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Sufferer New here would like to hear what others think

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Two different doctors made the same diagnosis.

See what you make of this:
I'm a bit confused. This isn't a peer reviewed scholarly article. Maybe you should ask your therapist exactly which criteria he used to diagnose this. I don't have any investment in regards to your diagnosis, I just think it is odd that they are basing it on criteria that is not in the DSM or ICD.
 
I had stepped away, but as you’ve tagged me / asked me a question directly?

See what you make of this:
The same thing I make of hundreds of websites claiming PTSD without Trauma (ranging from being pressured to do well in school, to being cheated on, to being unpopular, to bereavement and profound grief/loss). That they’re twisting actual science into “if it bleeds it leads!” sensationalistic content, in order to attract the greatest number of readers, in order to profit their business, by capitalising off of desperate people in pain.

These are the same sorts of sites that, in newspaper and magazine form, drove the misdiagnosis of millions of children in the 80s with ADHD.


As Dr. Patrick Carnes wrote in The Betrayal Bond: Breaking Free of Exploitive Relationships,
Dr. Carnes specializes in (the highly controversial field of) Sex Addiction, and relationships. The kind of trauma he’s interested in (per the foundation he created) is ANY distressing event, events, or series of patterns in one’s life that goes on to negatively effect your sexuality &/or relationships.

He’s a fantastic resource for those things.

He’s not an expert in PTSD, nor Trauma & Stressor related disorders (of which PTSD is just one of many).

Nor burn trauma, crush trauma, traumatic brain injuries, nor any other deliberately narrowed definition of trauma specific to the diagnosis being focused on.

What we have here is disagreement between authoritative sources, i.e. experts/academics/researchers/practicing professionals.
Exactly.

If you go to trusted authoritative experts in PTSD, rather than experts in other fields who are using PTSD as an example to connect with readership? I expect you’d see things differently, very quickly.


My concern is what you both are saying is basically what a google search yields, if you look into the scholarly research..
I’ve spent over 8 years doing exactly that.

The reason that even a basic google search will yield that PTSD without Qualifying Trauma isn’t PTSD? Is because it isn’t. It’s something that shares the symptoms of PTSD. The only thing that sets PTSD aside from those myriad conditions, is the precipitating trauma.

That’s -potentially- quite good news… as most of those things are transitory in nature.

Only potentially good news, as I said earlier, because there is no guarantee that you do not have PTSD precipitating from earlier trauma that was activated by the stress of your board, turning to alcohol to cope, and losing your family in the process.

No one here can tell you whether you have PTSD or not. Anyone who knows anything about PTSD can, however, give you the heads up that the events you describe have never -in all the decades of research looking for potential causes- been shown to cause PTSD. To make existing PTSD worse? Certainly. To cause? Fortunately, not. What you choose to do with that information? Is up to you.


 
I've suffered from Narcissistic abuse. It didn't give me ptsd. I have a history of complex trauma but that's from violent physical trauma. The abuse made my symptoms worse but that doesn't qualify for a ptsd diagnosis.
 
I personally believe you.
What you went through is bullying. Bullying can cause PTSD as far as I know. People can underestimate the power of being bullied as an adult.
I went through something similar and it almost took my life. I was gaslit, shunned, mocked, used, etc etc to the point that I thought I was crazy, I couldn’t work, I couldn’t focus, I thought something was wrong with me. I stopped socializing. I was on the brink. The person that did this to me is most likely a sociopath. If this has been my spouse no one would doubt that it was abuse/ traumatic, but we somehow don’t appreciate how bad workplace bullying can me. To this day I cannot fully explain what happened to me. I would have nightmares about work, I couldn’t go to work, I would and start shaking where people couldn’t see me at work and I feared for my life.
I entered therapy.
And yes eventually I discovered that maybe this wasn’t the original trauma. I discovered that there was a lot more in my background. But this has been the smoking gun so as to speak. After years and years of being mentally unwell this is what brought me down to my knees and I decided to ask for help after several suicide attempts.
The hardest part with this kind of trauma is to believe yourself. I am glad you have found clinicians that can be validating and helpful.
 
Two different doctors made the same diagnosis.

See what you make of this:
I make of this what it reads CHILDREN who are emotionally abused can have PTSD, adults however do not have a developing brain and therefore cannot suffer the same irreparable brain. Children can perceive the emotional abuse as a threat to their life as they are kids. I’m guessing that while you feared for your job, you never feared for your life.

