Personally I think that whether or not someone's mental disorder is flaring up, they should stay in therapy. Staying in therapy can help prevent the frequency and severity of flare ups. I'm only speaking for myself here but I already made the mistake twice of letting things get really bad before finally going to a counselor. But at the same time, when my PTSD symptoms were subsided, I would go to the therapy, sit down in the chair, and have no idea what to talk about. So I don't know what's best for other people, but that is just my experience.
question about nightmare..
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Hear Again
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if a person goes to therapy and doesn't know what to say, then it's time to find another therapist who can guide them. i can't initiate topics to discuss in my therapy sessions (due to my rapid cycling -- oftentimes i'm so overwhelmed and have no idea where to begin), so my therapist asks me specific questions and we go from there. i've also found it helpful to divide the topics we discuss into several sections of a session. we normally begin sessions by discussing my bipolar and any situations that trigger my rapid cycling, then we discuss my meds and how they are working and finally (only recently) discuss issues related to my ptsd.
That sounds like a great idea. I usually have so many things going on in my mind too that I don't know where to start. Or my mind is a blank slate. I usually tell my therapist to ask me specific questions too, that I can answer specifically. And I usually allot a certain amount of time to dealing with triggers and how to cope with anxiety surrounding triggers.
Hear Again
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exactly. this works very well for me too. if i were the one who was expected to initiate conversation as to the things i wanted to discuss in therapy, my therapist and i would be sitting there for an hour in complete silence.
by the way, oftentimes i've found that when my therapist asks me specific questions, we can get to the heart of whatever is bothering me. sometimes i'm so confused, manic, depressed or what not that i can't see anything beyond how i am currently feeling.
Oceanbreeze
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Forgive me for saying this, but you're being very inconsistent in your advice. You tell people they don't always need therapy for certain mental disorders, and now you're saying a person should stay in therapy if they have mental disorders?
For the record, if you're diagnosed with a mental illness, you should be under psychiatric care. That shouldn't even be debated.
Please be careful with what you tell people, Nika. You don't know us or what we deal with, nor are you qualified to give any advice. Neither am I. I always temper what I say with, talk to a professional. People suffering need sound advice from a professional. Anything short of that can be disasterous.
can anybody explain to me what exactly is borderline personality is? i know it has been explained to me before several times but i still havent grasped the full understanding of that.
it was pretty recently when i started to discover all of this i know i definitely had ptsd thats for sure and i went to counseling for several months before i worked my nerve to leave my ex that was 2007 (holy cow.. it doesnt seem like long time ago but now its 2009... 2 years?!? impossible! lol) didnt go to any more of that after i returned to my home state so my knowledge is still very limited on this area.
and one more thing.. can they be passed on to children? any type of mental illness i mean... i dont think ptsd is one of them cuz they are usually the cause from trauma not from genes.. at least i know that much but what about other things? can they be passed on to children via through genes?
it was pretty recently when i started to discover all of this i know i definitely had ptsd thats for sure and i went to counseling for several months before i worked my nerve to leave my ex that was 2007 (holy cow.. it doesnt seem like long time ago but now its 2009... 2 years?!? impossible! lol) didnt go to any more of that after i returned to my home state so my knowledge is still very limited on this area.
and one more thing.. can they be passed on to children? any type of mental illness i mean... i dont think ptsd is one of them cuz they are usually the cause from trauma not from genes.. at least i know that much but what about other things? can they be passed on to children via through genes?
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borderline personality disorder:
NIMH · Borderline Personality Disorder
as for whether or not mental illness can be passed to one's children, that depends on the mental illness itself. i can only speak to bipolar. if one parent is bipolar, there is a 25% chance each child will be bipolar as well. this increases to 50% if both parents are bipolar.
NIMH · Borderline Personality Disorder
as for whether or not mental illness can be passed to one's children, that depends on the mental illness itself. i can only speak to bipolar. if one parent is bipolar, there is a 25% chance each child will be bipolar as well. this increases to 50% if both parents are bipolar.
Sorry if I was unclear. I am just speaking from my experience. I'm not saying anyone else should do the same as what I've done, but just that that is what I did.
And also to clarify, what I was trying to say is I kept going to therapy even when I didn't feel like it (when I would go and felt like I had nothing to say).
Hear Again
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well, i wrote a letter to the second person responsible for my traumas. i'm going to bring it along with my first letter to therapy tomorrow. i'm interested in hearing my therapist's feedback. having said that, i think one of the most difficult things for me will be to write a letter to the person who threatened my life. i think i'm going to hold off on that for now and just concentrate on the 2 people i wrote letters to.
typeingtornado19
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You are so strong. Hope all goes well.
Hear Again
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thanks, typeingtornado.
Oceanbreeze
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Thank you for the clarification.
