Ptsd - A Mental Health Problem?

[just me here]

how normal do you want to be? I don't like having PTSD, but I would hate to have the opposite of it wich is not normality but total existential apathy.

Yes, PTSD is a problem, yes PTSDit is a problem with your mental state, but I lose my willingness to agree with the idea that PTSD is a mental health problem. I would have a mental health problem if I had seen the things I've seen and received the abuses I have received without having a negative reaction that caused a problem with my mental state.

My anger, depression, hypervigilance, lack of trust and basic misanthropic behaviour are all a result of being a mentally healthy person reacting to a lifetime of bad things by trying to avoid any additional bad things. If thats not mental health, what is?

 

[AdamAnt]

Wow...excellent

 

[Tinyflame]

CB/ seedling, did you find that the one factor (along with the horror etc) that made it different was the 'shock' of it? Because I must say I have experienced far worse traumas etc- or at least a lot of them- and having had a miniscule idea of what's coming (or even having had it cross my mind in advance) seemed to preclude the physiological reaction you describe.
And yes seedling, -same sort of reaction ('physical feeling') for me. Your explanation of it is the first (and closest) I've heard words could express, thanks.

 

[Tinyflame]

Dear just me here,
I once had a psych prof/ author/ clinician and therapist say, as regards such things, "The question isn't why some people get ptsd but why all people don't, after that". Same concept, he meant anyone 'normal' should.

 

[seedling]

just me here - this is the first time that the "being normal" thing has really resonated with me. Because I wouldn't want to really be crazy and not be disturbed by trauma. I can really understand that.

Thank You!!!

 

[seedling]

Junebug - yes, I think the shock of it was a big part of it. No clue whatsoever. Was called to come to the friend's house but the mother wasn't even alarmed on the phone. When I went inside, I turned the corner, saw my son lying there and it was on me. No one was dealing with the situation.

Thanks for telling me you had the same feeling during the trauma, always feel like it's so weird no one else would understand it.

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes seedling, I have to think of ptsd and car crashes: I was almost in one that inevitably would have been likely fatal (no air bags either), -well twice, but I could literally see it coming- once in slow motion. I know however, had it occurred and I survived I think I can safely say it would never have caused ptsd. Out of the blue however- even if the difference was by milliseconds, who knows?
-There's an ~unreality about it.

 

[samadian]

I have tried to explain to my therapist and one of the many psychiatrists I've seen that it feels like I have brain damage. They then chalk it up to a self esteem issue. It frustrates me because I don't understand what is so bad about having brain damage. Lots of people have it. Why would that be a self esteem issue?

 

[seedling]

My T seems to get it when I describe the feeling of brain damage. The "fried circuits," the "poison running through me," the "chemical burn." He's never dismissed these comments as unlikely.

 

[just me here]

I am new to this diagnosis.

My PTSD is a reaction to outside influences, and like any other injury, it's severity is dependant on the stature of the victim, the type and intensity of the attack, and the sum total of injuries received in a given amount of time.

A poke on the nose hurts, two or three in a fight could put you down, and a doctor prodding around to see if it is broken the next day when it is swollen and aching might be enough to make you pee your pants. Thats the way I see PTSD, one incident could be enough to change your life, two or three in quick succesion could do it, and just one seemingly minor incident at the wrong time in your life could be enough to cause more damage than you are willing to admit to suffering.

when I found this forum right after I was officially diagnosed and had a second opinion, I cried every time I visited. The language I was reading was the language I had been trying to use to explain my problems to my therapists forever, the people here were here for the same reasons.

I don't think there are words to reliably describe brain damage from the inside looking out. The only hope is to find someone that is also damaged and might recognise themselves in something said. I am so glad this place is here, I am so releived to finally see similarities I have with other people that get it.

This forum is like my PTSD version of an AA meeting, without the coffee and alot more anonamous.