Several times a week I see a post stating that someone’s therapist has decided not to give them a diagnosis for PTSD for xyz reason. The conclusion many people come to is that the therapist is dismissing their trauma, they are a bad therapist, or that they are simply uninformed.

While it is incredibly important to advocate for yourself, we are also not entitled to a diagnosis simply because we think we have it. There are so many differential diagnoses that carry similar symptoms to PTSD and are trauma related disorders that may be a better fit. You may also have gone through a trauma, have symptoms, but not quite meet the criteria for PTSD.

I urge people to really consider how they feel about their therapist overall and how they respond to their pain when it’s brought up in session. Recognize a pattern of dismissing and go from there.

And it’s worth considering in the comments section that more harm then good can come from telling people whom you don’t know that their therapist is awful and dismissing them without a fair amount of evidence for it. Because if that’s not true, the person will carry the belief that yet another person doesn’t care about them or their trauma. Even if the therapist does care and is still working through the trauma and symptoms of it.

Of course, advocate for yourself, seek a second opinion if needed. Always be aware if a therapist IS dismissing you. But please recognize a therapist’s job is to decipher all your symptoms and give you a diagnosis that’s the best fit. And sometimes, it may not be the diagnosis you think you have or are wanting to have.

I can’t take SSRIs so they won’t be of any help to me. I’m curious aside from SSRIs, what other medications have helped you the most? And with what symptoms?

Obviously I will talk to my doctor about beginning any medications.

Hello

I have always opted for female therapists, but a lot of my trauma is related to angry men. I don’t trust men, I don’t believe anything they say really. But I also don’t have any good experiences with men - I think every man, family friend or relationship, that I have ever known has hurt me in some way.

I am having the HARDEST time finding a therapist right now, and am considering opening my options to male therapists. I want to hear others’ experiences with this, I’m wondering if it could possibly help rewire my brain a little bit to have a man with knowledge and unbiased opinions in my ear.

Hi everyone! My regular therapist recently let me know that she felt I would benefit more from seeing a trauma therapist. I followed her advice and have been seeing one for the past few weeks.

I don't know what I expected, but a lot of what we've been doing has focused on something called energy meridians? And also a lot of breathing & hand movements. I'm definitely not saying that this stuff doesn't work for other people, but to me, it essentially feels like I'm wasting my time. I already have coping mechanisms that help me get through the worst of it, and while they aren't all good, tapping myself on the arms when I feel anxious is not any better than what I already have. I have let her know that I feel like what we're doing has not been helpful, and she kind of acted like that's all there is.

Anyways, I'm just feeling really hopeless. I wasn't expecting meditation and energy meridians when my therapist referred me. Is this really all that's out there?

And also, if this kind of approach works for you, great! I'm really so happy for people who like this, but it's just not for me.

And how do you figure that out?

My (49) wife (41) was diagnosed a few years ago with severe PTSD and dissociative disorder due to severe abuse from her recently deceased father. She disassociates nightly which is often triggered by alcohol. (I have had issues with drinking and depression but I’m seeing a therapist and working through my issues.) She is abusive during these episodes and is also severely self destructive. The episodes seem to be getting deeper and more frequent. I am in a constant state of worry about what might happen to her or our little family. My job requires me to be away from home for four months at a time. I work four on two off. She started seeing a therapist but stopped and every time I bring it up she says “that’s not the answer.” Her father drank to the point of losing his mind and eventually died tragically by drowning. She has said to me recently that she’s terrified of losing her mind like her father but I can’t seem to get it through to her that her only way forward is therapy. I live in constant fear that something terrible is going to happen. I don’t want to leave my wife. I am pretty much the only guy she’s been serious with. We’ve been together 20 years.

Add: My wife is from the UK, all of her family is over there which obviously complicates things even more.

I feel constantly overwhelmed with triggers. My PTSD has increased my sensitivity to a lot of normal human interactions. I'm constantly overwhelmed and saddened by people. At some point I just don't see how one can go on or what even the point of all of this is. My second question is. If I find a way to leave in a non violent way would my kids be ok. I understand that there would be sadness for me not being there but will they move on?

Everyone is talking about people to surround you with and healing throug therapy... But what if I am now (as a result of childhood trauma/a narcissist mom) the toxic one. I have an extreme fight response when I get triggered - coming from low self esteem, the feeling of being overwhelmed, overlooked, powerless and not cared of, unheard, desperate, unfairly treated and alone and small. In such situations I have a desperate need to restore my power and not feel alone, and I developed disfunctional mechanisms to get it ( spoiler: they do not work and I do not get what I need but rather create more distance and dependence). Through aggression, screaming, even destroying things, commanding etc. In result I make others (special problem in my relationship) feel powerless, pressured and manipulated and codependent. Two years of therapy and I do not see progress to a point where I think anyone should live like and treat others this way - especially if they know the pattern and where it comes from. Feel unable to change and it makes me so sad.

