Religious ptsd

[I hate anxiety]

Hi guys. I've been struggling with ptsd and severe anxiety for 2 months. I don't know what to do. It all started one night while I was praying, my mind made me think I was praying to the devil(it had never happened to me before). I got so scared I thought I literally gave my soul to the devil and I was so terrified of opening up to my mom because deep down I knew that it was all so stupid. I thought that if I just distracted myself I would get over it and move on with my life but I just couldn't stop worrying. Later on I told my mom what I was experiencing but now I don't know how to recover. I've never felt this way before. As soon as I wake up I feel such strong anxiety in my stomach and I've been having intrusive thoughts of me saying that I'm evil, that I belong to the devil, that I shouldn't behave in a good way because now I turned against God. I'm a very religious person and to me faith is so important. I need help on how to solve this issue. I've been trying to ignore those thougths but it seems impossible. Is there someone who healed from this? Will I have to feel like this forever?
Thank you for your replies.

 

[Friday]

The best treatment for one disorder, is often the worst -or totally useless- for another.

For example? 2 people can be totally compulsive about locking doors. 1 person has OCD and the other PTSD. No amount of dealing with ‘magical thinking’ will help the person with PTSD deal with their fear of someone coming through that door & being assaulted, because it’s not magical thinking. It’s already happened, at least once, and quite possibly hundreds and hundreds of times. It’s very real, and based in fact, rather than in speculatio. Meanwhile, the person with OCD can waste a lifetime trying to find a “reason” or to justify why they’re fixated on locked doors, but all that does is feed the obsession and make the compulsion stronger. Some of the tricks each person uses for managing their anxiety around unlocked doors will be the same, but just as the causes for their anxiety are wildly different, so are the treatments for it.

Hi guys. I've been struggling with ptsd and severe anxiety for 2 months. I don't know what to do. It all started one night while I was praying, my mind made me think I was praying to the devil

There are a double handful of disorders “with religious overtones” where what you’re describing is toooooootally normal/expected & there are a lot of tried & true methods for handling exactly what you’re describing.

PTSD? Isn’t one of them.

Where you’d find something like PTSD weighing in on something like this would be say if... your abusive parents used religion in the ways they abused you, or if you witnessed or took part in the genocide in the Balkans, or you were abused by a priest, or if you were recovering from a fatal car accident in a religious hospital, etc... So now certain aspects of religion are triggering you to being right back in the middle of your trauma & all that entails.

Or? If you’re co-morbid with another disorder that is prone to religious fixation of various kinds (zip zero nada zilch in the way of religion needed in one’s trauma history, as it’s the other disorder bringing that into play), the stress of having an episode -or fighting an episode- also kicking up your PTSD symptoms

Or? The religious aspect is totally unimportant, it’s “just” a way to distract yourself & avoid your trauma... the same way some people use food or appearance/image (up to the point of developing eating disorders.

Or a few other possible things. All of which is leading up to...

I need help on how to solve this issue. I've been trying to ignore those thougths but it seems impossible. Is there someone who healed from this? Will I have to feel like this forever?

Solving what issue? // Healed from what? You don’t mention anything PTSD related, and as you can see from the above (super abbreviated) list of possible ways it might be related, it would be insane for any of us to guess/assume your history.

 

[joeylittle]

Hi guys. I've been struggling with ptsd

No one here can diagnose, but I'm going to go ahead and say - based on your story - no. Not PTSD

I don't know what to do.

Therapy

I need help on how to solve this issue.

See a therapist.

And, because I have a strong feeling about it, I'm also going to say - trolls aren't welcome here.

Thread locked.