Is It Possible To Have Ptsd From Being Cheated On?

[NovemberStar]

the anthony guy that answeredyour question obviously doesnt understand ptsd very well. you most certainly can develope it after being cheated on.

(((waits for anthony to come on and link the this guest with the original OP as its likely they have the same IP address lol)))

 

[anthony]

I don't bother @NovemberStar, as I give little credence to most guest posts. Some are good, some not so good, some never see light of day to being utter rubbish.

 

[RiRa]

Anythony, I really don't agree with you. Everyone deals with the situations different. Cheating isn't a "normal" thing in my life. I take what you say as a smack to the face and I feel you should be aware of it seeing that you do seem to want to help ppl. I'll applaud you for that. And I hope you take that less offensive but more criticism. But what do I know I'm not a doctor. It can be as traumatic as seeing a person die to a certain individual...I will admit I'm ignorant on a lot of ptsd. And Because I have not seen a professional I'm not fully behind my hypothesis that I had ptsd.

Hi, I just happened to bump into this thread and I could relate to THIS particular reply. I dont know HOW people say that infidelity cannot cause PTSD.

If a person has been in an abusive relationship (physical or mental) it CAN cause a PTSD. I am not a doctor. I am a sufferer myself...

If someone is mentally strong, that person CAN overcome certain abusive situation.

But in some cases (like mine) people easily overcome physical pain, especially if it was caused by an accident.

But emotionally those very people can be weak and cant overcome anything that left a mental scar.

I was cheated on by someone whom i had made my world... I flew across the continent just to see him for a day !!! I would not buy myself anything when i went out shopping, instead it was him, for whom i ended up buying stuff... We had to live in separate cities coz of some issues. After 2-3 months of having moved that person once called me and very cold heartedly said "listen I need to talk very practically, what if I find someone here whom i think is better for me?"

I had the worst headache even hearing that line...

Well that guy DID cheat... It all happened 3 years ago. I thought i was over it and had moved on, and it didn't bother me anymore at all UNTIL i fell in love again, about 3 years and 5 months later. A very happy guy, who had many of female friends. It was all ok initially but then i saw he was very friendly with most of the girls. He had a penchant for air-hostesses. Whenever he boarded a flight, he ended up adding the air-hostesses up on FB and even whatsapp. And what i went through that time was exactly what i went through after my break-up. The after effects left me emotionless, numb, distrustful, running away from love, and what not.

I tried talking to 14 guys but each time I'd run away breaking their hearts. The last one DID win my love but I broke his heart too believing i ended it before he could possibly cheat on me. I just left him AND TO ADD TO THAT i entered into an arranged engagement with a guy for whom i felt NOTHING.

WHY? because he didn't affect me. He could do whatever but i wouldn't care. But that guy was in love with me too... And i could never love him even after a year of marriage. It's only carrying on coz he is too kind to me. But i JUST CANT fall in love with him...
All because i was screwed up in the head because i have been burnt

 

[Care Bear]

Is It Possible To Have Ptsd From Being Cheated On?

I don't know.

Is it possible to participate in this forum and receive and exchange wonderful advice regarding your PTSD-like symptoms?

Yes.

I don't know if I have PTSD. I just know that I can relate to many of the struggles here. I get great advice from people struggling with similar issues. I feel understood and accepted here. That's good enough for me.

 

[anthony]

If a person has been in an abusive relationship

Yes, physical abuse can cause PTSD, sexual abuse also.

Being cheated on, and having a tough time with it afterwards, symptomatically speaking, is called Adjustment Disorder. Here is the criterion A for it:

A. The development of emotional or behavioural symptoms in response to an identifiable stressor(s) occurring within 3 months of the onset of the stressor(s).

It comes with quite diverse outcomes, each with their own classification:

Specify whether:

1. 309.0 (F43.21) With depressed mood: Low mood, tearfulness, or feelings of hopelessness are predominant.
2. 309.24 (F43.22) With anxiety: Nervousness, worry, jitteriness, or separation anxiety is predominant.
3. 309.28 (F43.23) With mixed anxiety and depressed mood: A combination of depression and anxiety is predominant.
4. 309.3 (F43.24) With disturbance of conduct: Disturbance of conduct is predominant.
5. 309.4 (F43.25) With mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct: Both emotional symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety) and a disturbance of conduct are predominant.
6. 309.9 (F43.20) Unspecified: For maladaptive reactions that are not classifiable as one of the specific subtypes of adjustment disorder.

