I remember being a youth, and my mom having it on her nightstand. Said it helped her the most.
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Getting Right Help Without Label Possible?
- Post starter Klo
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- #27
Sideways
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@maelstrom
Yes, you absolutely can have ptsd symptoms without "qualifying" for a ptsd diagnosis.
This does NOT mean you are suffering less. There are specific criteria they look for to diagnose ptsd & all mental illnesses. If your doctor says you have some of those symptoms, it simply means that the symptoms you're presenting with don't nicely fall within the formal criteria.
Stick with it. Sometimes it can take a while for the true nature of your symptoms to become clear. And try not to hold it against them - better your doctor wants to get it right than to just throw the easiest label at you:)
Yes, you absolutely can have ptsd symptoms without "qualifying" for a ptsd diagnosis.
This does NOT mean you are suffering less. There are specific criteria they look for to diagnose ptsd & all mental illnesses. If your doctor says you have some of those symptoms, it simply means that the symptoms you're presenting with don't nicely fall within the formal criteria.
Stick with it. Sometimes it can take a while for the true nature of your symptoms to become clear. And try not to hold it against them - better your doctor wants to get it right than to just throw the easiest label at you:)
Thanks RagdollCircus! I think my therapist must be the kind that doesn't like to diagnose people. The diagnoses I have all come from my psychiatrists, and my therapists always strictly sticks to symptoms and not labels, which may be a good thing. I think it only bothered me somewhat because I came to this forum often and found it so helpful--in fact it is the most helpful forum I've ever known and it has helped me through a lot of things, including hospitalizations and all. It seems to give me exactly the information and advice I need. However, sometimes I wonder if I' qualified to be here without a formal diagnosis...I know it's kind of silly, but I keep wondering if it's okay for me to be here with just "ptsd symptoms" and not ptsd..>_<
@maelstrom You are always welcomed here. If it helps you that's all that matters. My psychiatrists/therapist use to tell me everything was on sliding scale with symptoms. The label was not important. Getting help was most important.
Plus people are often misdiagnosed for years, or decades - which is not helpful. What's important is this place helps you. :)
When you feel strong enough, or even at your weakest, keep notes of symptoms and feelings. I use Evernote or Word.
I spent way too long avoiding the fact I had PTSD. I just thought I could deal, drive through it like a snowstorm. But then one day you see worst side of it. Stay strong, and stay here.
Plus people are often misdiagnosed for years, or decades - which is not helpful. What's important is this place helps you. :)
When you feel strong enough, or even at your weakest, keep notes of symptoms and feelings. I use Evernote or Word.
I spent way too long avoiding the fact I had PTSD. I just thought I could deal, drive through it like a snowstorm. But then one day you see worst side of it. Stay strong, and stay here.
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Thank you so much Ocean5! And Klo, I'm sorry for hijacking your thread! :p
Haven't read everything here, so sorry if I'm duplicating anything. But have you looked for a therapist who more specifically works with complex trauma (or might be described as working with childhood trauma or trauma from child abuse)? My therapist says I have complex trauma. I don't know what she puts on insurance papers since that's not in the DSM. I have features of PTSD (diagnosed once after as assault, but did not explain why I was already so self-destructive before that happened) and also some features like an attachment disorder or personality disorder, but not enough to have any one of those official diagnosis as an adult. I am doing treatment for the complex trauma and that makes sense. Everything else was just like whack-a-mole (though important I did some separate treatment for out-of-control symptoms related to eating and addiction).
My therapist is uses body-oriented trauma therapy, several modalities but primarily Somatic Experiencing. If talking doesn't help you much, that's another option. Talk therapy alone did little for me because I only presented my "work" sort of self and thinking and surface selves. Also, there was the intuitive feeling that if I just talked about traumas I would be totally unhinged and wreck myself.
Real trauma therapy has to include a lot of grounding skills, then processing skills. Just talking about it can be retraumatizing for many people if the treatment isn't more multi-faceted, led by a trauma-specialized therapist. That being said, after trusting my therapist (and my own ability to manage), I have shared some info and harder pieces but she also doesn't need details and the form of therapy itself does not hinge on me retelling a whole trauma story. So, there are other options. I have to travel a bit for my therapy, but for me it has been worth it.
