Media?therapists?hope?

[Dragonfly-Dawn]

Ok so lately in the media, through some self help books and online therapist, I have been hearing a lot of things about PTSD (which in my own opinion I think awareness is always good). In particular though, I have noticed many hopeful comments on being 'cured'. Such as the ability to be 'cured, or recovered'.

However there are many sites and people that have claimed PTSD is something you learn to manage. Something that doesn't nessesarily ever go away but can be controlled to the point of feeling well and functioning properly. But that it might pop into your life again at some point, although now you'd be able to handle it better.

Both of these statements I find bring hope, to recovery. But my question is; Is being cured the same as managing? If not then, which is actually correct? Can I be cured? Or can I learn to manage my symptoms so well that it no longer becomes a prominent piece of my life?

I'm trying to understand what my goals through recovery should be. I want to aim for something feasible not unattainable. Personally having huge doubts I'll ever be 'cured' is all!

Thank you for reading, best wishes to all!

-Dragonfly

 

[shimmerz]

@Dragonfly-Dawn , I am pretty certain that I have had C-PTSD, developmental trauma, attachment disorder all of my life. I have had 'active' periods and inactive periods of the PTSD. I didn't realize until I was 45 and was diagnosed that I was in full blown PTSD mode when I was 15, again when I was 30 and then again when I was 45. All due to traumatic experiences. I now know that I need to watch the stress. Very.very.carefully. Hopefully I will not experience it again at 60 as every 15 years seems to be a charm for me.

I would call that management. I think I will need to realize that I am prone to it - therefore, I need to be careful of the company I keep, of the jobs I have and expect less of myself than I did before I was aware of the PTSD.

 

[Dragonfly-Dawn]

Thank you, for replying @shimmerz.
I too found that I had really bad symptoms through my teen years, than it seemed to mellow out 'mostly'. Until I became retraumatized in my middle 20's. Than once again full blown symptoms. Which makes me wonder if I'm working on managing rather than being 'fixed' as my husband says.

Thank you so very much for your insight! Best wishes.

-Dragonfly

 

[shimmerz]

'fixed' as my husband says

This is a 'normal persons' way of saying 'be normal'. I won't ever be 'normal', but I am uniquely me. I know many people expected me to be 'normal' again (as I used to be able to pull it off). I have broken it gently to them that that is absolutely not going to be me again and I am happy for that. I am proud of what I have learned through all of this and like myself more and more every day (even though I still call myself an idiot on bad days). I hope both you and your husband can attached to the beauty that is inherently you and that there is nothing to 'fix'. Tweak perhaps, but fix - I have found that isn't such a great goal in all of this.

Best of luck to you both
- Shimmerz

 

[KuanYin]

I don't think cure is an appropriate term. Maybe it's used in the media as a buzzword to get people's attention? I definitely think it's a misnomer and I think it can set people up for disaster and disappointment. I've dealt with major depression for half of my life regardless of being in treatment consistently and being on medication. Realizing it's something that will be with me forever, to some degree or another, puts me in a better position to cope/ deal with it. Management I think is a much more realistic and accurate goal than cure.