post traumatic stress disorder? - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Message Board

doodlebug1501 · 01-21-2002, 09:37 AM

okay ive been diagnosed with ptsd which i cannot figure out i do not fall under the criteria of this but my question is this : do you have to have all the symptoms or is it if you fall under at least one symptom do you qualify for this diagnosis? my therapist (that ive only seen twice has come to this conclusion and i dont see it) wants me to look it up and if i disagree with it i have to show validity to why i dissagree. ive been researching for days and all ive accomplished is that i only meet one of the symptoms but at a stretch . i was molested by my father for 4 yrs in my childhood and this is what my therapistt has diagnosed me to have but i totally dissagree i need some sites that anyone can suggest. im looking for a free testing evaluation i can do online. or any references i can look up.

Lynn43 · 01-21-2002, 10:47 AM

Hi need more info...........to have been able to share,kinda feel set up and hurt

[This message has been edited by Lynn43 (edited 02-04-2002).]

doodlebug1501 · 01-21-2002, 02:59 PM

no im not in denial i really am not i am trying to gain some insight on this but the symptoms just do not describe me. i know i have problems but this one i truly donot believe is one of them i do have problems with affection but i do not have flashbacks i do not avoid my trauma i am trying to deal with it but i honestly do not see this the therapist asked me a series of questions and upon my answers and my husbands view of things this was the diagnosis the therapist came up with i have done alot of research and am just confused on the ptsd on whether you have to portray all of the symptoms or if you only have one (that could fall under all the other disorders that are out there) symptom is that sufficient to being diagnosed with it? i am not depressed i do not have any problem with flash backs, sleep or concentrating daily. i was diagnosed with ADHD when i was 5 and recently i have been researching adult ADHD and i fall under alot more there. i have problems with temper and showing affection those are my main problems and as far as i have researched none of that falls under PTSD nor do i experience emotional numbness which are all symptoms (well known) of PTSD . i have a problem and im trying to figure it out but my therapist is basing this on answers that have no explanation and the fact that my husband and i are going there for marriage and individual counseling. my husband is very controlling and very insecure so now hes convinced its all me. im not denying that i am part to blame becuz of the way i am but he has played a major role in the things i have been doing not the other way around. im basically trying to find a way to show my therapist that this is a misdiagnosis. if anything i am obsessive, e.g. this is the 5th message board i have written to get different feedback plus ive been working and researching this all for 4 days now nonstop.if i had PTSD i would have lost interest in this long ago. but who knows i could be wrong im just wondering if you have to meet the full criteria and show sufficient symptoms under the 3 categories (rexperiencing, avoidance/emotional numbing, and increased arousal , which of these i do not have. or do you have one symptom it means you have PTSD?

Rocky9945 · 02-15-2002, 08:37 AM

Doodlebug,
My wife has been diagnosed with PTSD and does not show all of the symptoms either. But she does have some of them. Although I'm no expert on this disorder what so ever, the way I understand it you don't have to show all of the symptoms to be diagnosed with PTSD.

To make it simple this is the way I understand it in my wife case. She was abused as child. (Physically and mentally by her mother, and sexually by her brother.) Over the years she either surpressed these memories or excepted them as "This is that way it's done." She knew no better. As she grew older I think she just surpressed these memories once she realized this was wrong but it went on for so long, what could she do it about it now?

An event at work triggered these memories to come to the surface. I don't understand how something that had nothing to do with the abuse she delt with as a child could have been connected to the event that happened to her at work, but it did bring back all of the those memories. What happened to her back them was Traumatic. She had surpressed these memories and now is learning to live with them. But like I said before she doesn't have all of the symptoms. But that doesn't mean she won't start having more of them show up as her therapthy progresses and the memories keep coming out. But then again they may not also.

The way I look at it is there is most likely different levels to this disorder. Maybe the Traumatic event that one person delt with isn't as bad as anothers event. But they are both Traumatic events, and they both have PTSD. They both need help. The one that "Isn't as bad" may not have all of the symptoms, but just some of them?

I hope you are doing well Doodlebug. As a husband of someone with PTSD I've seen what you "may" be going through and can sympathize with you and your Husband.
Please help us others out here by posting your thoughts and progress. Even if they mis-diagnosed you. What happened to you in part is very similar to what happened to my wife, and she still has alot of trouble talking to me about it.

Thanks for sharing your story, and thanks for listening to me. Hope I could help you some also.

Wildheart · 02-20-2002, 02:17 PM

Hello i jus want to say i have been diagnosed with PTSD and other things too but even though i have more then one symptom of it, im told you only need one or two to have it but there are other possibilities you may want to look into AND as time goes on u may or may not experience or develop new symptoms. Maybe a few things ya might want to look at are anxiety, depression, stress, or even ADD im not sure your symptoms but those all have some that seem to be the same. k ill post again gimme any comments!