I was diagnosed with PTSD by a forward-looking psychologist at least 10 years ago. I was seeing him for problems at work with difficult colleages -- I worked in the newspaper business, which is quite stressful -- and he heard my story about verbal, physical and emotional abuse during my childhood. I had been on medication for many years for bipolar disorder, but PTSD was quite new to me.
I lost my newspaper job about a year ago, and the symptoms of panic attacks, loss of self-esteem and isolation have returned. I turned to this forum -- which I found through Google -- to see how others were managing PTSD. So far, I have found many helpful people in the chat room who are compassionate and have good advice about combating this problem.
There is no one episode in my background that explains why I have PTSD, just years of intimidation by a sadistic mother and a father who turned his head the other way as she terrorized myself and my sister. My sister doesn't have the same problems I do --somehow she managed to survive the beatings and other forms of abuse much better than I did -- but she acknowledges that our childhoods were traumitized by my mother's actions. My mother was the child of an alcoholic and had an alcoholic personality. She did see a psychiatrist several times at my father's urging -- he discovered later on in life that she had severe problems after my sister and I left and she turned on him -- and the doctor basically said my mother was the root of their marital problems. She never entered any treatment, denying her role for years until her death last November.
My father died several years before she did, and at the time we were isolated from each other because of the lies she told him about me -- that I used drugs, for one thing. I never have had a illegal drug problem, although I am a recovering alcoholic.
I look forward to seeing how others are handling PTSD and to put their suggestions into practice. Because I am unemployed, I cannot continue therapy and my prescription drugs will run out in the next few months. It is scary. My sister is helping with health insurance so that if I am hospitalized, at least I will have major medical to cover the extra costs. But mental health is not included in the policy.
I am very scared about my situation -- employment looks grim, so I am going to attend school this winter to hone my computer skills, which are lacking -- so I look for hope through this forum. I thank each and every member who has been kind enough to answer questions and offer help in the chat room and appreciate the information provided by this Web site. This is a lonely and frightening disorder, so I look for any relief I can get whatsoever.
This has been hard for me to write, although I am a professional writer, but I had to get it out so maybe I will be better understood.
I lost my newspaper job about a year ago, and the symptoms of panic attacks, loss of self-esteem and isolation have returned. I turned to this forum -- which I found through Google -- to see how others were managing PTSD. So far, I have found many helpful people in the chat room who are compassionate and have good advice about combating this problem.
There is no one episode in my background that explains why I have PTSD, just years of intimidation by a sadistic mother and a father who turned his head the other way as she terrorized myself and my sister. My sister doesn't have the same problems I do --somehow she managed to survive the beatings and other forms of abuse much better than I did -- but she acknowledges that our childhoods were traumitized by my mother's actions. My mother was the child of an alcoholic and had an alcoholic personality. She did see a psychiatrist several times at my father's urging -- he discovered later on in life that she had severe problems after my sister and I left and she turned on him -- and the doctor basically said my mother was the root of their marital problems. She never entered any treatment, denying her role for years until her death last November.
My father died several years before she did, and at the time we were isolated from each other because of the lies she told him about me -- that I used drugs, for one thing. I never have had a illegal drug problem, although I am a recovering alcoholic.
I look forward to seeing how others are handling PTSD and to put their suggestions into practice. Because I am unemployed, I cannot continue therapy and my prescription drugs will run out in the next few months. It is scary. My sister is helping with health insurance so that if I am hospitalized, at least I will have major medical to cover the extra costs. But mental health is not included in the policy.
I am very scared about my situation -- employment looks grim, so I am going to attend school this winter to hone my computer skills, which are lacking -- so I look for hope through this forum. I thank each and every member who has been kind enough to answer questions and offer help in the chat room and appreciate the information provided by this Web site. This is a lonely and frightening disorder, so I look for any relief I can get whatsoever.
This has been hard for me to write, although I am a professional writer, but I had to get it out so maybe I will be better understood.
