What is it?- DIY self diagnosis
- How we can help
- Want to know more?
- PTSD Information Video
- Personal experiences
What is it?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder which may develop following exposure to any one of a variety of traumatic events that involve actual or threatened death, or serious injury.
The event may be witnessed rather than directly experienced, and even learning about it may be sufficient if the persons involved are family members or close friends. Sufferers may experience flashbacks, panic attacks and heightened awareness. PTSD is sometimes found in ex-military personnel who have been involved in conflict situations.
DIY self diagnosis
If you can answer YES to most of the questions it is likely that you are affected by PTSD.
- Have you ever experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, for example, rape, shooting, car accident etc.?
- Do you frequently get upset whilst thinking about a traumatic event?
- Do you experience “flashbacks” in which you feel as if you are re-living a traumatic event?
- Do you feel emotionally numb or on edge due to experiencing a traumatic event?
- Are you aware of avoiding doing things that remind you of a traumatic event?
Anxiety UK strongly advises that people seek further information and guidance from their GP who will be able to make a formal diagnosis.
How we can help
Anxiety UK is a user-led charity with more than forty years experience in supporting those living with anxiety. By becoming a member of Anxiety UK, you will have access to a range of benefits, including:
- Access to reduced cost therapy within two weeks of submitting your therapy request
- Access to our helpline (available Monday-Friday, 9:30 am – 5:30 pm) staffed by volunteers with personal experience of anxiety
- Receipt of four issues of Anxious Times, our quarterly members” magazine
- Access to the members only section of our website, featuring regular support surgeries facilitated by anxiety experts
- Access to specialist helplines, including the psychiatric pharmacy helpline and the psychology information helpline
And many, many other benefits that will help you manage your anxiety long term. To become a member of Anxiety UK click here or ring 08444 775 774 today.
Want more information?
The Anxiety UK site has information on a range of resources to provide more detailed information and help.
Anxiety UK Publications
- Anxiety UK publishes a fact sheet and tapes dealing with post traumatic stress disorder available from the Anxiety UK online shop
Recommended reading
“Overcoming Traumatic Stress” is a self help guide based on cognitive behavioural therapy. It provides techniques on how to cope when dealing with a trauma. One reader has reviewed the book and said:
“As a sufferer of PTSD this book made me realise I was not “crazy” or “abnormal.” My body and mind were just trying to cope with the truama that had been inflicted upon it. It gives logical and rational advice to help rebuild a life following a traumatic experience, be it a car accident, being kidnapped, or raped. The step by step guides to recovery serve as a reminder of how far you’ve come towards recovery, and allow you, perhaps for the first time, to start laying the bricks to build the path to recovery. The authors are to be commended on this amazing piece of literature.”
You can order this book from the Anxiety UK online shop by clicking here.
Recommended web sites
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Anxiety UK relies on donations to keep its services running. If you found this information useful please make a donation – no amount is too small.
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PTSD Information Video
Find out how PTSD can affect people’s lives, how they cope and how it can be treated on the NHS Choices website.
Personal experience
Do you suffer from PTSD and want to share your experience with other people? Post your personal experience in the comments box below where it will be sent to our moderator for approval. Many people find this part of the site very useful when trying to understand their disorder so your comments really do make a difference. Please note, all comments submitted to the Anxiety UK website may be used by Anxiety UK for (but not limited to) publicity and promotional material.
If you would like to make contact with others who are living with similar experiences, you can do so via the Anxiety UK Pen-Pals scheme which is a service available to all Anxiety UK members (in both electronic and hard copy format).
I was involved in a road traffic accident involving my 11 year old daughter.
A car drove into us head on and as a result, 3 of the passengers were killed. This happened 16 months ago and I was referred by my GP to the local psychiatry dept. I have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and have been having cognitive therapy which I would recommend to anyone feeling like they are in a big black hole which they cannot climb out of. It is not a quick fix program but it enables you to look at the highs and lows of your life- not your existence as I used to. Only then can you come to some form of understanding of yourself. At times the sessions can be distressing but from this I have learnt how to begin to understand my thoughts, feelings, actions and beliefs and to put them into context with regards to my life.
Tracey
I witnessed a vicious attack whilst on safari in Kenya in 2000.
