Do You Believe You Were Bound For Ptsd Before You Suffered A Trauma?

[Avasi]

Oguc and Avasi right here :D Let's see who I am now. :cool:

 

[Avasi]

which was/has been medium/long.

There's a "-term" missing after "medium/long"...

 

[Vejucu]

This could be an interesting empathy exercise for what people with dissociative disorders experience.;)

 

[Uje]

Nope. I used to, but if I look at myself honestly, I can say that if I had had halfway decent parents I probably would of been very successful socially, career wise, and pretty happy, as well as very emotionally stable and secure.

 

[Wutaw]

Toddlers know nothing about trauma so that wold be a BIG no.

 

[Ekolu]

As far as she remembers it was a study on children who were born to mothers who were pregnant with them during 9/11 and who showed PTSD symptoms from the day they were born. Also, another group of mothers was part of the study (who were not involved in 9/11) which was/has been medium/long. Also, further experiences were taken into consideration.

My kids were born before 9/11 and showed SIGNS of what could be construed as PTSD. All 3 would sometimes wake with a start and immediately cry, we wondered just what a 1 year old has nightmares about. Is it possible that what is common in all kids is being blamed on an event that they didn't really experience themselves? Those kids are just 10 years old now, can anything be determined by the study of such young subjects?

I don't disagree, I think a predisposition to suffer long after a traumatic event has passed is a genetic adaptation left over from our "fight or flight" days. Some of us make more adrenaline, some of us remember things differently when the adrenaline is present when the memory is formed.

 

[Kubacer]

I question such a study as well. I had "signs" of trauma and I was born in 1979... Then again I was born in the wake of 3-mile island, in what would've been a fallout area had it been a nuclear disaster. My mom said she would have aborted me if it had been... Maybe THAT'S why I was prone to developing PTSD! Kidding, kidding. Hey, where's my study for 3-miles island babies?!?

Some kids are fussy...doctors termed it cholicy I believe. They didn't blame it on some disaster. Don't normal kids have nightmares?

Let's examine this... (current criteria assumes verbal confirmation of certain symptoms)...

Persistent Re-experiencing... Cannot be determined in babies!
Persistent avoidance and emotional numbing... Cannot be determined in babies!
Persistent symptoms of INCREASED arousal not present before... Can't be determined in newborns, ie no "before"
Difficulty falling or staying asleep... Normal baby!
Irritability... Normal baby that needs to be fed or changed!
Duration of symptoms longer than one month... See possible "symptoms" detectable above...again, they are babies!
Significant impairment... Again, they're just babies.

Some people will use any excuse to study anything. I find it DEPLORABLE that it was a study of PTSD symptoms rather than heightened anxiety. Stop me if I'm wrong here, but I think the term "PTSD symptoms" should be reserved for those who have actually been through trauma. Extreme example, I know, but it gets my point across. My 20 year old car dies and I am now significantly impaired in my occupational activities because I can't get to work. No trauma whatsoever but technically I could claim "PTSD symptoms" as I am experiencing significant impairment to occupational activities".

Stop using PTSD as a friggin' hot button. Increased anxiety perhaps, but for the live of god and all that's holy, stop throwing the term PTSD symptoms around when there is NO trauma!!! Its called increased anxiety, folks.

 

[Asezi]

I tend not to rely too much on any single study, just personally and all.

 

[Emaji]

I have a hard time thinking I was ever on course for a normal life, I can't remember a time that I didn't feel different than the rest.... But inside I always felt that I was headed for the forbidden zones, I was on the fringe and tried to hide it and learned to cover it up with lies and false personality traits. Only I knew how far from center I was getting, and how difficult it was to maintain the juggling act.

I don't know if this will be a helpful response or not. I do not believe you can be "destined" for PTSD, as PTSD is activated by a life or death trauma.

HOWEVER... there are at-risk groups. And if you're born into a dysfunctional family (you don't say if you are or not) that exposes you to dangerous situations, you can have a creeping sense of things being wrong even before anything really traumatic happens.

There are so many layers and levels of child abuse. You could have lived in a family where everything was slightly warped. I know I didn't fit in well even before I was sexually assaulted as a child. But then, the sexual assault probably wouldn't have happened if I had had parents more in tune to my needs. If my parents had been willing or able to do a proper job, the traumatic event wouldn't have happened. And if they had cared enough to notice something was wrong or helped me afterwards, I might have recovered without developing PTSD. And none of the attacks or events that occurred later in my life would have happened.

So, no, I don't think you could be "predestined," but you could have had other issues that led to your eventual trauma in a direct or indirect way. For example, a neglected or abused child who went into the military to escape their family and then ended up with combat PTSD that seems to include issues from childhood, too.

 

[Fusoho]

It is a difficult to answer this question.

However I have spent time with my therapist and going back to my toddler years. He believes that my early years affected my development. That I had no resilience.

So when trauma first started aged 7years the damage had already been done that predetermined that I would be likely to develop PTSD.

But I guess it was because of the toddler that I was that I was unable to develop resilience. Other children might have fared better - IDK.

I feel like there are 3 necessary factors.
Genes
Nurturing ( or lack thereof)
Trauma

 

[Bee Bea]

You presumed your lack of normalcy was a negative thing. Look around at the majority in the world...did you really want to be "normal". Yes, maybe you were different but was that really meant to be "different" in a counterproductive capacity? Ask yourself.

 

[Etab]

Pet peeve... Those who put down the want to be normal. But really, your definition of normal differs from mine, so it's just symantics, really.