Opinions/advise Needed Please

[Jet]

Brat,

I have a dx of severe PTSD, Anxiety and Severe Depression. It is possible there are other things mixed in but bi-polar and stuff like that has been ruled out (at least for now...who knows what the future holds).

A bit of background info: my PTSD stems from childhood abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) and was then exasperated by domestic violence relationships once I reached adulthood. The last relationship was with a diagnosed psychopath who kept my children and I locked in a house for aprox two years. He enjoyed abusing/torturing us and has said openly that the only reason we are still alive is because it is more fun. In 2000 I released my three girls for adoption because I felt I could not protect them from him (they are safe and happy although I do not have contact with them). I recently found out that he is in prison for sexually assaulting his 6 year old daughter.

I do not have a therapist. I have a case manager and see a nurse. The nurse prescribes and monitors my meds and the case manager monitors my entire case and refers me to others in the clinic (for instance they have an employment specialist so if I decided I was at the point where I felt comfortable returning to work he would send me to see him/her) so it is up to him whether or not I get to see a therapist of any kind.

It's not that I think I should just jump into the deep end of the pool without learning to swim. More like Larry (case manager) thinks that I should not get anywhere near the pool at all. He has said that my plan MIGHT include therapy but he believes that I am beyond whatever help therapy can provide.

 

[NutritionNerd]

EMDR didn't really help me because I could talk about various traumatic events without feeling any of the pain or other emotions associated with them.

I do feel for you - it doesn't sound like the guy is on the ball, however it could just be that he has had the experience of referring people for therapy and them not be willing to commit to the long haul, or it may be that their funding or whatever is based on some sort of measures of success so they won't refer someone to therapy that would screw up their metrics - this management and government by the numbers sucks and really doesn't help anything.

When my husband got colon cancer I learned a lot about being assertive and well informed about things related to my husband's care. I had to be his advocate or else they would have killed him early. As it was my inability to be there all the time caused enough pain to last a lifetime. So Do become informed and assertive.

 

[mamachick]

Jet-I do hope you (as NN has said) follow through with assertion and information. It is tough when we have to advocate for ourselves but we do. Im sorry for what you have been through.