I was prescribed Seroxat about three years ago and since then have suffered from extremely vivid dreams and nightmares ever since. I had to give up work two years ago and have been waiting nearly the same amount of time to see a psychologist at my local mental health team. Has anyone else had similar experiences, especially the vivid dreams.
Philip
Hi Philip,
vivid dreams and nightmares are one of the side effects
caused by seroxat, i was taking seroxat myself a few years ago and i would advise you to do some research yourself on SSRI’s, i was suffering with vivid dreams,electrical like buzzing zaps in my head which i still experience now and again even though i stopped taking them 5 years ago, i also suffered tremors and became aggressive and hostile while taking them
I was diagnosed with PTSD three years ago, after being raped and experiencing flashbacks, panic attacks and depression two years beforehand.
It really helped to find out there was a name for what I was going through, instead of just feeling like I was going “mad”. Since I was diagnosed, it hasn”t been easy, but things have definitely got better, and I feel like I”m finally getting my life back, so I”d urge anyone suffering in the same way to get help.
Jennifer
Hello, just enquiring wether you may have a translated artical in urdu on ptsd
Regards
Aisha
Hello Aisha. We do have some of our materials available in urdo. To find out for sure, please ring our helpline on 08444 775 774, Monday-Friday, 9:30-5:30.
We hope we can help.
Terri – Anxiety UK
Although being diagnosed with Post-Trauma Stress in 1995, i didn’t have a good relationship with my counsellor and walked out after being accused of ‘playing the sick role’. The diagnosis doesn’t seem to have been recorded and when i mention it to doctors now the whole issue is being ignored. I am being treated like a liar. In 1992, i was in a hostage-style situation and physically and sexually assaulted. I didn’t know if i was going to get out alive and went through a distressing court case after.
Should i persist in trying to talk to my consultant psychiatrist about this? Every time i am ignored i feel like i am in the witness box all over again, so would be grateful for any advice.
Do you get any support from your GP about this anonymous? If you have issues with your NHS care, you could try your local PALS service. Check out http://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/get-help/making-a-complaint-about-an-nhs-service/ for some organisations that may be able to support you.
Good luck and feel free to come back if you need any additional support
Cat (Anxiety UK)
Hi Anonymous. It sounds to me as if neither your counsellor nor your doctor has much understanding of PTSD. Fortunately for most people it is such a rare thing that the vast majority of counsellors don’t have any understanding of it. PTSD is effectively a mental injury, not an illness, hence the term “Post Traumatic”, but counsellors in general are trained to treat illnesses, hence the problem. I’d suggest you leave that counsellor and look for one who has had some training in helping with PTSD. Similarly, many psychiatrists don’t have any genuine understaning of PTSD. Sadly, these people are presumed experts, but often they’re way behind those of us who unfortunately know PTSD from the inside.
hey there,
im writing a story for a school project and have decided to base it around the suffering post traumatic stress causes some people. i taking it from the stereo typed “crazy” point of view but at the end showing at hint of sanity….
but i have kinda met a probem, i was wondring can ptsd be caused by a court case ? in my eyes i suppose it could considering even if their found not guilty youve still got a lot resting upon your shoulders afterwards, but i would just like to make sure XD.
Hi Shayna,
Yes, PTSD could be caused by a court case, provided the preconditions of excess stress, being falsely accused but unable to prove innocence & the person feeling trapped in the court are in place. However, if the person is found “not guilty” PTSD is less likely as the overwhelming relief of a verdict in their favour would most likely prevent PTSD forming. Far more likely if the verdict goes against them and the person is so crushed by this verdict that they cannot face a similar situation again in order to prove their innocence. This is a situation in which the injustice of false accusation could be combined with dashed hopes of justice and it seeming that the court itself becomes an instrument of injustice. The reason for needing the verdict against is that PTSD takes both an original incident and time afterwards to form. It is for reasons of time that troops are routinely debriefed after any battlefield incident. Coming to terms with what they’ve been through by sharing it with others who accept their experience as valid can de-fuse potential PTSD. So leave your character suffering repeated injustice which remains unresolved through several appeals. Even better, a suspended sentence as the character wouldn’t experience the worst possible outcome of actually being jailed for a crime they didn’t commit, so jail hangs like a further threat against them, but nobody believes them. If you experience a worst case outcome & survive, you’re more likely to believe you can handle this & so wouldn’t suffer PTSD, but if the threat & false accusations remain unended, PTSD is possible.
