Sufferer Victim of voyeurism

[Tara17]

From what I learned, the neighbours drilled holes into my walls and made an Instagram account of my life with my then common law husband. I could see the drill holes and took photos of them. When someone in the neighbourhood was brave enough to write the Instagram account on a piece of paper for me to find, within two days the account was shut down. I was told there were images and videos of me naked, taking caring of my needs, being intimate with my partner and waking up in the morning and falling asleep. The superintendent was in on it too so I called the police and all they said was, "Move out." I couldn't afford a Private Investigator but I had accumulated the details. I could hear them through the ceiling. They would insult me daily. So it was clear the neighbourhood knew but no one could really help me. Since the account was taken down, no one believed me. I still have a time stamp of when I heard drilling and what was said with the dates and times.

I have difficulty leaving my house and I used to shower in the dark when I lived in that apartment. Now that I live in a house, I still shower in the dark, I never really got over that. I sometimes check for drill holes and have a hard time having my curtains open. I have a therapist and have a support system but I'm still working this out. I don't even like taking off my headphones too often or have no music on case I hear them. I moved out 4 months ago and my partner ended the relationship with me because he did not believe me but I still worry and have panic attacks at the thought of living through it again.

 

[Friday]

People filming you without your consent?

Not a cause of PTSD.

No matter how embarrassing or personally invasive.

Do you have life threatening trauma or sexual violence in your history that the people who have diagnosed you believe caused your PTSD?

 

[Tara17]

They also mentioned they were going to murder me and my husband. I stayed up two nights in a row and by the third night I ended up going to the hospital for a week.

 

[Nessa7]

Welcome to the forums!

 

[Supervixn]

People filming you without your consent?

Not a cause of PTSD.

No matter how embarrassing or personally invasive.

Why not?

 

[EveHarrington]

@Supervixn

Not all trauma rises to the level of what can cause PTSD.

 

[Sideways]

Why not?

Very sensible question, because the voyeurism stuff is pretty extreme to have to deal with.

Ptsd is caused by specific types of trauma that trigger the amygdala. The amygdala is part of our primitive brain, developed when we were cavemen bashing things with rocks and escaping lions and stuff. Certain types of immediate threat cause the amygdala to kick in, and override the rest of the brain. Threats that are akin to “must escape the lion”. Ptsd is results when, once that amygdala response has been activated, the amygdala becomes over-sensitive, doesn’t switch off, and causes that same danger—override response in the brain when it’s not actually required.

Other types of traumatic experience (like voyeurism) are processed using more complex parts of the brain, like your frontal lobe. A different kind of threat-assessment has occurred with things like voyeurism. The amygdala didn’t kick in and override your brain, instead, the frontal lobe (rather than the amygdala) made its own assessment that there was a trauma/threat.

Threats like voyeurism require different parts of our more advanced brain to assess that “this is a real threat”, our amygdala isn’t advanced enough to understand threats unless they are that very basic “escape the lion” scenario.

With those types of “non-lion” threat, where the frontal lobe has actually assessed “this is a threat”, different types of damage gets done to the brain. Similar symptoms, but not quite the same.

So, with non-ptsd trauma, what’s happening to cause the person’s symptoms is different to what’s happening in ptsd. It’s a different kind of reaction that the brain is going through. Ptsd is like an amygdala-bonanza - been triggered once and it’s gone into overdrive. Frontal lobe-assessed threats cause a different response, in different parts of the brain.

The result is still immense suffering. Ptsd, or different types of traumatic experiences, can all lead to dysfunction and distressing symptoms. Ptsd is just one form, which is caused by a very specific type of traumatic response, which only occurs in those types of “escape the lion” trauma that trigger the amygdala. Where the trauma causes other parts of the brain to respond, the suffering and symptoms may be similar, but the root cause, in the parts of the brain that are creating problems, is different.

 

[joeylittle]

Ptsd is results when, once that amygdala response has been activated, the amygdala becomes over-sensitive, doesn’t switch off, and causes that same danger—override response in the brain when it’s not actually required.

Your post is all really great, @Ragdoll Circus - nice analogy. I just wanted to echo for readers that PTSD is not the manifestation of the initial amygdala response - it's the "stuck in the 'on' position concept, that I bolded in the quote above.

So, one can experience a trauma that activates the amygdala response, but not develop PTSD. PTSD occurs after that inciting trauma, when the amygdala doesn't properly shut down and move forward.

Many people live through an 'escape the lion' trauma and do not go on to develop PTSD. PTSD diagnoses relate to a set of symptoms that are meant to indicate the amygdala problems. Those symptoms need to be present after a period of time has passed; and then, those symptoms also have to be present in a fairly consistent way.

The result is still immense suffering. Ptsd, or different types of traumatic experiences, can all lead to dysfunction and distressing symptoms. Ptsd is just one form, which is caused by a very specific type of traumatic response, which only occurs in those types of “escape the lion” trauma that trigger the amygdala. Where the trauma causes other parts of the brain to respond, the suffering and symptoms may be similar, but the root cause, in the parts of the brain that are creating problems, is different.

Quoted for truth. And the more science continues to push forward understanding the brain, the more we will all know about how those different root causes are best addressed. It could all turn out to be the same treatment, who knows. But it's worth differentiating PTSD from other disorders precisely so that one can be as targeted as possible in how one approaches recovery and symptom management.

 

[Nessa7]

Since the conversation about voyeurism has continued, I think it is important to point out that threatened sexual violence and severe injury do fall under Criterion A. I thought it was somewhat negligent to leave that out when a close reading of the original post reveals that they were able to hear their sexual abusers insulting them, but I did not think it was still relevant when the original poster returned to say that their life had been threatened. Voyeurism is generally considered a non-contact form of sexual abuse, but the original poster was not completely disconected from her abusers during that time.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

The whole drilled holes thing sounds like a fairy tale to me, as in, that unreal, and with that, even more scary.

People watching you is a real creepy thing. Especially unknown people.

Its wierd that the police don't do anything, and why wouldn't your partner believe you?

 

[Tara17]

Since the conversation about voyeurism has continued, I think it is important to point out that threaten...

The whole drilled holes thing sounds like a fairy tale to me, as in, that unreal, and with that, even m...

I don't know why he didn't believe me but it was enough for him to end the relationship. There are indentations that go down the wall that weren't there when we first moved in and he would say they were always there. I have photos of them. It was a really bad time in my life.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

Luckily you now live away from all that.

How long has it been since you moved away