Wow, Hear Again. That takes some serious courage. That is really good that you took those healing steps. I hope that your next letter leads to a lot of healing. It sounds like a good idea to me that you're taking a bit at a time -- after all, you don't want to overload yourself. Good luck in therapy tomorrow. I hope your session is productive and meaningful. <hugs>
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thanks, nika. tonight i tried writing a letter to the person who threatened my life, but i couldn't do it. i was experiencing too many flashbacks where the event kept playing itself over and over again in my head. i don't think i'm ready to write a letter to this person just yet...
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Interesting thread. While I've had problems with PTSD in the past, the event that caused it was nowhere near as traumantic as what Hear Again went thru.
My PTSD was caused by a a fire that got started after lighting struck my apt in Richmond. It caused about $500,000 worth of damage and for the next two years, I would break into a sweat every time I saw a fire truck with flashing lights coming close to my apt. BTW, I have a terrible phobia of fire so that didn't help at all and sometimes I have nightmares related to that.
The one I remember the most is the time I dreamed I was 35 years old and fire raged thru my house and we had to leave the house every year on the anniversary of the first fire or it'd come back. I get strange dreams.
Once when I was 20, I dreamed that I was in the MSSD library and all of a sudden people start running and then a bomb goes off and I feel it ripping up my back and I'm thinking so this is what it feels like to be bombed and woke up with one of the worst back cramps ever.
The first nightmare that I remember is that I dreamed that I was in the park with my nursery school oral teacher and we were feeding birds and one bit me and then all of a sudden I'm in the house crying and unable to escape some German shepherd that was lunging at me. I've always been a bit wary of them ever since.
The most recurring nightmare that I used to get was what I call the big wave dream. I'd dream that I was at Virgina Beach and then a big wave would come and drown everything. There were variations of this dream; the one I remember the most is the dream where everyone knew the big wave was coming and built a big sand barrier to stave it off and it was the only big wave dream I had where no one got drowned. This dream is directly related to a traumantic event I had as a child and I will give not out exact details except to say it was extremely humiliating and worsened what what already going on my family. BTW, I have not had it in more than 20 years.
The most upsetting dream is the time I dreamed that Mel Gibson was a satanic Batman. I did say I get weird dreams. :P I find it funny now but it was not funny at the time... In someways, I'm like berry in that I tend to make light of things that bothers or outrages me. If my hubby had died on me and then a year later, I get someone who thinks I'm dead and he's postive that my hubby is alive and wants to speak to him, well I can just see myself making jokes about it later on though I wouldn't think it funny at the time.
My PTSD was caused by a a fire that got started after lighting struck my apt in Richmond. It caused about $500,000 worth of damage and for the next two years, I would break into a sweat every time I saw a fire truck with flashing lights coming close to my apt. BTW, I have a terrible phobia of fire so that didn't help at all and sometimes I have nightmares related to that.
The one I remember the most is the time I dreamed I was 35 years old and fire raged thru my house and we had to leave the house every year on the anniversary of the first fire or it'd come back. I get strange dreams.
Once when I was 20, I dreamed that I was in the MSSD library and all of a sudden people start running and then a bomb goes off and I feel it ripping up my back and I'm thinking so this is what it feels like to be bombed and woke up with one of the worst back cramps ever.
The first nightmare that I remember is that I dreamed that I was in the park with my nursery school oral teacher and we were feeding birds and one bit me and then all of a sudden I'm in the house crying and unable to escape some German shepherd that was lunging at me. I've always been a bit wary of them ever since.
The most recurring nightmare that I used to get was what I call the big wave dream. I'd dream that I was at Virgina Beach and then a big wave would come and drown everything. There were variations of this dream; the one I remember the most is the dream where everyone knew the big wave was coming and built a big sand barrier to stave it off and it was the only big wave dream I had where no one got drowned. This dream is directly related to a traumantic event I had as a child and I will give not out exact details except to say it was extremely humiliating and worsened what what already going on my family. BTW, I have not had it in more than 20 years.
The most upsetting dream is the time I dreamed that Mel Gibson was a satanic Batman. I did say I get weird dreams. :P I find it funny now but it was not funny at the time... In someways, I'm like berry in that I tend to make light of things that bothers or outrages me. If my hubby had died on me and then a year later, I get someone who thinks I'm dead and he's postive that my hubby is alive and wants to speak to him, well I can just see myself making jokes about it later on though I wouldn't think it funny at the time.
Oh no! Please don't retraumatize yourself! <sad> How are you feeling today? I hope writing the letter didn't bring up material you're not ready to face yet. Hope you're doing all right, Hear Again. <hugs>
Sorry, I don't know where else to post this.
I started classes today and one of my professors triggered me so badly! He even lectured about one of the forms of trauma I had. I spent the entire class being strongly dissociated. He's my psychology professor of all subjects. How ironic.
<panicking>
I started classes today and one of my professors triggered me so badly! He even lectured about one of the forms of trauma I had. I spent the entire class being strongly dissociated. He's my psychology professor of all subjects. How ironic.
<panicking>
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jillio
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A predisposition for certain types of mental disorders can be passed to children.
I totally agree. Even Deafblindness is a walk in the park next to mental health problems.