Link Removed

If you've been cheated on and are suffering mental health symptoms, this is the most likely disorder that you have, NOT PTSD.

People need to stop solely assimilating post traumatic with everything in their life, as though that is the sole diagnosis.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I dont know HOW people say that infidelity cannot cause PTSD.

It can't. It's pretty simple.

If a person has been in an abusive relationship (physical or mental) it CAN cause a PTSD.

Correct.

If a person has been in an abusive relationship (physical or mental) it CAN cause a PTSD. I am not a doctor. I am a sufferer myself...

But, your PTSD is from the abuse, not from the infidelity. Your response is pretty typical of those who are in 1000% denial. You don't want to acknowledge that you were abused and that the abuse is what caused your PTSD. For some reason, people come here and say yeah, I was abused, but it was the infidelity that caused my PTSD! Why is that? Why can't people admit they were abused? I'm thinking its because abuse has a much greater shame factor. Its easier to say yeah, i was abused but the abuse didn't affect me. I have PTSD from infidelity. Sorry, but nope, nope, nope. The infidelity may have TRIGGERED previous trauma into full blown PTSD, but infidelity alone is not enough to cause PTSD. Its a pretty clear line, and to suggest anything else is disgusting. Sorry, but for someone to sit here and say that being cheated on is as severe as going to a war zone or being raped as a child....is laughable, not to mention disrespectful to those of us who have experienced severe trauma. No, I don't like to compare, but at the same time its irksome when people come here and spout off about having PTSD from infidelity.

PTSD is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. Sorry, but being cheated on is VERY NORMAL!

 

[Mallaky]

Its a pretty clear line, and to suggest anything else is disgusting.

Seconded. Most of these people should be ashamed. I cannot understand the lack of empathy and surpluss of narcissism that these sheltered people need to bring to the table in order to not understand this.

 

[TonyG]

Sometimes when I read these posts I wonder if these people have any idea of how draining PTSD really is, Go and see your doctor and get a referral to a psychologist, then you will most likely need medication and weekly sessions with a psychologist,
Anxiety is so over bearing that ending your life sometimes seems like the only solution, I see a Psychiatrist that specialises in PTSD once a month now because my flashbacks are so real I loose touch with reality, I take 200mg of Zoloft a day and need a sedative at night to sleep,
I was a first responder to a multiple fatally accident 30 years ago and I still wake up trying to wipe blood off my hands, Please go and see your doctor

 

[greenleaf]

If PTSD is poorly understood among many people, the various problems and disorders that share some symptoms with it are probably understood even less, and there is just no public education in many places... lots of people seem to equate PTSD with "something really bad happened to me that really really upset me", they have never heard of anything other than PTSD that is supposed to be "really bad" that is kinda like what they are going through, and they are getting angry with us when we try to educate them on definitions because they feel like we are minimizing their experience...

I think that the brain differences with PTSD are the key but no one actually gets a brain scan to be diagnosed, different subtypes of PTSD apparently have some almost opposite brain changes, and those issues are poorly understood even by smart medical professionals in many cases from my experience.

 

[anthony]

but no one actually gets a brain scan to be diagnosed

I imagine this will be the next leap forward in mental health, giving it the credence needed beyond the current "best guess" basis it works upon now. Physical medicine will need to diagnose mental health problems based on physical results, not client feedback of what they feel or such.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

@anthony, do brain scans improve over time as symptoms decrease? Can a brain scan un-diagnose someone who formerly (officially/actually) had PTSD?

 

[anthony]

Can a brain scan un-diagnose someone who formerly (officially/actually) had PTSD?

Based on the science of plasticity, yes. Scans have demonstrated this previously where some PTSD sufferers showed decrease hippocampal volume, endured therapy and treatment, recovered, then plasticity proved correct in that their hippocampal volume increased to normal, expected size. Saying that, that was when they thought PTSD was all about the hippocampus, where they have extended that to hippocampus, amygdala and primarily residing in the prefrontal cortex (control centre).

I'm not sure neuroscientists really know the in-depth aspects within the prefrontal cortex, as size variation is one thing, but neuron activity a whole different thing, and something that is still being explored as technology allows mapping of the brain.

You can no longer meet diagnostic criterion for PTSD by recovering to a stable point and no longer enduring the requirements. This doesn't mean you won't if exposed to another trauma, as chances are a person would.

I think it would be an interesting assessment study on its own merits...