Possible PTSD Symptom????

[pandora]

I have always thought I was not normal. I do not like to be touched..no wonder I have been married twice, not good for a marriage.

I was reading about sexual anorexia...you avoid it all costs, lack intimacy.

Does anyone else suffer from this? If you have or do..have you overcome it? I think if I do not overcome this I am going to be alone for the rest of my life and I do not want that....

 

[blackpearl]

It can be anything. But when you have hard times you will lose sexual appetite as well. With PTSD you are busy with the psychological pain most of the time. It can also be depression only. It's not that strange at all.

 

[pandora]

For years I have asked myself..."What the heck is the matter with you?"...I guess hearing that this is an actual thing with an actual diagnosis and that I am not the only one helps in making me feel not so alone.

 

[TLight]

I have the same symptom. I think our nervous systems are so fried, that being touched in anyway feels threatening and disturbing to us.

Plus, the sexual thing is directly related to the type of trauma you may have endured. Of course if my Daddy did sick things to me when I was tiny and innocent and those things were really frightening to me, I'm not going to want to have any other human even come near doing those things.

Once again, symptoms of PTSD are Entirely Normal responses. We are not freaks, we are having entirely normal responses.

I try to tell myself that instead of going down the mental road of 'what is wrong with me,' since NOTHING is wrong with me. I'm normal. If I do go down those roads of thinking I'm abnormal, wrong, damaged or otherwise defective, I only build shame and depression within me.

Someday I hope to enjoy sex again. But I'm also being realistic and not pushing or otherwise punishing myself. It may never happen. But I can at least enjoy being close to my partner as best I can. Takes a lot of work to convince myself I'm safe now, but I think it can be done.

 

[anthony]

If your abuse stems sexually, then it is commonsense and expected that issues from the trauma are going to become entangled within intimacy. Intimacy is not the issue, the trauma is the issue if its of a sexual nature. You can get some people who were shown no love from parents, in fact they can even be raised to avoid any type of emotion or love. That in itself is a form of traumatic abuse, ie. neglect. Sociopath's can be raised, there not always just born that way. For some due to the type of trauma, you may require a sexual therapist, ie. someone who is going to basically provide therapy in a controlled environment based on intimacy. You would want to really do your homework on that one though...

 

[kers]

I think our nervous systems are so fried, that being touched in anyway feels threatening and disturbing to us.

This is how I see it, too. My trauma had nothing to do with sex, but everything to do with being dominated, invaded, and overpowered. No wonder I refuse to be emotionally or physically vulnerable again. It's a generalization of fear that has taken root so deep that until I began learning about traumatization, I (like the others who have posted here) thought it was just my own 'weirdness.' Now I see it as a reasonable response to trauma--one that I hope to change, mind you!

For me it has helped to put relationships and physical intimacy off to the side. I have enough on my plate, working to be emotionally vulnerable or managing innocuous physical contact like hugs.