Will Ptsd Always Be There?

[Doolali]

Just wondering....

Somedays I feel better and like there's light at the end of my tunnel. Then I have a bad day(s) and I feel like I'm back to sqaure one.

Does this ever get better long-term? Does anyone recover from PTSD?

My therapist seems to think there is hope. And looking back I have come so far, but there still seems miles ahead.

Recovery...attainable or not?? :confused:

 

[piratelady]

I think that over time we learn to manage our triggers and to cope better. As that happens, our symptoms lessen. However, the PTSD does not go away. If our stress cup over flows the symptoms are likely to rear their ugly head again. That does not mean there is not hope though. Learning to cope and processing your trauma can make it very manageable.

 

[Abrasky]

I think you can recover a lot with the right therapist. You will start of really really bad, and then it is like a long journey. You will go backwards and forwards A LOT. It's a bit like the game snakes and ladders I have thought. You will learn to appreciate small goals which is a good thing, If you reach bigger goals later on, you will think they are way cool.

I sought of went through different stages with getting better. I was on a high dose of anti-deppressants and unable to feel most feelings when I was diagnosed. I became antideppressant free 6 years into my therapy.

My main trigger was not being able to get close to people and work. I now have a part-time job and have worked 20 hours a week with a 2-3 year old for 9 months 13 years into my therapy.

I was numb and had downtime all the time and couldn't feel what I felt towards the people that hurt me. I still have a lot of down time, going into the overwhelming grief resulting from my trauma, but I am strong enough to feel it so that is progress. I feel that they hurt me now, and as a consequence, I am trusting people again. Sometimes. As you get better you will be able to process your trauma and heal yourself more and more.

I think it is like when someone dies asking their life partner do you ever get over the grief? It never goes away, but you learn to accept it and integrate into your life again.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I think it is like when someone dies asking their life partner do you ever get over the grief? It never goes away, but you learn to accept it and integrate into your life again.

Well said Maze. :tup:

 

[starry]

Doolali, I often wonder the same thing. I wonder if I will ever completely be free of it. I don't think I will. I really feel my PTSD has changed me to my core and is part of me. I do hope though with time it becomes a smaller, less dominant part of me and I can construct into part of who I am rather then all of who I am. Often I feel like my PTSD is me, especially on days like today where I feel depressed. I think I just have to find a place for it but I am still trying to find out how to do that without letting it overcome and overwhelm me.

 

[Doolali]

It's really good to hear what you think and especially when you have been through therapy for longer than I have.

I was only diagnosed last year, but looking back I have had PTSD since childhood (my abuse started at 5 until 18) and technically speaking continued long distance, until I stopped speaking to my mother last year. I found an amazing therapist and psychiatrist who independently diagnosed me with PTSD. I have seen various mental health professionals on and off and was told I was depressed, but then I never really told them every symptom (I assumed everyone could dissociate!).

So you can see my symptoms are all I know, so learning a different way to cope is extremely difficult for me. I used to dissociate into the TV or onto the ceiling as a little one to escape reality. It is hard, but what else can I do but 'keep on swimming'?

Thank you for your encouragement, I do really appreciate your insight - especially those who have been working at it for longer than me!

Very well said Maze...that gives me a whole new outlook on this. It very much is like grief....you don't get over it, you just gotta go through it.

Keep swimming everyone! Thank you :tup:

 

[Britt.f7]

I had intense inpatient sexual abuse/ptsd treatment for a month in my twenties. I came out stronger. I would say the PTSD symptoms, with little exception, disappeared. A few years ago(about 20 years after the treatment), I came unglued. I would say with the depression and such things have gotten much worse. I'm hoping for that feeling I had in my twenties after treatment. Hoping and working towards I should say.

 

[safenow]

I have PTSD from multiple traumas, which started when I was 2 years old. I am now 67 years old, and I can testify to you that it does get better. You can have years and years of good, safe, healthy, working life. Just be aware, that if something triggers you and you don't have good coping tools, it can come back and hit you in the jaw. But with good tools, you can go through it to the otherside much faster.

With the right tools, life doesn't have to be bad. And I agree, it is very much life grief. You will go through stages. Keep your head up.

 

[Doolali]

Reassuring words Britt and safenow, thank you. Britt, I guess what safenow says about coping skills and getting hit by the PTSD again is what may be happening to you now that depression has knocked you for six! I wish you all the best.

I get so mad because 'this rubbish' (PTSD) is not my problem. It's just sickening that to cope our brains have developed these mechanisms that don't serve a purpose anymore....but we still have to pick the pieces up. I wish I could just deal with it the way you would an infection or cold! Why did my brain have to get funky on me!?

So glad you guys are here for advice! TY :)

 

[Hashi]

It's just sickening that to cope our brains have developed these mechanisms that don't serve a purpose anymore....but we still have to pick the pieces up. I wish I could just deal with it the way you would an infection or cold! Why did my brain have to get funky on me!?

Our brains are doing the best they can! I see it more like, if I broke my leg and didn't get proper treatment for it straight away, would it be my body's fault if my leg got funky on me? Maybe I'd be walking wobbly, but that would be my body's way of keeping me walking at all. Then if I eventually got good treatment, it might take longer - and a lot of endurance, relearning and exercising on my part - but my body would be given a chance to straighten itself out at last.

Our brains are trying to heal us, bodies and minds are always working to heal as part of our nature. They just need the right conditions to do that in.

Oh and yes, I think recovery is definitely possible. I have a different view from a lot of people. I don't think it's always going to be lying dormant and able to rise up again at any time. I believe that if you address it on a deep level - psychologically, somatically, emotionally and in terms of meaning - it can be healed, not just managed.

I like the analogy with grief. You can't cure it or obliterate it, but you can work through it, heal and move forward.