'm worse. Thank you for the laugh:).
Which Q do you care about the most? (They’re ALL valid/awesome. I just cannot concentrate. PTSD+Sick. Others may well be able. IE NOT a dig, or correction, “just” a request from limited resources.).
Thank you for being kind.
I think the biggest question is: does a 5y relationship breakup in foreign country+job loss+apartment loss in a single week can be considered a trauma of sorts? And if so how do I get over it?
Even though it's not as big as some others I've had.

It feels exactly the same in some ways. Those years had a lot of uncertainty around food and eviction and work, even country I'll live in. Nothing was certain at any point. Most weeks I counted food 3 days at a time and ate in a week what I normally do in a day. Outwardly I pretended everything is fine.
Now a lot of it seems like fog. I can't realise the years that have passed. Thinking about that time seems like a kick in my stomach.
In many ways I moved on, in some I keep going in a circle.

I suppose one way is to journal it all out. I started yesterday and apparently I had a lot to say.
 
Can you be traumatized from a breakup that wasn't abusive relationship?
Or by being broke?
technically, stubbing my toe on a rock is a trauma. no big, but still enough to rattle my ptsd demons. breakups? even a breakup with a clerk i never liked is traumatic. again, the trauma is wa-a-a-ay more than enough to get my ptsd cauldron a-bubbling. time to breakout the psychotherapy toolbox, even if i am not feeling any immediate reactions. prevention is my favorite form of treatment.
Like I never moved forward even though I moved forward?
Like I take some steps and got stuck forever on others?
my favorite analogy for recovery is a spiral staircase. yes, i keep circling back to the same ol' whatevers, but each time around carries a new perspective. when i keep the faith and keep on taking one step at a time, the steps add up and i reach a whole new level.

keep stepping, seeki. you have come further than you are giving yourself credit for.

"i figure that if i keep putting one foot in front of the other, i'm bound to get somewheres." ~tom joad (steinbeck, grapes of wrath)
 
I think the biggest question is: does a 5y relationship breakup in foreign country+job loss+apartment loss in a single week can be considered a trauma of sorts? And if so how do I get over it?
It doesn't have to be classed as "trauma" for it to hurt immensely and need time for healing.
For example, my dad just died. That's not trauma. But a life event that is very difficult. On top of trauma, difficult life events can make everything heightened and be incredibly difficult. The whole "stress cup" analogy.

Maybe shift your focus on "trauma" too "several incredibly difficult life events all at the same time". And yep: that pulls the rug out from under your feet. For anyone. Never mind someone with PTSD and previous trauma.

How do you get over it? What usually works at times of stress like this?
Recognising it is a process?
Working out how to get your basic needs met first?
Taking it day by day?
Celebrating tiny achievements?
 
technically, stubbing my toe on a rock is a trauma. no big, but still enough to rattle my ptsd demons. breakups? even a breakup with a clerk i never liked is traumatic. again, the trauma is wa-a-a-ay more than enough to get my ptsd cauldron a-bubbling. time to breakout the psychotherapy toolbox, even if i am not feeling any immediate reactions. prevention is my favorite form of treatment.

my favorite analogy for recovery is a spiral staircase. yes, i keep circling back to the same ol' whatevers, but each time around carries a new perspective. when i keep the faith and keep on taking one step at a time, the steps add up and i reach a whole new level.

keep stepping, seeki. you have come further than you are giving yourself credit for.

"i figure that if i keep putting one foot in front of the other, i'm bound to get somewheres." ~tom joad (steinbeck, grapes of wrath)
That's a really good analogy 😍

I am not sure what happened to me. It's weird. It's like reliving the same episode of a TV show.

When I was diagnosed I was in a relationship that consequentially broke up. I was working online and at the very same week I was left without work without warning. It was his apartment we were living in so I needed a new place. The one good thing was that at some point I wanted to have 'an office' and had rented this one room apartment with bathroom and a resemblence of a kitchen in a hallway. It didn't have an oven, just stovetop and a mictowave, and a mini fridge. Still, it was enough, it had all the basics. Three days later I moved in and realised everything I'd known had changed. And that whilst we were licing together, all the apartment stuff belonged to his family, which left me lacking dishes, sheets, blankets. And I forgot to mention, I got PTSD abroad, and years later moved to a country next to mine, for that guy. So I didn't have family there.

