Ptsd from narcissistic abuse

[joeylittle]

I'm not seeing moderators shut down 'bad breakups' I'm seeing them shut down serious emotional distress while the OP may not have all the clinical criteria..... the moderators may 'know their stuff', are also not qualified to diagnose either.

Definitely, no one here is qualified to diagnose. If you go back to the first page of the thread, I don’t think you’ll see anything except the OP being treated respectfully but honestly. And some fast and loose casual diagnosing of narcissistic personality disorder...if we want to talk about unqualified diagnosis, might as well throw that one in as well.

I don’t see anyone shutting down serious emotional distress. I do see members and staff talking about PTSD, which is what the site is here for. I also saw the OP have an abreaction to being challenged.

How support works on this site is all made quite clear in the community constitution - essential reading for all new members. It outlines the mission and personality of the site quite well. If everyone read it, we’d be spared this perennial dialogue on what is or is not ‘acceptable’ to say to someone who may or may not be working with the most accurate diagnosis available to them.

This is dangerous practice, because people who do have or potentially do have PTSD are high risk for suicide and self harm.

I’m surprised you say this. PTSD is far from being the only mental disorder that carrries risk of suicidality or self-harm. It’s not even the one with the highest risk.

Under your logic, members should treat everyone who comes here as if they have PTSD, on the off chance that if they do have PTSD, they may also be suicidal - and if they don’t have PTSD, they may be suicidal anyway, so, treat everyone extra-carefully.

This is a recovery site. Sometimes that involves unconditional validation and support, certainly; but it also involves dialogue, questioning, self-reflection, and the application of emotional regulation throughout.

All these things are clinically recognized aspects of recovery, and it would be silly to not allow them.

We have a sub-forum dedicated to depression and suicidality. We move posts from individuals in crisis over there, and we allow (encourage, even), being open about suicidal ideation. Because yes, ideation is a big part of PTSD/CPTSD.

If the medical staff including myself got tired of people and their self medicated claims in the ER on a daily basis like I see moderators do in here...

Good thing the staff here aren’t trained medical professionals, then.

I’m sorry to be short with you - but this is not a comparison that can or should ever be made. Staff here are volunteers. They are people with PTSD, just like members, and they are chosen for their ability to communicate and emotionally regulate - not for the number of clinical hours they’ve done observing mental health workers.

Moderators haven't signed on for suicide prevention, but are shutting people down without alternative sources and referrals to suitable web sites.

We explicitly do not do crisis intervention. We do talk with each other, peer to peer, about what it is to want to die. We point posters towards their real-life crisis intervention services when it is warranted.

You are a medical professional, so I’m sure you know that preventing an imminent suicide attempt is not something any online community can truly do with any efficacy - even one managed by fully trained crisis workers. People in imminent crisis need to be directed towards 3-D resources.

We chose long ago not to have a formal resource list. As an international forum, it would be massively difficult to maintain. Members recommend other sites to each other freely - anything that’s been useful. MyPTSD does not need to replace the search functions of the internet.

I hope this has addressed the points made by you, and others who have a genuine concern for individuals posting here.

Whether or not one believes that diagnosis is helpful or useful or necessary - one cannot separate the function of diagnosis, in terms of identifying treatment. It is not a perfect system. I don’t think anyone is saying that. Until the brain is completely understood, we will all be living with a system that is in-process. The fact that it is in-process does not render it utterly irrelevant.

Over half the people who come here looking for confirmation of their self-diagnosis are just looking for a way to understand how they are not at fault for their symptoms. What they don’t understand is that mental disorders are rarely the fault of the individual. They are created out of varying combinations of nature, nurture, and event.

So, if while they are here they can be introduced to the idea that not all things are PTSD, and a PTSD diagnosis is not a way of not “really” having a mental illness...so much the better.

If it’s not what they want to hear, they will go elsewhere to get what they need. That is the nature of the internet.

This thread will remain locked - it was going in circles. But there are a lot of spin-off topics in here, so members should feel free to open new threads to discuss them, if they’d like.