Hi,
I was diagnosed with ptsd in 2004. after being physically attacked by a brother in law. i am 45 in two weeks, when i was a child id been abused by my father and a sister and also whilst in school, i then suffered more physical and sexual abuse by my two husbands.
By the time i was 30 i had been divorced twice an my mum died suddenley.
I spent the following ten years taking anti depressants an in and out of councilling, i also stayed single and read a hell of a lot of self help books, i thought i was on the mend by the time i reached 39, i was training in college and was feeling quite optomistic about the future, id been off the antidepressants for 2 years.
Then just before my 40th birthady i suffered the unprovoked attack by my brother in law.
Initially i used alcohol to deal with it, and i attempted suicide 3 or 5 times.
Last year i spent 9 months in therapy again, and had started to talk about things that id never spoke about,
then out of the blue my therapist told me she was leaving the service! I was dumbfounded.
Im back on antidepressants, sertraline,my gps put my dose up to 200mg, but im staying on 100mg. and i am on another waiting list for more therapy, i am having nightmares, flashbacks, the nightmares an dreams are all muddled an mixed up, im pretty sure ive developed body dismorfia,
as ive got all the symptoms, i hardly go out and dont want to become a recluse as i have the chance of taking my teacher training to the next level, but im ridilled with insecurity and lacking confidence.
I really really want to move on with my life, but feel like i am stuck, and dont no what or who to turn to.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for being so open about your experiences, it can’t have been easy for you. It sounds like you have been through so much in your life already, and that after making such progress another trauma has caused you more pain. If you were looking for longer term counselling or CBT we can help – or you might want to try EMDR, which has evidence for its effectiveness, or speacialist trauma focused CBT – both of these are recommended by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence). The EMDR association has a list of registered EMDR practitioners if you were interested in getting in touch. I hope you can get the help and healing you need.
Best wishes
Cat (Anxiety UK)
thanks for your advice, i will follow it up.
I wish someone out there could help me. In January 2010 my daughter died at full term pregnancy. It was a horrific experience. I had been in the hospital 3 days earlier she was alive. I said she was in trouble, nobody listened to me. I had a history of phobia of birth. I had waited 20 years for her. When they said she had died, i felt like the bottom had fallen out of my world. They then despite my phobia put me through 3 days of being induced, a horrific experience, before finally cutting her out of me 3 days after her death. I still feel the scar righ across my stomach. 6 days after she died, her father left, no word no explaination. I had sold my house 6 weeks before she died for 50k less than it was worth to financially support her. My youngest daughter is now pregnant – expecting a baby girl. I then went through an abusive relationship with a man who pretended to be my dead daughters father and manipulated and abused me. Its now 14 months later and no help from the NHS. Solicitors are proceeding against the NHS on 5 counts of negligence. My world is devastated. I had to return to work 4 months after she died in a hostel which was full of mums and babies. I get flashbacks panic attacks and nightmares. I do wish that there was someone out there who can help me.
In 1992 I was subjected to a kangaroo court workplace disciplinary tribunal. At the time I was certified as unfit for work due to stress, but I was fetched from home one evening & placed in a confined situation where 2 known abusers from the workplace spent some hours making false accusations against me. They were their own witnesses, judge & jury. I was not allowed witnesses. One of the abusers was the departmental personnel officer. Consequently even thugh they could not dismiss me I was moved from my job. My new boss welcomed me explaining she had been specially chosen as she had previous experience of working with people suffering stress. Her previous PA had had to take early retirement due to stress. I was then to work as her PA. Needless to say, my health deteriorated and in 1995 I was forced to take early retirement due to apparent stress.
When I retired I had lost the ability to read. My time varied between weeks on end when I could barely get out of bed and times when I would go mad exercising, often simply disappearing for days on end. I was having constant flashbacks of incidents from work. Antidepressants & all other medication failed to work. In the hope of an “accident” that would not look like suicide, I volunteered to work in Bosnia in the immediate aftermath of their war. It was the best thing I could ever have done.