You could check the Psychology Today website to look up more therapists in your area, hopefully look for trauma specialization and if you meet with them, bring this up right away (not the details, but that you feel this all connected to the longterm childhood trauma). See what their approach is and you should be able to feel out if they really understand trauma or just want to bullshit around it more. You could also look into Somatic Experiencing, and if that sounds like a possibly helpful route, find a list of practitioners on the SE website. But also helpful if they have worked with complex trauma. Also, if you have not taken MMPI or other assessments to rule out personality disorders, that might be helpful. But sounds more like complex trauma. Anything else would maybe inform the therapy, but also let therapists bill insurance, I suppose. Not sure why they can't diagnose PTSD...probably just you haven't met with someone who understands complex trauma. You have criterion A trauma, and while the re-experiencing part might not be as obvious as with a veteran and response to loud noises, you have that as well as avoidance on the interpersonal level, which is really common.
My therapist is uses body-oriented trauma therapy, several modalities but primarily Somatic Experiencing. If talking doesn't help you much, that's another option. Talk therapy alone did little for me because I only presented my "work" sort of self and thinking and surface selves. Also, there was the intuitive feeling that if I just talked about traumas I would be totally unhinged and wreck myself.
Real trauma therapy has to include a lot of grounding skills, then processing skills. Just talking about it can be retraumatizing for many people if the treatment isn't more multi-faceted, led by a trauma-specialized therapist. That being said, after trusting my therapist (and my own ability to manage), I have shared some info and harder pieces but she also doesn't need details and the form of therapy itself does not hinge on me retelling a whole trauma story. So, there are other options. I have to travel a bit for my therapy, but for me it has been worth it.
You could check the Psychology Today website to look up more therapists in your area, hopefully look for trauma specialization and if you meet with them, bring this up right away (not the details, but that you feel this all connected to the longterm childhood trauma). See what their approach is and you should be able to feel out if they really understand trauma or just want to bullshit around it more. You could also look into Somatic Experiencing, and if that sounds like a possibly helpful route, find a list of practitioners on the SE website. But also helpful if they have worked with complex trauma. Also, if you have not taken MMPI or other assessments to rule out personality disorders, that might be helpful. But sounds more like complex trauma. Anything else would maybe inform the therapy, but also let therapists bill insurance, I suppose. Not sure why they can't diagnose PTSD...probably just you haven't met with someone who understands complex trauma. You have criterion A trauma, and while the re-experiencing part might not be as obvious as with a veteran and response to loud noises, you have that as well as avoidance on the interpersonal level, which is really common.
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Off the subject but this is so sweet, 'unusually graceful souls'. ^ . :)
Same for me. ^ . But I'm working. I wish I could change the environment. It's so stressful in so many ways. Or work at home.
I found out (accidentally) about 4-6 years after the fact what the Dr's I had seen had concluded, & some of what my mom knew or thought. But I never spoke to her about it because I was shamed of all of it- terrible shame, hid so much, & I wasn't supposed to be in her papers to begin with (which she had in her purse all those years later, so I guess she didn't want me to see.)
After that, Idk how to describe it-denial maybe? I 'knew' it but 'forgot'/ ignored it? I definitely thought I could just 'drive through it/ knuckle down'. Years later trying not to 'crack up' I did recall that & more though. Really weird. :(
I knew for years, but in denial. I was scared to see a mental health doctor. I knew talking about my youth would end up turning up bad. But after things happened in my life, PTSD came out full force to the point I couldn't denied it, or control it anymore. Ended up in Urgent Care for "physical injury" I could not explain how I got. After x-rays, saw Doc put anxiety disorder with referral to psychiatrist.
I confronted him, "asking is my PTSD that obvious???" I thought I had it under control. He was no, showed me chart that said "grieving" from anxiety disorder. Then he wants to know what branch of service. I told him "child solder" - the war came home with my dad.
But then other things happened re-exposing my youth to me in such short time frame - something I thought I left "far" behind, and escaped. Taking PTSD to a whole new level beyond being hypervigilant, and such. Before that I thought I could control things - drive though it.
I didn't even realize I had been experiencing panic attacks or emotional flashbacks for a decade or more. Then self-medicating to stop them.
Looking back I realize how badly PTSD has affected my entire life from my earliest childhood memory.
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