question about nightmare..

Berry said:
Okay now, need some clarification time.

You are talking about PTSD for things that were done TO you.

The people I know suffering PTSD acquired it because of things they HAD to do in the line of duty, in order to stay alive, and while following orders they could not disobey. Even so the things they did were entirely against their own nature.

The people I've known who were abused and traumatized by others have never mentioned some of the symptoms the people in the second group have talked about.

From what I know the two groups are vastly different.

Am I wrong?
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not to be blunt, but yes, you are wrong. ptsd symptoms occur to people in the line of duty, but also to those who have experienced:

* emotional, sexual and/or physical abuse
* witnessing someone being killed (or a dead body)
* a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado or blizzard
* having their lives threatened by another
* exposure to traumatic events on tv such as 9/11

one of the major myths about ptsd is that it only occurs to soldiers who have been in the line of battle. what few people realize is that it also occurs to anyone who experiences a traumatic event.
 
by the way, when someone is emotionally, sexually and/or physically abused, that person is being controlled by another which means that they are being forced against their own will not to mention that their well-being is threatened.

long story short, ANY kind of trauma is devastating.
 
simply put.... PTSD is caused by any traumatic event that a person cannot resolve with it - mentally/emotionally.
 
Hear Again said:
not to be blunt, but yes, you are wrong. ptsd symptoms occur to people in the line of duty, but also to those who have experienced:

* emotional, sexual and/or physical abuse
* witnessing someone being killed (or a dead body)
* a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado or blizzard
* having their lives threatened by another
* exposure to traumatic events on tv such as 9/11

one of the major myths about ptsd is that it only occurs to soldiers who have been in the line of battle. what few people realize is that it also occurs to anyone who experiences a traumatic event.
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If there is not a separate name then it seems to me there should be. I have suffered everything on the list except sexual abuse.

Some things not on the list I'm not sure I could handle --

* Killing someone, even in self defense.

* Leaving someone behind to die.

* Hearing the screams of people I could not help.
 
Berry said:
If there is not a separate name then it seems to me there should be. I have suffered everything on the list except sexual abuse.

Some things not on the list I'm not sure I could handle --

* Killing someone, even in self defense.

* Leaving someone behind to die.

* Hearing the screams of people I could not help.
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all of those examples you listed are traumatic events that would warrant a diagnosis of ptsd provided that a person exhibited symptoms listed in the DSM.

imo, i don't think there should be a differentiation between one type of trauma and another. ALL traumatic events are devastating and should not carry a certain value where one is less significant than another.
 
i should also mention that just because a person has experienced a traumatic event in their lives does not mean that they have or will develop ptsd.
 
Hear Again said:
if i had to pick between the average lay person and a therapist in dealing with my ptsd, i'd pick a therapist without hesitation.
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I think the comparison was a figure of speech. I had two therapists that knew nothing about PTSD and they did a lot more harm than good for me.
 
Hear Again, thanks for explaining that PTSD can result from any type of trauma. I really appreciated that.
 
Hear Again said:
all of those examples you listed are traumatic events that would warrant a diagnosis of ptsd provided that a person exhibited symptoms listed in the DSM.

imo, i don't think there should be a differentiation between one type of trauma and another. ALL traumatic events are devastating and should not carry a certain value where one is less significant than another

.
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I don't mean different in the sense of one being greater or lessor, I mean in terms of handling.

You could beat me up, tie me to the bedpost and leave me there and I'd make a joke out of it -- "Hear Again thinks I'm a stick of gum, he left me on the bedpost over night. Next week he is going to stick me behind his ear."

A friend of mine is a fireman. He once watched a woman on the third or fourth floor burn to death before he could get to her. He sometimes woke up hearing her scream.

Even I can't make a joke out of that.
 
Berry said:
You could beat me up, tie me to the bedpost and leave me there and I'd make a joke out of it -- "Hear Again thinks I'm a stick of gum, he left me on the bedpost over night. Next week he is going to stick me behind his ear."
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If that is really the case, then that is some serious coping ability you have, Berry.

I think most people who suffer from PTSD have traumas more like the latter example you gave.

For example, I was bullied in school and I can make a joke out of a lot of the things people said. But some of the traumatic events for me is like the fireman -- there's just no way I can inject humor into it.
 
Berry said:
I don't mean different in the sense of one being greater or lessor, I mean in terms of handling.

You could beat me up, tie me to the bedpost and leave me there and I'd make a joke out of it -- "Hear Again thinks I'm a stick of gum, he left me on the bedpost over night. Next week he is going to stick me behind his ear."
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whoa dude... Nika's right. That's not a good healthy coping mechanism you have there....

Berry said:
A friend of mine is a fireman. He once watched a woman on the third or fourth floor burn to death before he could get to her. He sometimes woke up hearing her scream.

Even I can't make a joke out of that.
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there you go.... Other fireman with thick skin in that same situation would probably go - oh well.... and not have any nightmare about it.... which goes back to my post - "PTSD is caused by any traumatic event that a person cannot resolve with it - mentally/emotionally."
 
Jiro said:
whoa dude... Nika's right. That's not a good healthy coping mechanism you have there....

.[/I]"
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Do your dreams ever have a sense of humor to them?

And is that sense of humor necessarily socially acceptable?

Once my mother said the problem wasn't Hitler, it was the fact people took him seriously. If no one had ever taken him seriously, and everyone had laughed at him, he would never have had any power.

People told my mother there would never be a day in the history of the world when anyone would ever find anything funny about Hitler or his regime.

I used to think of that every time people mentioned the TV show "Hogan's Heros".

Humor is healing.
 
Nika said:
I think the comparison was a figure of speech. I had two therapists that knew nothing about PTSD and they did a lot more harm than good for me.
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sorry i didn't clarify. what i meant to say in my last post was that i'd prefer to see a therapist trained to work with clients who have ptsd. i'm fortunate that mine is. in fact, he told me he has a special interest in ptsd.
 
humor isn't healing when you've been emotionally, sexually and/or physically abused. there's absolutely nothing funny about that. <mad>
 
Nika said:
For example, I was bullied in school and I can make a joke out of a lot of the things people said. But some of the traumatic events for me is like the fireman -- there's just no way I can inject humor into it.
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neither can i. i see absolutely *nothing* funny about the things that happened to me. nothing at all. <mad>
 
furthermore, i see nothing funny about one's life being threatened.

man, i need to take a break from this thread. <mad>

i'll come back after i've had time to calm down.
 
Hear Again said:
sorry i didn't clarify. what i meant to say in my last post was that i'd prefer to see a therapist trained to work with clients who have ptsd. i'm fortunate that mine is. in fact, he told me he has a special interest in ptsd.
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I'm glad my therapist specializes in PTSD too. That is my number one criterion when searching for a new therapist.
 
Berry said:
You could beat me up, tie me to the bedpost and leave me there and I'd make a joke out of it -- "Hear Again thinks I'm a stick of gum, he left me on the bedpost over night. Next week he is going to stick me behind his ear."
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before i leave this thread for awhile, i wanted to respond to berry's post.

berry, if you can handle this kind of traumatic event in such a manner, you are far more stronger than i.

*now* i'm off to go calm down...
 
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