I could no longer face administration of any sort & it took until 2005 for me to apply for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. My application was refused. I was given the opportunity of an appeals tribunal. I explained that as the PTSD was caused by a tribunal, I could not attend an appeals tribunal. I requested instead a 1:1 meeting to identify the documentation that would be required in support of my claim. I received assurances that procedures would be adjusted to account for my injury. No adjustment was made. I have no memory of what happened, other than being terrified & being unable to leave. Nevertheless DWP have taken this totally inappropriate procedure as “proof” that the kangaroo court either didn’t happen or didn’t cause injury.
In 15 years I’ve learnt to live with the flashbacks. They still recur, in fact I’ve had one whilst writing this. I remain unable to carry out administrative work or indeed to work for long hours.
My question is, how can I proceed from here?
I had a car accident in 2009 ,it was quite bad with the car been a right off .At hospital they confirmed that disks in my neck had bulges on the c5,6,7.I was put on the sick.A few months after this while i was still off l lost my job when the firm went in to liquidation.Now in 2011 the doctors tell me i wont be able to do my old job any more as a contractor.Im unemployed and have just been told that i have clinical depression, chronic pain and ptsd.I have a great GP and he is trying lots of different drugs to help me but its going to be a long road to some sort of recovery.
Hi Andy,
Are you still in a lot of pain? I had a bulge in my L3 and L4 and it went on for quite a while. I have heard that mindfulness techniques (like mindfulness based cognitive therapy) can be good for chronic pain management, and also CBT can be useful for both PTSD and pain. CBT is available through Anxiety UK. If your PTSD is the primary problem then there is also support available using a technique called EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprogramming), which is one of the government approved therapies, along with CBT.
Sorry to hear about your problems, hope things improve for you soon.
Cat (Anxiety UK)
Hi, reading your comments I feel I am not alone, although all our experiences are unique.
It is only now at the age of 31 I am able to acknowledge the number of traumas I have experienced. In mid April my self-esteem hit an all time low after finding out my organisation is being restructured (possible redundancy) at the point I needed to accept we may need to accept fertility treatment. I’m now taking Amitriptyline 35mg and Propranolol 40mg (anxiety) as I fell to pieces and only after paying for a private counsellor did I realise the numbness was like a past experience of PTSD and reliving past traumas. My question is does extreme stress and anxiety trigger a recurrence of PTSD? I have had a emotionally traumatic childhood (although not intentional) being the primary carer for my father (Bi-Polar/ Unpredicatable & violent), mother (absent/working), sister (physically and emotionally abusive), witnessed a fatal construction accident at the age of 20 and diagnosed with PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome at 28. I did undergo counselling and felt recovered, I recall my counsellor saying I should be careful in the future and wonder now whether it was a warning that my PTSD may return? I am asking as only after accessing a private counsellor last week did she attribute my physical and mental symptoms to PTSD. Since April I have experienced low self-esteem, depression, flashbacks of violent childhood incidents and fatal accident, sleep disturbances, extreme anxiety, emotional numbness, difficulty concentrating and found myself dreading or avoiding going out except where necessary (attending work – how I have managed this I have no idea, hidden strength of character maybe!). So can PTSD reoccur as when I started with my employer I did not declare it as I believed I had made a full recovery?
Hi Rhian,
Extreme anxiety & stress can not only trigger recurrence of PTSD, it can also cause it in somebody who has not experienced it before. It doesn’t mean that you’re suffering PTSD again, but the symptoms you’ve described are certainly those of anxiety & this has got stirred up by recent events making you feel as if the past were recurring.
Any PTSD sufferer exposed to any situation bearing similarities to a previous incident will find PTSD gets re-triggered. As PTSD caused anxiety in the past and your present situation is causing anxiety, it will naturally cause you to remember & feel again all the things you experienced in the past. It is a natural cycle. The good news is that having been through all this in the past and having survived it, you can have confidence that you will be able to overcome it once again. Your counsellor should be able to help you through it, but it is you who will be doing the overcoming..
