Why Do I Feel This Way?

[WillyKat]

I don't know if there's been much research on this. It's perplexing as hell. @Solara is right that our therapists and doctors probably can't relate to these symptoms unless they have them too. And how would we know? How do I know that your intrusions with pistols "look" like mine? Do they have the same cause?

This is all one of those damn things about PTSD. Thankfully, there's hope. The more I heal the fewer of these I have. What are they? HellifIinow…I'm just glad their going away.

 

[Little Flower]

Press on :cool:
I get what u mean about other people can't see what ur describing
It's frustrating. It feels kinda like I'm carry. I'm afraid T will think I'm schizo Press on press on

 

[City Slicker]

The research I did (what little there was of it) demonstrated that most humans have intrusive thoughts and that there were two basic types: 1) Random intrusive 'images' or thoughts as Solara mentioned and they re currently seen to exist on a continuum. On the one end are those images or thoughts not based on anything that has happened to us but images or thoughts that pop into our heads, they can be frequently violent, scary, have us doing impulsive or destructive things etc and then 2) Flashbacks that have a basis in reality similar to experiences we have gone through.

They don't have to be images either, they can be smells, spatial orientation etc. Current research indicates while intrusive thoughts, images are a defining characteristic of PTDS, there are other illnesses where this occurs. For humans without OCD or PTSD, the processing of those images or thoughts when they happen is very different than when a person with OCD or PTSD is processing them.

I am a lot calmer about when they happen now that I can talk myself through them and have had enough experience to be able to now figure out where on the continuum my 'images' are falling. But yeah, it's a complicated business for sure.