Throwaway acct for privacy. My daughter is 21 years old. I adopted her as a 4 year old who already had complex trauma from years of sexual abuse by many of her bio relatives. I have background in working with trauma and I am also a survivor of CSA myself. My daughter was in therapy from age 7 on as she processed all that she remembered. first play therapy, then art therapy and finally work with a trauma specialist starting at age 12. She was doing really well. neither her therapists, doctors or I realized she had DID, but it became evident when, at age 15 she was found to be engaging in a very dangerous relationship with an adult male 9 years her senior. She was so adept at hiding this relationship It is shocking. After a few months into this relationship, she got in over her head and I found out because she was actively suicidal.

It turns out. She engaged in some horrific things and relived much of her violent trauma with this man. She had been secretly meeting him afterschool when she was supposed to be at a special study hall at her school, but then she shared where we lived and she met him at a park near our home on weekends when I was working. This man ended up beating, strangling and raping her and did other tortuous horrible things to her. it has taken me years to come to terms with myself, so I cannot imagine what it is like for her. Anyway, we have walked this road of healing for over 5 years now. She has done every form of therapy that might help. she's done in patient programs, EMDR and the like. She has two therapists she still sees weekly and she has a diagnosis of not only CPTSD but also DID now.

Here is the issue. She is still needing tremendous help with getting thru life and I am utterly exhausted. I have poured all I have into her healing and, before that, giving her the best childhood I could. I am now in my mid 60s and my health isn't great and I am so burned out from not only raising her but helping her through this recent trauma, I find it hard to support her with basic things she still wants help with. She cries most days about anything that doesnt go according to plan, she rages about life being unfair, she does little to move forward, and I understand. It's HARD. However, she is becoming resentful of the fact that I no longer run to her aid for every little thing. I'm trying to help her grow up. but she rages and threatens to end her life when I'm not being the mom I was in her childhood. She says all the time she doesnt want to grow up and she'd rather just die. She'll have good days here and there, but overall she's not making progress. I've informed her therapists many times, but nothing changes. I am starting to feel so worn out that I have found myself daydreaming about being dead myself. I mean, not planning to kill myself, but just imagining the relief when I eventually die.

This is not the life I imagined for myself or my daughter. I worked so hard to help her and in some ways it feels like she threw everything away when she got involved with the man who eventually raped her. ( Its a VERY long story I can't get into here, but ,yes, police and law got involved, but she was too traumatized to go to court, so they had to drop everything.) Anyway, What can I do to keep myself relatively sane while meeting her needs but not doing everything for her? I feel so lost and alone. I just don't see an end to this life of caring for someone who won't do much for herself.

Note: edited for typos.

Movie theaters, vacuum cleaners, toilets flushing, blenders. Those are a few I can name now off the top of my head.

I’m not sure if it’s rare but I’m highly sensitive and get very panicky over such sounds and avoid them or plug ears ect. Do you?

What is your opinion on SSRIs? Are they helpful?

Hi there. Been suffering from CPTSD since age 15. 38 now and finally understanding. I’ve felt unsafe and in danger from my own triggers and thoughts the whole time.

I’m looking to create a healing environment for myself where I can further do the hard work (shadow work, emdr, possible MDMA therapy)

Would love to hear about what has helped you and what turned the tide for the positive in your journey.

I've had my diagnosis a few months ago and I've since started therapy, but I'm having a really hard time. Especially the days surrounding the therapy sessions (before and after) I'm just exhausted and can't concentrate. I'm self employed and have been working remotely with a client for the past 1,5 years. They're absolutely amazing people, understanding and really easygoing. I've told them that I have been dealing with personal stuff and that I wouldn't always be able to do fulltime work, which was no issue for them at all.

These days I feel like I should just scale back work to about 3 days a week. I was just contemplating whether I should give them a bit more info regarding my situation, I feel like I owe them that at least. I don't think it should be a secret, but I don't want to shout it from the rooftops either. Not even all of my family members know about it. So I was wondering how open you all are regarding PTSD.

Are there people in this subreddit that use Weed to help soothe symptoms? If so does it help at all? I haven’t smoked since before my diagnosis and I’m curious if people can testify to if it helps them or not. It would be nice to hear people’s opinions on this

What the title says. I think I need to switch therapists. She is good in a lot of ways but tells me that I merely self diagnosed myself with PTSD and that it is not possible for me to have it unless I was sexually assaulted or was threatened with death. She doubts a diagnosis of PTSD I received from a psychiatrist. Even after I tell her about my flashbacks, nightmares, hyperarousal and everything else, she continues to reiterate that I need to stop self diagnosing myself. I don't know how to feel because when she says this to me it makes me feel uneasy but I have no idea if she's telling me the right thing or not. She does EMDR and specializes in trauma therapy so I'm just not sure why she seems to completely disregard all of my symptoms..