Anxiety is an overload of fear. Fear is designed to trigger our “fight or flight” mechanism. An overload causes us to freeze & so we end up with depression, low self-esteem & everything else you describe. The ideal way to deal with it is not through drugs, but by using the fear chemicals for what they were designed for – to run as if our lives depended on it. Any prolonged exercise will do, the less you have to think about what you do to exercise the better. As you exercise your brain will start to go over all the stuff that has been causing problems & will process it. You will probably have to exercise 3-5 hours at a time so choose something you know you can keep going at alone, then do it at least 3 times a week for the next few weeks & let your brain run through things. For example paint a wall with a tiny brush. Begin by drawing the situation that’s making you anxious on the wall, then keep going till you’ve obliterated it by painting over it. You may need to do this a few times, but as you do so your brain will process the situation & you’ll find you can handle it again. Or if you choose running, imagine the face of somebody who you see as causing the problem being pounded into the ground by your feet as you run. These ways of directing your thoughts will really will work!
You’ll find that as you get the strength to deal with these present anxieties in this way, the memory of past things will also stop bothering you again. When you’ve reached this stage, you need finally to seal these things in so they can’t recur. One of the most effective ways of doing this is to go into a church & pray, maybe leaving a token such as a lighted candle into which you’ve poured all these things or just symbolically imagining you’re taking off a cloak & leaving it in front of the altar. If you can’t stand religion then either draw or write the bad things down, put the papers in a box, then a few weeks later when you’re ready destroy it – burning it & then scattering the ashes like a funeral helps. It may sound like play acting & role-play but it really does help to set a point from which the past is dealt with. Look forward to that time. It will come. But for now the therapist & a lot of exercise will help.
All the best.
I understand that the traumatic event must have been very distressing, although I cannot appreciate to what degree.
What is it that’s actually wrong with you now, though?
I have first hand experienced a traumatic event, i was accused of being involved in an incident where somebody died as a result of a bar brawl in a popular bar in town. i was questioned for days by police that tryed to persuade and convince me that i did certain things as there were many allegations against me or someone similar to me, in the end i was charged with murder and remanded in custody with real murderers for 2months before bailed i always stated i was innocent yet news papers and storys made out i was the main person.after 6months on bail and a curfew and was placed back into prison again for a further 3 weeks for break bail before being bailed again. after a 2month trial i was found not guilty of all charges put against me. from this point on i have become emotional numb, lost all emotional connections with my family and sometimes children, iam now going through divorce as i felt my wife never loved me, and my current girlfriend is the only person i feel for but even that i have ruined by sometimes shouting or jus getting angry for no reason at all i sometime i feel i cant trust anyone. i just dont understand whats going on with me and sometimes i have nightmares that something similar to what happened happerns and the court procedding happern again but this time im found guily. anyone know what im going through?
Hi Pete,
Sounds like you have been through an absolutely awful time, I can only imagine how difficult this period of your life has been. It is only natural that when you go through a trauma such as this there are some feelings that last following it. Have you thought about counselling or CBT as an outlet for how you are feeling? This is something we can offer, but you can also access it through your GP if you need it.
Please feel free to call the helpline if you need to talk to someone on 08444 775 774. You are not on your own with these feelings.
Best wishes
Cat (Anxiety UK)
hi everyone in may 2010 i was in a taxi as a passenger with a friend coming home from a night out, he was on his phone and was speeding he went head on into another car in the other lane ,i nearly died i few times but pulled through my friend was,nt hurt ,the taxi driver was,nt either,my injuries were broken neck ,broken chest bone ,ribs ,my left thigh ,i also broke my pelvis ,cut my knees open had no skin lefted on my right leg front and back cut my head open,i was bleeding cause of my pelvis ,but they stopped that,i was then in hospital for 3months ,i had lots of operations,and still am ,i am experinceing flash backs even though i dont remmber any oh it ,i never stop thinking about it and its competely changed my life ,iam now disabled,and fell why me iam on antidepressents,as i hate my scars and my body now i cry all the time ,i dont sleep do you think i have p,t,s,d
I do not have flash backs, but I am disconnected from my emotions. I went through counselling on the NHS for depression they told me I had had an abusive childhood. When my mother died what ever mechcanism was keeping my anger in check broke i became incandesant with rage, it took me at least 9 months to calm down. My father was a very aggresive person as a child he frightened the hell out of me, I really can’t remember what the trigger was my mother turned to me at the age of 5 to support her emotionally. I had to numb myself to my own emotions to survive now that I want to feel something I can’t. I have come through suicidal feelings ,depression, acceptanace and forgiveness. It is now about disconnecting myself from old coping stratergies, Someone very close to me has just revealed a terrible experience emotionally I feel nothing, All I have ever felt is this overwelming sense of anxiety which along with anger and rage are the only emotions I can freely access. Is this PTSD
Hi Colin
It could be PTSD given what you’ve experienced in your childhood, and the emotional detachment may be your self defense machism and/or coping stratergy. However, I believe getting you some professional support is more important. I would recommend counselling for you and a trained counsellor should help you to understand and explore the experience and feelings. We do offer them in face-to-face and over the phone and webcam at reduced rates. Please consider my advice and stay positive.
