So, i want to share that i no longer have ptsd

[recoveringfromptsd]

when the definition of PTSD is actually major trauma

Like anything else, PTSD is a spectrum, ones major trauma is another's minor if one were comparing trauma. If it is enough to affect the person and give them hyper-vigilance its major enough to qualify as PTSD. I think the reality is TRAUMA is TRAUMA and no one has trauma without it affecting them. The very nature of the word trauma sort of speaks to that. From the definition (a deeply distressing or disturbing experience).

I think the way to parse this is, is if the person affected to the degree it affects their functioning and daily life. The definition for PTSD being shown as (A disorder in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event.). I don't see anything that puts a qualifier for TRAUMA being minor or Major.

The way I see it, if a person needs to come here for support, that qualifies, as it is an indication they are suffering in some way with this.

I think this is an area that @joeylittle might weight in on, as in the past has contributed "well informed" views on such things.

 

[Friday]

<grin> Congrats! :D

I wasn’t diagnosable / virtually asymptomatic for roughly a decade. Damn hard work & years to get there, but so f*cking worth it in every way imaginable.

 

[Tinyflame]

I think doing well is part the personal measure of one's 'insides' and one's 'outside'. If the symptoms decrease to minor, or virtually non-existent, or just really capable of managing as routine or part of one's life without causing so much stress or distress to one's self or others, that's just wonderful.

 

[CdnCopper]

Absolutely agree 110%.

 

[Suzetig]

Like anything else, PTSD is a spectrum, ones major trauma is another's minor if one were comparing trauma

Except the diagnostic criteria for PTSD is very clear about the kind of trauma that one needs to have experienced to be diagnosed with PTSD and that is the trauma needs to have represented an actual threat to life, sexual violence or a threat to your bodily integrity - ie major trauma by anyone’s thinking.

Yes there’s a spectrum of how PTSD impacts someone but the qualifying trauma “scale” starts at serious and gets worse so by definition if @tacit had PTSD, she experienced serious trauma to get there - hence my analogy with a broken bone.

 

[anthony]

Like anything else, PTSD is a spectrum, ones major trauma is another's minor if one were comparing trauma.

Negative. You can say such a thing accurately if you're not entering the disorder of PTSD into such discussion, BUT, when you enter the diagnosable disorder of PTSD into the discussion, personal feelings have nothing to do with the level of trauma required for the diagnosis of PTSD, the disorder.

You are minimising the spectrum of diagnosis, making it personal versus a fixed basis of diagnostic requirements in order to be diagnosed with it.

Yes, one person can be less hurt over being dumped than another, yet neither one is qualified for a PTSD diagnosis based on being dumped, regardless whether one is moving on already and the other is trying to throw themselves from a bridge due to despair.

 

[anthony]

You beat me to it @Suzetig

 

[Suzetig]

:D Great minds and all that @anthony.

 

[littleoc]

This is awesome!

I hope to be following in your footsteps very soon, @tacit , though the thought frightens me a little. Having had it since I was a child, I almost can't imagine my life without it!

Thank you for telling us about your accomplishment -- It's very inspiring :)

 

[Friday]

Yes there’s a spectrum of how PTSD impacts someone but the qualifying trauma “scale” starts at serious and gets worse so by definitio

This, right here, just needed underlining.

 

[joeylittle]

People often consider their own trauma to be minor, in comparison to whatever they imagine to be worse. It’s an example of minimization.

As in, “I was beaten as a child, but other people were sexually abused when they were kids. My trauma is not as bad as theirs”

Or, “I didn’t go to war, I was in a car accident”

The specific event(s) of traumas may differ, while the neuropsychological experience is comparable. To use one of the examples I gave above - a true threat of death can be experienced in a car wreck or during warfare. The criterion speak to the type and intensity of experience.

This also explains how two people can go though the same event but one develop PTSD and the other, not. So, we have all the other criteria - to help identify who is suffering from PTSD. No criteria, no PTSD.

But until there are scientifically objective ways of diagnosing this disorder, there will be questions around whether or not it truly ever goes away.

Till then, we look at functional improvement and symptom abatement, and those determine whether a person has PTSD or doesn’t.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

Except the diagnostic criteria for PTSD is very clear about the kind of trauma that one needs to have e...

As I said PTSD is a label. Trauma is trauma it can be minor it can be major it can be extreme. I do agree from a diagnostic practical standpoint there are bench marks that must be met for the diagnosis. I think what sets things apart is how it affects the persons life.