How Can One Accurately Gauge The Severity Of His/her Ptsd?

[StarChild]

All kinds of illnesses and their dx become fashionable

Maybe is it like that where you live, one can not speak for the whole world. (Means: You can not speak for countries you don't know or you don't really live in.)

currently it is PTSD

As I already said, not in my country. But let's wait twenty years, and we can talk about your assumption which seemed to be mixed up with real facts!

but Bipolar is even more trendy

In my country, being diagnosed as bipolar is like a branding. People have to hide this diagnosis, or they will loose their jobs, they will be left untreated in cases of physical emergency, they will be mistreated in court, and so on...

we're in the dowdy camp here

What do you mean by this, pencil? Please clarify it for me, thank you.

 

[Pencil]

Sweet Lullaby

No, I think you should make peace with the fact that you are living in a country that seems to be lagging twenty years behind the rest of the world. The fact is, so do I, and therefore I adjust my thinking to the rest of the world, and I don't expect the rest of the world to take the views held by my country into account before asserting a commonly held 'truth', or taking one step in the direction of progress.

Do you want to tell me that if you were in a car accident, somehow the ER will find your bipolar diagnosis (on a system? tag around your neck?) and then leave you in the passage to die? Where do you live, by the way? I must remember never to visit this place in my frequent travels around the world. Is it an island?

I just want to check the level of verification needed: If I say the sun rises in the East, will I somehow have to prove that? Will a reference to, let's say Wiki, suffice, or will I have to include proper references to scientific journals?

real facts

I would just love to hear the facts. As I said, my country is twenty years behind the rest of the world; I need all the help I can get.

 

[WesternSky]

According to the DSM, "the person has experienced, witnessed, or been confronted with an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others."

I will try and explain and maybe someone can tell me once and for all if I am in fact a fraud. Physical injury was not threatened, but my integrity and the integrity of my mind was threatened. It was unlikely that I would be physically attacked, but I lost my freedom and the illusion of control over my own life. I was trapped indefinitely under the care of people who had almost total control over my circumstances, and had demonstrated that they did not care about my or others' well-being and were certainly not qualified to help us in our most vulnerable moment. Although the experience ended up lasting a little under a week (a single trauma and not multiple years like some), every waking moment was terrifying. I feel guilty still, that it's not enough to qualify me and I am just somehow a failure for letting something like that take over my life so much. It's little wonder why when I was having full visual flashbacks, dissociating, and startling at the slightest motion that I wasn't taken seriously.

 

[StarChild]

I would just love to hear the facts

I've already told you, Pencil. I told you the situation in my country as it is right now. Nevertheless you prefer to be sarcastic, arrogant and spiteful. So go ahead and enjoy yourself...

 

[Away From The Sun]

but I lost my freedom and the illusion of control over my own life. I was trapped indefinitely under the care of people who had almost total control over my circumstances, and had demonstrated that they did not care about my or others' well-being and were certainly not qualified to help us in our most vulnerable moment.

I am sorry to hear that. I can most definitely relate to that. I view it as an indirect "threat to one's physical integrity" if your basic needs are tied to the whims of other people. That's why many kids get PTSD from neglect, abandonment (even if there isn't direct physical abuse).

 

[Pencil]

I've already told you, Pencil. I told you the situation in my country as it is right no

Yes, Sweet Lullaby, you told us, but you are missing the point. People like us, you and me, who come from places other than the US and Europe, etc., places that lag behind, need to adapt our thinking to current thinking, and in the process, transcend the mindsets of our own countries. We can't expect the first world to go back in time when we hold the floor. No matter how backward our countries, we live in the information age, and here we are, together, on the internet.

Perhaps I need to be more specific: SoL made statements that would be valid where she lives, but you took her on because it would not be valid where you live. But at the same time you acknowledge that your country is twenty years behind.

 

[I Can Do This]

This also includes neglect, abandonment, not getting your basic physical needs consistently met.

Your understanding is correct but maybe it can be a little broader. What you listed above all happens to us when we feel powerless and helpless as children. As children we are dependent on our care givers for everything, when we are abused, rejected, caused to live in fear over a prolonged period of time - PTSD can be the result.

Powerlessness and helplessness is the root cause - so that is why I don't list different types of abuse. It isn't JUST a certain kind and I wouldn't want anyone to feel that because they didn't suffer this particular kind that they are a fraud, or weaker than others because their trauma wasn't on the list. The traumas are subjective to the person and situation and can only be generalized in the DSM.

As a side note - I feel it is becoming evident that traditional western psychology is being out moded and is being replaced with newer theories and practices at a rapid pace - I feel that the DSM is a part of what will soon go by the wayside. I say this from my experience and studies in the field of PTSD, as well as from my training in Somatic Experience counseling. With the new funding that the US has committed to mapping the brain - advances in understanding will change the whole field of practice.

 

[I Can Do This]

I feel guilty still, that it's not enough to qualify me and I am just somehow a failure for letting something like that take over my life so much. It's little wonder why when I was having full visual flashbacks, dissociating, and startling at the slightest motion that I wasn't taken seriously.

Western sky - your experience of trauma is real. The proof of that lies in your last sentence, you have flashbacks, dissociate and have a hyper startle response. Those are all symptoms that everyone with PTSD share, and we all ended up with it because of own unique experience.

Even the fact that you feel like a fraud - to me is indicative of your trauma as well. You seek validation from the outside world and will take other's opinions of yourself above your own. Even the opinion of people who were not in your circumstance and are not qualified to discredit your diagnosis, or experience. To me, this means you were emotionally abused (even if for a short time) but even more, were never nurtured or helped to process that experience and your feelings about it in a healthy manner. Perhaps - that can also be considered abuse if you were told to "get over it", forget it and move on.

We have to be loved and nurtured through our traumatic times, if not, we end up stuck with PTSD.

 

[piratelady]

SweetLullaby and Pencil, the two of you appear to have a misunderstanding. I would ask that you please not argue and keep this thread on-topic. Thank you.

 

[Pencil]

. I would ask that you please not argue and keep this thread on-topic. Thank you.

Will do!

 

[I Can Do This]

In my case my original trauma is childhood abuse, and I'm a civilian living on a military base, so there are tons of resources for treating PTSD, but a lot of them are not available to me because they're exclusive to combat vets

This is really back-asswards! The truth is - and I will post it if you need the proof or want to read it - but there was a study in the early 90's that showed that in Vietnam Veterans there was a dramatic correlation among PTSD sufferers having childhood abuse AND combat related trauma.

What this means is that those with combat related trauma diagnosed as PTSD also were found to have a very high co-incidence of childhood abuse (in vietnam veterans) before they ever went into the war. So childhood abuse predisposes people to problems handling later traumas.

So I am very sorry you are not subject to the resources available to others. But what I do know is that there are a ton of resources out there in books, and on the internet that can help you heal. You can get better.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

SweetLullaby Re: "So it maybe would be wise and had shown some foresight, if you had mentioned this fact before you're going to make such general statements."

As I said before, you appear to be very angry and I think you just want to pick a fight. Anything that anyone, anywhere, *ever* says is influenced by where they live and where they grew up. It would be redundant to post "my statements are based on my experiences and my past and where I live" because everyone would have to post that on almost everything they say.

I'm free to post what I want, without posting a source, especially when something is posted as "overheard". I never posted hard facts, thus no need for a source.

I'm sorry your country is 20 years behind in PTSD treatment and such. I suggest that you re channel this frustration and anger into healing rather than picking apart random statements on the Internet simply because they don't apply to you and your country.