Other Post-infidelity stress disorder

[Rose White]

I just learned this is a thing. Finally a way to describe this condition! People come here talking about PTSD from a bad break up and often there is a response of “that’s not how it works.” And now there is a term related to that. Not an official diagnosis or disorder. Symptoms mimic PTSD.

 

[Weemie]

I'm definitely not a fan of this. I would be wary of encouraging people to use this terminology as there is no clinical or scientific evidence to support its existence separate from Adjustment Disorder - which is the diagnosable disorder for events like this that cause disproportionate distress/rumination.

It also seems to be referenced in all these websites as "post-infidelity PTSD," which is a completely inaccurate way to describe it since infidelity is not a criterion A trauma and thus does not qualify for PTSD.

However I tend to be more cautious these days when people say they have PTSD from infidelity as often the conversation goes "well I have PTSD because my husband cheated on me" then we say "no you don't" then they eventually reveal that it happened within a context of actual criterion A abuse.

A lot of times people recognize they have legitimate PTSD symptoms from crit A but they're still in deep denial about abuse so they blame it on cheating or divorce etc.

 

[Sideways]

Not an official diagnosis or disorder.

I’m not a mad fan of “someone wrote an article, and this is now a thing”. Because…it’s not. It’s just hype.

Differentiating between mental health forums that spread information, and social media that spruiks every mad idea under the sun. This place tends to be the former, which I personally like quite a bit.

Something I am a big big fan of is acknowledging that some people, in some situations, do have a really hard time with being cheated on - usually because of underlying vulnerabilities - and suffering warrants compassion and care.

I’m not quite sure when it was that suffering was only legitimate if it came with medication and a diagnosis, but it doesn’t seem to helping anyone much.

 

[Rose White]

I’m not quite sure when it was that suffering was only legitimate if it came with medication and a diagnosis, but it doesn’t seem to helping anyone much

Putting the medication aside, I think that being able to name one’s suffering as a category of human experience can be quite helpful, as it allows the sufferer to contain their symptoms and develop communication about it.

There’s a whole section (section III) in the DSM for unofficial disorders. Some of them, like Seasonal Affective Disorder, are already commonly accepted in the general public.

There is also the issue of diagnosis creep, which is the tendency for the definition of a disorder to broaden, causing more and more people to be diagnosed. This is not just the case with mental health disorders but even physical health disorders like diabetes and osteoporosis.

It seems in the scientific field there is regular expansion and contraction of categories (in biological classification they call this the lumpers versus the splitters). I recently found out that OCD is split into dozens (by one account close to 100) subtypes. And we were just discussing in another thread how the PD’s got all lumped together in one category in the ICD.

With regards to the compulsion to label suffering, I think the Buddhists would agree with you. My Buddhist friend (who has PTSD and Panic Disorder but treats his symptoms through his Buddhist practice alone) would say that the core of human experience is suffering, no one escapes it. I’m not that enlightened so I need the labels and categories and coping skills to shuffle it around in my head.