What @Friday tried to say is that you may indeed have PTSD but it would’ve been from an earlier experience.

I was diagnosed at 22 when all the symptoms appeared after some narcissistic abuse from someone I Nannied for. However the actual source of my PTSD was from child sex abuse that went on for years and ended when I was 18. From birth to 22 I did not have PTSD. However the narcissist I dealt with for 6 short weeks brought out all of the memories of not being in control I had in my childhood.

So if you have a PTSD diagnosis you might try checking what led up to the diagnosis, because for now it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on.
 
We're not saying emotional abuse isn't as bad or that it doesn't matter. The DSM just doesn't define emotional abuse as a criterion A trauma. And I do think there is validity in questioning what the DSM gets right or wrong, but for now, we diagnose using the DSM, and that's the diagnostic criteria.

I also think there is validity in studies that clearly show that emotional abuse during development can cause physiological reactions and autoimmune stress. @Charbella makes a great point. There's a lot we don't know about the mind and body and the DSM is an evolving document. We're not making fun of you.

What we're saying is as it stands now, diagnostically (which is the only process by which you can "have" PTSD, as PTSD is a diagnostic label, it doesn't actually mean anything in relation to your life or what you're experiencing and whether you have a diagnosis of PTSD doesn't change your lived experiences) your experiences don't rise to those narrow criteria.
 
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There was an earlier problem could be called trauma. I had two ex bosses from another agency get in a pissing match with my new boss. New boss demands I turn over emails from previous that were not pc and against their agencies rules. I never forwarded them to anyone else because I knew they were trouble. He turned them over to their administration. They couldn't attack him that would be retaliation, I was his right hand so they attacked me and kicked me out of our joint office, kept demanding I be fired. I worked from home for 2 years, had two full blown panic attacks the first I thought was a heart attack, I'm a biologist by training. I have also seen heart attacks in animals we raised (that is actually a funny story for another time) all ai could think was at least I have life insurance and wife/child would be taken care of. The second just made me angry because my subconscious wouldn't listen to my conscious mind. It finally ended in a federal investigation and they agreed everything I asked for. call it a trauma or not there was something that preceded this. Both Dr's asked about my past before diagnosis.
 
I know a lot of discussions here have been about whether or not you experienced the type of trauma that could lead to ptsd. I don’t want to weigh into that. Your first post talked about being alienated from your family and grandkids. Is there any way you could have some contact? Would a phone call or an email work? I am sure that you would like more but unfortunately the ball is in their court and you need to start small. The hard part is going to be regaining their trust. The problems you had at work lasted 2.5 years, if you spent 2.5 years bringing that bad stuff home to your family then that is a long time from their perspective. It is entirely possible that they don’t think you are the person they thought they knew. Have you considered group counseling with a family therapist? I don’t know how large a family you have. I am sorry to say that you may not be able to make amends with all of them, but I am hoping some will respond well to you. I think it is important that they feel like you are really listening to what they have to say and that they are safe with you. Start small. Don’t pull them into heavy and uncomfortable topics. Talk about the weather or your golf game. You aren’t going to fix this overnight
 
I know a lot of discussions here have been about whether or not you experienced the type of trauma that could lead to ptsd. I don’t want to weigh into that. Your first post talked about being alienated from your family and grandkids. Is there any way you could have some contact? Would a phone call or an email work? I am sure that you would like more but unfortunately the ball is in their court and you need to start small. The hard part is going to be regaining their trust. The problems you had at work lasted 2.5 years, if you spent 2.5 years bringing that bad stuff home to your family then that is a long time from their perspective. It is entirely possible that they don’t think you are the person they thought they knew. Have you considered group counseling with a family therapist? I don’t know how large a family you have. I am sorry to say that you may not be able to make amends with all of them, but I am hoping some will respond well to you. I think it is important that they feel like you are really listening to what they have to say and that they are safe with you. Start small. Don’t pull them into heavy and uncomfortable topics. Talk about the weather or your golf game. You aren’t going to fix this overnight
Thanks all good and valid points, It is better in some ways and worse in others, the dissolution is still in process can't really discuss that at this point. However, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond the more positive interaction and connections I can make with people that at least try to understand is very helpful.
 
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