But, I had spent 5 years building a life there. And I was born stubborn.
Wasn't going to let that get me down. Except that I was super depressed, but didn't realise that yet.

2 more address changes later, 3 ankle sprains, pandemic, 2 roommates, relationships, job trouble after trouble... I feel like I am sleepwalking through it.
Like after the really tough beginning I grew a LOT in some ways... but in others, in work, in getting in shape, in having all the clothes I need, I am reliving the same thing over and over.
And OVER. It's like I never moved forward from wanting to have an online shop and more clients, or get a local job. I start diets and regimes and they don't stick and you would think- well so do so many people. But...
I go to ballet. I used to have iron discipline. When I got PTSD I was a mess, but I still finished my last university year. And I was in maybe the best shape I've been.

Right before the relationship broke I was starting therapy for a first time, private, weekly. Every part of my life was improving, except my relationship.
And breaking up broke me. I am in THE relationship finally, I think, but...that break up broke me, I thought he was the guy. It wasn't anyone's fault. I was still making my way through the PTSD bubble and relearning how to live, and he wasn't ready for that. None of us yet knew what I needed yet.

I learned A LOT in the following years, at first out of necessity. I was a foreigner, on my own, with no home items that I needed, still building my social circle and broke.,
Now I got the calling people, errands, parties, dates, groups, language down.That first year I had weeks where my weekly budget for food was what was enough for daily budget. I reused coffee so much it was more like water. I lived on rice, popcorn (made at home from actual corn)., and occasional apple. I walked to places 90min in one direction daily because I couldnpay bus. I lived. I refused to admit how I was doing to people. I was too depressed to work and counting food 3 dayd as a time, but God forbid I admit that reality, And that all still feels like some weird dream. But I did it. All the things that were scary. But in some ways I am STUCK. It's like I never organized my files on my computer and if I have to move to a new laptop I move the old files in 'ORGANIZE' folder and never get to it. And then the folder plus all the new folders moves to the next laptop. I stopped organizing and downloading my pictures. I lost and gained weight and jobs so much my wardrobe is a mish-mash of gifts, clothes from friends, clothes in bigger and smaller sizes and none fitting my life now. The only sheets I did buy were bought for a previous apartment and don't fit. A lot of kitchen stuff didn't survive the depression periods so I still usually have only some of the things I need at a time. I have learned a lot about organization and repairs, half the time I'm the organization queen and my apartment is spotless and half the time it looks like episode of horders. I may or may not have thyroid issues or something else, but yet again I do not have the insurance to find out.

It's like I have so many people that care about me now and I want to be better.
But a part of me is still broken and stuck, It's like I never woke up from that breakup, like my reality was so set then and everything since is like a dream I'm about to wake up from.
Jobs, diets, any change I attempt to make sticks for a few months and breaks apart again. Can you be traumatized from a breakup that wasn't abusive relationship?
Or by being broke?

HOW do I start feeling like I am the age I am again and sort out repetative issues like an adult?
How do I wake up? Any apartment I live in continues to look like I just moved in half the time, I am chasing jobs again, I gained weirght again. I don't know.... I want to move out of this apartment but I can't until I pay off my rent debt. I feel surreal here as I have in the 2 previous places. And pills or no pills I'm still scared to go to bed without watching something in bed. I'm just... in many ways socially I am doing so much better than in that long relationship, but in so many ways... how do I wake up? It's like I'm not brave enough to feel present or look at myself in the mirror and take a shot at NOT disappointing myself for a change when it comes to work. I was scared to apply when I was younger and better looking and had less history gaps to explain and now I am SO LOST.
How do I wake up? Why does this keep feeling like that? Like I never moved forward even though I moved forward?
Like I take some steps and got stuck forever on others?
You have survived from so much! And also learned to survive along the way even I believe it hasn't been exactly easy.
I also feel like stuck in revolving doors sometimes (round, round, round I go sometimes feeling better and sometimes worse). I am hoping it ends up being more a spiral upward rather than merry round ride though : p
 
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