@greenleaf ... I'm curious... When the OP states that she has no symptoms of PTSD, in fact has an amazing life & is a better person for the adversities she's triumphed over, why would you not believe her?
... in fact, I totally believe the last of the 3 you mention, partly believe the second (I hope you aren't implying that her life is amazing while she's having the waking nightmares?), but the "no symptoms of PTSD" part... I don't know where you are getting that one!
I don't want to write things that won't be helpful to
@LilacMoon, and I'm not a professional psychologist, like most folks here.
I bet a lot of complex trauma (esp. chronic childhood trauma) survivors here can recognize things they'd say about themselves at various points in the OP. Attachment stuff, dissociated ptsd stuff -- would be consistent with making some of these statements. In my unprofessional opinion.
Who gets to define "normal", "good enough", when should professionals intervene or even say anything at all etc. etc.? This is a whole field in itself...
As I understand human brains and development, experiences like
@LilacMoon 's don't just pop out of thin air: nightmares & night terrors plus ... intrusive thoughts? ... hypervigilant dissociative parts communicating nonverbally? unknown!...) She's mentioned a childhood that sounds like chronic traumatization was rampant, with possibly little emotional support. This seems consistent with sets people up for various issues as an adult; many of these issues like DDNOS are not well publicized to the general population and even lots of non-trauma-specialist therapists are clueless... When people think "PTSD" if they know anything about it at all, it tends to be the flashbacks-after-adult-trauma type, in my experience (which of course is limited, I'm just one person.) I find theoretical models really helpful personally as I've always used cognitive abilities to make up for other approaches.
Her experience might be consistent with the stuff I mentioned, but of course it's possibly consistent with other things too. However to me her post doesn't match what someone would write who had a single adult trauma and some temporary partial PTSD symptoms, for instance.
Oh, I almost forgot minimizing... yes, just a few folks traumatized as kids minimize their symptoms... not too bad, nothing to see here folks, please look over there... :rolleyes::( Getting me to admit I minimize when I'm doing it: likely impossible.
Why I commented: even if a magic x-ray is suddenly created that shows conclusively who has which brain structural changes from trauma, anyone can also choose not to seek any or all treatment and decide that the way they are is fine. However sometimes part of us wants things to be better in some way, though, maybe to be able to connect to people better for instance. Maybe not now, but over time we define things differently for ourself -- so I'm just throwing out here that very often such things can be modified ("improved" would imply a value judgment, which is part of the problem with answering your post). Dissociation can really keep us from seeing stuff about ourselves, applying words to ourselves...
My "disclosure" paragraph: I have to admit that a button of mine got pushed by your wording,
@FridayJones . I personally usually "function well" but have had a sort of inner world with a much different experience; the level of stress and other things affects how much my inner stuff affects my outward behavior; as a kid I felt it crucial to hide symptoms and do it pretty automatically; I learned how "normal" people behave as a kid and tried to do whatever that took. Dissociation is really useful for that! I'm not trying to compare severity of traumas; people can have different issues though depending upon age during the trauma(s)!
Anyhow, people "successfully" hiding ptsd effects can still have horrible quality of life part-time. (Then suddenly some of us can pretend that's all not real! :alien: ) Stress can be really high; that we know can cause serious health issues; mine has been partly buried in my muscles, which are now rebelling. I'm thinking (my therapists plus myself) not understanding dissociation well enough made me partly (not completely) lose out on many aspects of life, and now I'm 51; started trying to heal at age 22... in spite of that, no kids, no healthy intimate relationships... good friendships though thank goodness, and something of a career but not nearly as "good" a one as I could perhaps have without this crud. (I do have some great people to work with! :))
I was personally very helped to not feel totally nuts about this stuff, by the admittedly incomplete models of structural dissociation plus postings here and other things, so, just in case it helps, am passing my perspective on...