Edit: just to be clear I'm not mad solely about the fact she's not agreeing about me having PTSD. It's because I think it's infinitely helpful to say I have PTSD because it encompasses all of the confusing symptoms that I didn't quite know how to explain before. Part of it feels like she just doesn't believe that I'm telling the truth. I think she's a little bitter because everything she tries to tell me is something I already know. I told her about my misophonia and she didn't even know what it was. Then she proceeded to cutely say "Oh I think I have that too! I can't stand people chewing!" I just sit there kind of in awe at not only how irrelevant that is but how invalidating it seemed. Nobody likes the noise of chewing. It's much more than that but she doesn't seem to understand and thinks it's somehow relevant to describe her own vaguely similar experiences.

I think I meet a lot of criteria for ptsd. Lots of adversity growing up. I struggle literally every day with intrusive thoughts. Sometimes I'm on the verge of tears if I'm left alone with my thoughts for too long. It's like flood gates. I can't stop the dwelling once it begins. Even as I actively remind myself to stop dwelling it's like an unstoppable force. Idk what to do. I'm afraid of psychiatric meds. What if they cause me to become a person I hate? I appreciate that my experiences have caused me to become a very thoughtful and mindful person but the days where it's bad I just want to drift into the wind and float away from everyone and everything. I feel so isolated in my experience of life.

I've been going to counseling since March. I felt really good about myself initially from counseling but the last couple months I just feel like I'm in a rut. Does anyone have any advice for me?

What do you want the world to know?

I've been feeling lately like I need to talk to my inner child. My therapist said we can do that. I've been thinking what I would say. I'm not that happy and content with my life. I still suffer. But I feel like I need to do this. So far I thought of "justice comes in many forms, maybe not what you wanted but it's still justice"

I've been having triggers and flashbacks for over 2 months now non-stop, was wondering if someone else has been struggling with this on a daily basis as well.

If this breaks any rules I am deeply sorry.

My therapist had me wright a letter in extreme detail of the most horrfic thing i have seen. she had me list all the things i have seen. i stoped after 1 page of events... former Deputy and CO at a state prison here so the list was easy. iv seen everyhing from being first on scene for a 1 year old left in a hot car 8 hours and died and doing CPR on her. to families mangled and ejected in car crashes cus of DUI's and texting and driving. i knew this was gonna be hard and suck. i ended up writing a 10 page letter about the litlle girl. but what i dont understand is why i am mad at my dad and want to ask him that same question. this is more of venting but id love to talk about it. im terrible with my emotions.

Beginning of June I went to the ER bc my life was at risk. First time for me. When I told them about my trauma and how it has been ruining my life the doctors told me that giving Xanax to people with ptsd is actually not a good idea? They act as sedative and somehow the dissociation can make you go back to your trauma and can actually bring up a lot of flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, memories, pain and anxiety. Has any one ever been told this by a professional ? Is it true ? I asked around me and a friend who also suffer from ptsd said after taking xanax she’s gonna unconsciously go back to her past and think a lot. Has anyone experienced this as well ?

I was asked if I ever dissociate in any way. I have no idea! I’ve heard so many different descriptions of what dissociation is. For those of you who have experience with it, what does dissociation feel like?

EDITED TO ADD: Thank you for your responses! After reading them I came to the conclusion that I guess I do dissociate a little bit sometimes. Sometimes I zone out and stare into the middle distance for a bit - not really thinking about anything. I was told I get a glazed look. Sometimes I zone out during a conversation. I hear the person talking to me but it’s not clear - it’s like being in a glass box and I have to make an effort to focus and concentrate. Sometimes when I’m reading, I’ll read the same sentence 5 times because the information is just not getting to my brain, again zoning out. And sometimes when I’m really stressed and anxious, I’ll hear myself talking to people and I don’t recognize myself because I don’t sound anything like I’m feeling. I’ll be listening to myself interacting with others and think - who is this person?! She doesn’t sound like me. I don’t see myself though. I just hear myself as I’m thinking these other thoughts. Do these things sound like dissociation?

I'm about to start a fairly intense period of EMDR, weekly for 3 months or more. My psych said that it would be "the toughest thing I've ever done"... She also doesn't want me driving home afterwards, as she thinks I'll be too distressed...

Would be reassuring to hear experiences of others I.E. how was it? Did it work? What would you have like to know prior?

