My Girlfriend Understands

[ernie 45701]

My girlfriend understands my mental wounds from the P.T.S.D. She is a good girlfriend and I love her very very much.
She doesn't know that I was raped 4 years ago but I will tell her. I know that I have C.P.T.S.D. from my rape and it still gives me trouble till this day.
I love my girlfriend very very much. She understands that I've been through a trauma.
Ernie 45701

 

[Manic11]

Hello Ernie,

I'm glad you've found someone in your life that understands and supports you. I was just wondering though, how is it that you know you have C-PTSD from being raped? C-PTSD comes from recurring trauma. Something that has happened time and time again or for a long period of time.

Manic

 

[ernie 45701]

Hi Manic,
I have had C.P.T.S.D. for four years now. It was delayed for awhile before they diagnosed it. I went into counseling as soon as I broke the news on what happened to me. But I was not diagnosed with C.P.T.S.D. till last year. I also had traumatic experiences as a kid in school but none was as traumatic as my rape four years ago. I was given a ride home from school by a teacher who tried to have sex with me in his car when I was a kid but I was in my parking lot and I told him no and I scrambled out of the car and ran to the door and told my Mom what had happened and she reported it to the school.

 

[Nicolette]

Hi Ernie

My sister has CPTSD so I am quite aware of what that involves. I don't get how one incident as a child and one as an adult equates to CPTSD. Who actually diagnosed you and what was their qualification?

From Wikipedia

(C-PTSD) is a clinically recognized condition that results from prolonged exposure to prolonged social and/or interpersonal trauma, including instances of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, torture, chronic early maltreatment in a caregiving relationship, and war

with the word prolonged being the key word. It also states

C-PTSD better describes the pervasive negative impact of chronic trauma than does Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as PTSD fails to capture some of the core characteristics of C-PTSD. These include psychological fragmentation, the loss of a sense of safety, trust, and self-worth, as well as the tendency to be revictimized, and, most importantly, the loss of a coherent sense of self. This loss of the coherent sense of self, and the ensuing symptom profile, is what most pointedly differentiates C-PTSD from PTSD.

.

I suggest you read the following article on this forum: [DLMURL="http://www.ptsdforum.org/content/170-Complex-Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder"]Complex PTSD
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