Scale of adverse life events to put catastrophising in context?

[Ecdysis]

One of my problems with PTSD is definitely catastrophising.

I've experienced so much trauma during childhood and was forced to repress it and pretend that everything was "fine" so I think my brain has lost all scale for "how bad" any given event is. A small event can trigger panic due to memories of bigger trauma. Bigger events can leave me numbed, feeling relatively little due to dissociation and brain shutdown.

I'm wondering whether there are like scales of negative life events ranging from a stubbed toe to being evicted from your appartment to a massive earthquake to losing your entire family during war... or something like that... Something to help put things in perspective?

I realise such a scale wouldn't be completely "accurate" or objective, but maybe it would be a good starting point to get an overall view?

For example, a couple of weeks ago, my car broke down to the point it can't be fixed anymore. I live very rurally/ remotely so I'm 100% dependent on a car to get anywhere. I've got very little money, am in a really bad situation healthwise, so not having a car/ having to find and buy a new used car have been massively stressful, as has the feeling of being "stuck". It triggers all kinds of panic reactions.

However, I realise on a scale of adverse life events, it doesn't register all that high. (Tho a combination of car breaking down/ living remotely/ being disabled because of PTSD/ having so little money that you're under the poverty line is probably higher on such a scale than just the event "car breaking down".)

Does anyone know a scale/ list of such adverse life events?

 

[Sideways]

There’s the Holmes-Rahe scale, which isn’t so much a comprehensive list, as a scale which compares (their idea of) the amount of stress involved in a bunch of commonplace life events. It gives them all a score out of 100.

The thing I like most about the scale is it highlights just how relevant context is when it comes to assessing suffering and distress.

 

[Ecdysis]

Thanks @Sideways

That's a good starting point

Holmes- Rahe Stress Inventory PDF - The American Institute of Stress

The Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory PDF Score your life stress inventory using the downloadable PDF below or take our Online Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Asessment: Download the PDF Instructions Mark down the point value of each of these life events that has

www.stress.org

However, it stops at where trauma starts, right? Death of a spouse is as "bad" as this list gets.

There's no rape, CSA, stalking, war, genocide, torture etc on the list.

I wonder whether there's a list/scale that covers that too?

I know there's one for adverse avents in childhood (ACE)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire

elcentro.sonhs.miami.edu

But is there also one for adults that includes events more traumatic than death of a spouse?

(I'd have assumed death of your child would also be more traumatic than death of a spouse...)

 

[Friday]

There's no rape, CSA, stalking, war, genocide, torture etc on the list

Because those aren't considered "life-stress", but "traumatic-stress".

 

[arfie]

I'm wondering whether there are like scales of negative life events ranging from a stubbed toe to being evicted from your appartment to a massive earthquake to losing your entire family during war...

i tried this and inside my own skin, i compare it to an alcoholic saying, "a glass of wine isn't as bad as a bottle of whiskey." when i start to catastrophizing, i can't seem to stop. one doomsay is too many and a million is not enough. my goal is to catch myself with the first, "what if. . ." and prevent escalation. bad things happen. spinning negative events into greater anxieties only makes it worse.

 

[Ecdysis]

Because those aren't considered "life-stress", but "traumatic-stress".

Yes, agreed. But is there some kind of scale for traumatic stresses too?

 

[Sideways]

I was too curious, so I hit up Google, and it turns out that yes, there is an organisation out there that is not just assessing whether folks have ptsd, but also how much really catastrophic trauma people have experienced…

No prizes if you guessed it would be the VA in the US!
Bunch of ways the VA assesses PTSD and trauma exposure

 

[abovedown]

i tried this and inside my own skin, i compare it to an alcoholic saying, "a glass of wine isn't as bad as a bottle of whiskey." when i start to catastrophizing, i can't seem to stop. one doomsay is too many and a million is not enough. my goal is to catch myself with the first, "what if. . ." and prevent escalation. bad things happen. spinning negative events into greater anxieties only makes it worse.

Also avoiding triggers like click-bait articles and trying to incorporate something pleasurable in my daily living helps me to keep anxiety in manageable level . Routines help too. Still some days are easier than others and I think I just need to accept that as part of my current situation. I am grateful for this forum and people here

 

[arfie]

Still some days are easier than others and I think I just need to accept that as part of my current situation.

amen, i say unto thee, amen. in my own life, it goes beyond current situation. that's just life. some days are easier than others, whatever the currents.

 

[Friday]

Yes, agreed. But is there some kind of scale for traumatic stresses too?

“Stressors” are a thing that applies to ALL disorders, and none.

“That’s the stressor”… meaning ANY everyday life-stress (job loss, marriage, death, birth, whatever) that precipitates a serial killer, family annihilator, psychotic episode, etc.

Stress/Stressors? Hit at weak points. Whether that’s knees, hearts, or mental health.