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Dom Violence Possible trauma?

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Daryl94

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Long story short.

At 14, I witnessed/experienced domestic violence between my mother and my father, this consisted of physical violence between both, which resulted in my father attempting to kill my mother, the end result was armed police officers raiding the home with weapons, tasering and arresting my father.


Since this, I have struggled controlling my emotions, I am quick to anger and I experience daily imagrey of this event since it happened 9 years ago.

I suffer badly with anxiety, and I only experienced nightmares of this, shortly after the event and also recently, when I experienced another incident with the police.

Talking and thinking about the event can sometimes cause me to experience strong emotions.

Could this be considered as truama?

I have experienced other domestic violence, but this event does not seem to want to be stored away in my memories.

Not seeking a diagnosis, just looking for some reassurance.

Thank you.

Apologies about the spelling mistakes and grammar issues, wrote this in a bit of a rush.
 
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I would say yes - although definitely see a therapist or other mental health professional, if this all is bothering you. Particularly a trauma-specialized person. It doesn't matter whether or not you have PTSD - you feel bothered by these events, so you should see someone about it all.

You witnessed physical violence between your parents, you thought your mom was gonna die - I would call that trauma. I thought I was gonna die a lot, and I thought my abuser was going to die (I didn't want him to, until I freed myself from him). It's not fun to think someone close is going to die. It's not fun to be inside of a situation in which, you think that death is a possibility, or -think- it's a guarantee. uuugh.

You are valid in feeling what you're feeling all these years later. It's okay. My mom and dad had physical confrontations, too. I can see why it could be traumatizing - I think for me, my mom was too good at avoiding getting hit, and discouraging him from continuing via deterrence.

But for real - are you seeking any treatment? Do you have the means to seek treatment?
 
You witnessed your dad assaulting your mom (CritA trauma), & witnessed your dad trying to kill your mom (CritA trauma), & witnessed your dad being assaulted (CritA trauma), & possibly witnessed police being assaulted (CritA trauma).

So, yep... that’s trauma in spades.

None of which means you have PTSD, although it’s possible, most people who experience CritA trauma don’t go on to develop PTSD... but it’s clearly affected you. Might could be a good idea to work through it with someone?
 
@piratelady Medical terminology differs from colloquial English in many important ways. Not just jargon, There’s an entire dictionary that healthcare pros have to memorize so that they can speak with other and understand exactly what’s being said. It’s mostly Latin, and Latin variants, but there are a lot of English words, as well, as well as a few words from a handful of other languages. I can talk to someone in Spain or Germany or Sweden, and as long as we stick to medical terminology we’ll understand each other just fine.

Trauma -as a medical definition- has several different types/qualifiers, for example blunt-force-trauma, or when discussing PTSD CritA-Trauma, and it’s whats used in both the DSM & ICD (DSM = Diagnostic Statistical Manual, used in the US; & ICD International Classification of Disease, used in the rest of the world).

Criterion A Trauma = the type of trauma required for a PTSD diagnosis.

Criterion A: stressor

The person was exposed to: death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence, as follows: (one required)

  1. Direct exposure.
  2. Witnessing, in person.
  3. Indirectly, by learning that a close relative or close friend was exposed to trauma. If the event involved actual or threatened death, it must have been violent or accidental.
  4. Repeated or extreme indirect exposure to aversive details of the event(s), usually in the course of professional duties (e.g., first responders, collecting body parts; professionals repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse). This does not include indirect non-professional exposure through electronic media, television, movies, or pictures.

CritA, Crit-A, Crit A are just shorthand ways of saying Criterion A.

There are 8 Criterion for a PTSD diagnosis. Crit A - Crit H. Each outlines a different part of the diagnosis, and all 8 have to be met. Which is part of why purely experiencing CritA trauma does not equal PTSD.

Criterion A tends to come up the most commonly, because people don’t understand that they’re using the medical definition of trauma, and not the plain English version. A stubbed toe or getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth may be “traumatic” in plain English, as English-Trauma is very subjective, but not in medicalese.
 
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