Would like to know how & where to get help.

[Edith]

Many thanks for that.

I understand better what you mean now. I will try & get some reading done - not great at concentrating sometimes but will look out for something suitable.

 

[fattyZ]

Hi its hard to get. I would stick with the trauma diagnosis. (this is just my opinion) That's what I did. All the other therapists will mis diagnose you. Otherwise they'd have to send you to a different therapist. I sat with a guy for years who knew I was a trauma cptsd case and he kept telling me he could help me but I knew he couldn't. It's my opinion they have to be specialists in it and even most of them are not very good. Not wanting to be on the drugs is good. The bi-polar drugs are really bad and dangerous I think but that was a few years ago for me. I self medicate now but it's manageable. "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me" lol." Psych meds make you want to jump out a window (me) If you talk to a trauma therapist (if you can find one) it could be really eye opening for you. I hope so. It was for me. I still have violence in my life also, though of a different kind. I have gotten rid of almost everyone now from the past. I am about your age and I sort of want to move away now. I am still living more or less where I grew up and I don't want to be here anymore. My wife is supportive but there is a lot of stress and not a lot of money lol.

 

[Edith]

Hi Fatty,

I take St John's Wort & that is helpful for me. I used to do a lot of self medicating but don't any longer.

I live very cheap so I manage but there was a time where it was very difficult money wise & that does add to the stress. I do without a lot of things that most folks take for granted ie haven't been to a hairdressers in 20 years, don't have a mobile phone. So I don't have to go out to work doing something i would hate. Work for ourselves.

I think being away from my hometown is helpful to me as I would get upset if I saw any of them - my family. Also one is violent & I like being a long distance from that. Bad enough when I get threatening phone calls but it's reassuring to have many miles distance between us.

I have specifically asked for family trauma councelling but whether that actually happens or not I doubt really.

Hope that you can get some less stressful times & things become easier.

 

[talon]

Hiya,

I'm in my late 50s & was advised by a CPN I had c-PTSD.
Went to a charity after my father died th...

If you need a second opinion then you should not be fobbed off request one. I have a younger sister who is Bi-polar following pregnancy . Many are mis-diagnosed so you want answers. If you have PTSD then you must have completed questionnaire . Try contact / meeting with your MP when you know who that will be after election. Make a nuisance of yourself but don't give up / in you have a right to support . PTSD is treated by Psychotherapy

 

[kilted]

I've found that writing to your MP does work.... however doing so requires considerable background research to put one's own situation into the context of the legislation/guidelines.

Becoming part of a campaigning group is a good way of understanding how one's own experience fits into the bigger picture. As part of such a group I attended a meeting with the minister for mental health, and we were able to tell the minister how her departments policies were being implemented on the ground. I think many people would be surprised how effective a well briefed group of activists can be.

This also means one becomes a member of a group who have similar issues, and this can be growthful in itself. In fact my own experience has been that this is more powerful than talk therapy. This is one reason I don't believe that "PTSD is treated by psychotherapy".

The literature is strongly indicating that single event PTSD and long term trauma are very different, with different treatment requirements. The literature is also indicating that conventional one to one talk therapy alone is not the optimal solution to either single event PTSD or C-PTSD, though it is often the only treatment available or psychological trauma.

 

[Edith]

Hi Robert - I didn't fill in a questionnaire. It was years ago when I had a few meetings with a CPN & she said that she reckoned I had PTSD as I'd had to move due to being illegally evicted by a nasty bully of a landlord who's taken over the place I'd lived for 18 years & I'd had to move to just down the road from a sibling & it brought back a lot of stuff. I contacted the trauma centre when my father died as that again seemed to trigger a load of scary stuff and the woman over the phone said she thought I had C-PTSD.

I have complained about the way I have been treated - or rather the way I have not been treated but I am getting no where. I am a nuisance but probably not in the way that is getting me anywhere. I am just backing up in the diagnosis of BPD - in their eyes as I am not behaving like a Stepford wife.

I think going to an MP is very brave. I don't know if I am wanting to expose myself. I feel shame that all my personal details about my past has been written down in black & white.

 

[Edith]

I think you are being brave - I don't know if I am of the strength to expose myself to an MP. Not putting that well, but I don't know where to start.

 

[Suzetig]

The literature is strongly indicating that single event PTSD and long term trauma are very different, with different treatment requirements. The literature is also indicating that conventional one to one talk therapy alone is not the optimal solution to either single event PTSD or C-PTSD, though it is often the only treatment available or psychological trauma.

There's actually a lot of conflicting literature around all of these issues - single incident trauma compared to multiple traumas compared to long term trauma as an adult compared to developmental trauma all impact people very differently. Throw in individual differences in processing style, emotional and cognitive capacities and availability of social supports and I'd be amazed that anyone could identify the "optimal" treatment for trauma as an overall category. For some people talking therapies work brilliantly well, for others body based somatic approaches are good, more cognitive/behavioural approaches work for other people in their specific circumstances. And different things may work more fully a different times in the individuals journey. Some people need no formal treatment at all, the existing relationship supports are enough to bring them through.

The other thing to bear in mind is that c-PTSD isn't a formally recognised diagnosis at present, it wasn't included in the DSM update and many clinicians won't use it for that reason. Borderline shares many many features with what would be understood as complex PTSD and co-diagnosis isn't that unusual, borderline just comes with a bit of baggage in a "what's wrong with you" kind of way rather than a "what happened to you" starting point that trauma gives.

In terms of how you move forward, using alternative therapies like reiki, doing yoga, herbal remedies etc may not do any harm - it can be helpful for you to get into your own body and mind again, be more present and less dissociative. Some form of exposure in the form of journaling or reading about your particular trauma may be helpful too. Workbooks dealing with CBT or DBT can help you learn self regulation. If there are charities that offer counselling, I'd take them up on that so that you have somewhere to talk and a model of a safe, boundaried relationship to work things out in.

 

[Edith]

Thanks for that Suzetig. That does make sense.

I did reach out for help when I felt that I really really really needed it but it isn't there in the NHS. I am stuck with a label of BPD which I don't want, nor need & just left to get on with it so i will have to look to other sources as I have no real friends to bounce things off other than my long suffering husband.

 

[Suzetig]

I get that the label has an impact on you, possibly because of the perceived stigma? Support from the NHS is pretty limited however and as much as you don't want or accept the diagnosis, it can open doors for you in terms of treatment if you're able to identify what's available in your area to support personality disorders. Once you're in there you can work on whatever you like but the diagnosis might just get you a service where trauma won't.

 

[Edith]

I got the diagnosis last August and have received the offer of anger management 75 miles away which I declined & got to see someone who is training in psychology - They were a volunteer in my medical practice - who I saw for a few weeks and didn't like that they kept saying how I should look at forgiveness & look within to seek it out. Weird & not really of help. Also when I got cramp - I'd been in a car for over an hour to get there- they said it was because I was speaking ill of someone and it was just coming back to bite me.
There is really nothing in my area & very little for a good distance as I live very remote.

 

[Leckey]

The US and the rest of the world are different. The thread has been started by someone in the UK looking...

Training and credentialing are very different? You base that on what?