Getting Cptsd/ptsd Therapy.

[Suzetig]

My doctor is now aware however, told me unless am ready to jump off a bridge and as am not a veteran (soldier), I won't be able to get help.

Did your doctor diagnose PTSD? What was his treatment plan for you? If it's your GP ask for a referral to psychology/psychological services which he should do anyway if you've been formally diagnosed.

What makes you think you need a variety of specialised services? What services do you think you need and why? I'm not saying you don't but a good therapist/counsellor can take you quite far - and most in the uk will give you some feedback/response so if this one doesn't fit, ask if you can see someone different, it's not at all unusual for people to see a couple of counsellors before finding the right person for them.

Going to a rape centre/abuse recovery place is a very good start, they'll have the knowledge to support you and help you start to pick your way through this.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

@Suzetig I have been wracking my brain trying to give a name to what the Life Crisis Center I am going to does and you nailed it, "Rape Center/Abuse Recovery". And yes, I agree that @Shortie should start with the rape/abuse recovery center. As while I have multiple rapes in my abuse history, its the other forms of abuse that affected me more because it was sustained over a period of time. And so like @Shortie its the abuse that I am working on at Life Crisis Center (Rape/Abuse Recovery Center). I think if @Shortie sticks with the therapist at the Rape/Abuse Recovery Center things will turn out of the better.

I do have a suggestion for @Shortie and that is be an open book about yourself and your feelings and experiences. I know that's almost impossible to do as most of us have mis-trust based hypervigilance, I know I do big time, and while I feel super vulnerable, I have done just that, "hold nothing back", and its in doing that by using some distress tolerance that I am actually able to work on my abuse history and its behavioral effects in therapy.

 

[Shortie]

Thanks all, fo your responses.

To one reply my Doc and the brief session to see if I was eligible for a sexual abuse coincilling said I have PTSD. I have majority of the symptoms and I have done since I was 18.

I have been through an awful lot which I won't go into but the reason why I thought I needed different specialists is because I've been through a multitude of traumas seeing people dead, dieing people, being physically and mentally abused and seeing it dished out and then the sexual abuse side. The mental abuse side didn't stop fully time until 2015 but last month I had to call the cops because she was trying to get ahold of me and sent me nasty messages!

So from when I was a child under 4 to the age of 26!

Good news is am eligible for coincilling bad news is theres a waiting list.

Just want my night terrors to stop, stop flash backs, stop freezing in town when I see someone that looks like my abusers ect.

It's extremely complicated. My first initial coincilling appointment she said my life was chaos growing up and until I got rid of my final abuser last year however they still try it even now!

I just want a peaceful life x

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

@Shortie one of the ways you can halt the flashback most of the time is by grounding, there are a lot of ways, but the one you might try is to get some oranges (I keep 6) and put them in the freezer, when a flash back starts get one of the oranges and concentrate on how could it is, by doing that your mind will be on the cold orange, and not the trauma. Its an very effective way to stay in the present and not in trauma time.

 

[I_will_recover]

It's scary but if you can tell your counselor what you need from them i.e. Feedback. A good mental health professional is flexible in therapy style because no two patients are alike.

My counselor normally lets me prattle on in stream of concious style, which would drive me crazy if I was a counselor. However, I've also been known to say, "today, you do all the work today :sour:". And sometimes I'm so overwhelmed with my stuff I write them down and tell him to pick the issue that's most concerning him as a professional.

I am frustrated and occasionally outraged that sexual assault take a backseat with regards to PTSD. Our service people, vets and those currently, are usually the model/example of PTSD. Trauma is trauma. It's not about who is suffering most. Pain is not a competition.