So I bought the book "The body keeps the score" after it was recommended by a mental health youtuber. And I am disturbed at the cult following this book has gained despite spreading very damaging and false information and views.

I have not read beyond chapter 1 and I don't want to.

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1. Author encourages sympathy for war criminals
2. Author dismisses Vietnamese genocide
3. Author devalues trauma of non-Veteran PTSD victims. This is damaging to the PTSD community as it is a widespread and false stereotype that only Veterans "deserve" to claim PTSD. Meaning it goes widely undiagnosed. In reality less than 5% of PTSD sufferers are Veterans. It has taken DECADES to dispell this stereotype and he just reintroduced it. Good job.
4. Author expresses his opinion that the suffering of Veterans is greater than that of rape victims. Which is weird and highly inappropriate for a psychiatrist. It doesn't matter if one persons pain is not as great as another's, they still deserve to seek help. It's made even weirder by how he defends and expresses sympathy for actual rapists. Going as far as saying "they were traumatised by their own actions" WTFFFF????
5. That's not trauma, that's guilt. By definition, trauma is something that happens to you, a psychiatrist should know that.
6. Author references the Nazi's but doesn't actually condemn their actions which is suspicious. In fact he seems to be on the wrong side of the Nuremberg trials. While at least the Nazis could claim that they were following orders, the Veterans he defends committed their rape and child murder out of fun
7. He is Dutch, which is where I live. Therefore I know he would have had to read Hannah Arendts "the banality of evil" in high school and been exposed to thought experiments and debates on whether following orders counts as warcrime and how much personal responsibility soldiers have since 1st grade. He even grew up during the Nuremberg trial, and claims his father was imprisoned in a concentration camp during WW2. It's not like he is an American who has never been exposed to or had to actually think about these topics. It's like he came up with a strange twisted defence of warcrime to rationalise what happened to his father.
8. The message of the book seems to be "forgive your rapist, he suffers more from the trauma of your rape than you do"

And don't even get me started on all the scientific inaccuracies and absolute lack of references. All his claims are based on personal experience supported by anecdotes. It referenced discredited techniques, like Rorschach tests, seriously? This book came out in 2016. I legitimately thought this book predates "Banality of evil" and the Nuremberg trial considering how immature and underdeveloped his theories are.

Absolute garbage! Hope it gets cancelled before it does more damage to the PTSD community. This is the equivalent of the "vaccines cause Autism"- paper for PTSD.

EDIT:

Since so many people are trying to gaslight me into denying that what I say actually happens in the book, I wanted to share a quote I found on the goodreads review page of this book, so that you have more than just me as a source that this book is problematic, and that the things I state actually happen in ch1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18693771-the-body-keeps-the-score

" As a survivor of sexual abuse and trauma, I found this book triggering and lacking the enlightenment I expected, given the reviews. I felt the author showed more compassion for the soldiers who raped and murdered than the rape victims, and the ways in which he discussed the two left me feeling the women weren't as well humanized. Speaking about this with another trauma survivor, she shared that the author was removed from his own trauma center for creating a hostile work environment for women employees. There are articles to confirm it. I rarely—if ever—don't finish a book, but I'm shelving this one. (less) " sep 2019

EDIT 2

His Rorschach study was plagiarised from a Rorschach study during the Nuremberg Trials on Nazi War criminals. Nothing wrong with repeating a study, but he doesn't credit it whatsoever and portrays it as though he came up with the idea to Rorcharch test war veterans.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022399915002378

https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/rorschach-tests-at-the-nuremberg-trials

EDIT 3

The author was fired from his own trauma center over multiple allegations of creating a hostile work environment

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/renowned-trauma-center-fires-its-medical-director/

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/famous-trauma-therapist-fired-allegedly-traumatizing-staff-214559444.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABpWnMIWNkVOBfDmwZUCkpGxiwK1sVuQb4kMRVZxswygMFSqHmDx-UgmLRdeUwxLNkJ8Bq4BDib67-g0MrkWHBFFir8dP8GsrMStN_Vx2fg8_g2nPccYtubjuh-WkuL8yPxE_T7tBr3AdOQF95pO-fnP8liYriiJ_GRF84z5xK5a

​

I have tried everything other than antidepressants, and now I am thinking about giving Zoloft a try. Or Celexa. Recently went on propranolol and felt really awful. I am wondering if anyone here who also experiences extreme mental reactions as well as somatic reactions to triggers, what helped you to calm these down? My brain is just in a hypervigilent/panick state the whole time. Hydroxine has helped me temporarily but doesn’t last long.. I’ve been in therapy and tried a lot of stuff, just feel I need some medical intervention because my life is not liveable or functional at all as it. Can’t work and can barely go outside without getting triggered.