Andy
Hi All,
I dont know if i am suffering PTSD..please advise..
I lived with my wife within her family in Derbyshire for about 8 years and was very happy.
We had been sweethearts since late teens at University for 11 years.
In 1994 she turned nasty and ditched ne in May of that year.
Since then she has refused to communicate at any level and has turned all the family and mutual friends against me .
I have been shunned by all these people i love for 17 years.
I lost everything : my sweetheart ; the family i love;my home;my pets and fairly soon my job.
2 weeks after being ditched i suffered a minor stroke which left me with poor balance leading to the job loss.
I was in extreme mental pain at my situation and desperately wanted to die.
Every thought in my head was towards her or her family,and all dreams were them abusing me.
I would mistakenly see her and hear her everywhere and was continually jumping out of my skin with these visions.
I couldnt use supermarkets for years because i saw her in every isle.
!7 years on the pain is with me all the time and every morning when i wake the pain of reality returns.
Thoughts of 1994 and the continual shunning bring all the emotions in abundance : alienation;rage,extreeme anxiety;depression;guilt;and a feeling of being trapped.
I was prompted to think of PTSD after seeing the Guardian article on the Doctor who won £4.5m compensation for psychological abuse leading to PTSD.
Does my experience/behaviour suggest PTSD ?
Cheers Chris.
Hi Chris,
You’ve identified many of the classic symptoms, a traumatic incident, years of suffering, and all the painful emotional crap that you just can’t get free from.
It’s quite probable you could be suffering PTSD.
It’s not easy to get a diagnosis. If you’re in the UK, NHS mental services absolutely refuse to diagnose. Usually you have to go private to get a reliable diagnosis, but what will you do with one if you get it?
Your response to reading the guardian article is also typical of a PTSD sufferer. Your chances of achieving anything like the same are virtually nil. In order to get anything via the legal system you need to have made all the right moves with the right authorities & to have got everything verified back in 1994. It strikes me tat the doctor knew exactly what he was doing whilst he was being abused. Most of us don’t have that luxury.
Also, as yor injury is more than 5 years old, the legal system wouldn’t consider it.
Like you, I’m a PTSD sufferer from trauma in the 1990s caused by systematic workplace abuse. I had to take early retirement & got nothing but a reduced version of the pension I might have had if I’d been able to keep paying in to the scheme. Compensation? Forget it!
There’s just one thing you can do & that is to seek some help to reduce the effect of the trauma on your life. Begin with the website http://www.tir.org/practitioners/index.html & I think you’ll find the sort of help you need.
All the very best & I hope you find this stops haunting you.
Jerry
I had a breakdown 7 years ago and was put of antidepressants and sent to a phsycologist. One of the Dr’s I saw said it was possible that I was suffering from PTSD relating to a rape which had happened previously and supressed memories of abuse. I was never really given the chance to talk any of it out properly just given lots of panic and stress coping strategies and at times talked to in quite a patronising manner, in the end I gave up on the councelling and moved on with my life – new job, new friends, new home. The medication made tired and I ended up gaining around 5 stone in weight, other than going to work my social life tailed off dramatically, as I result of all this I have been celibate for the whole 7 years. I just recently came off the medication and it has been a struggle. However I got the courage to kiss a guy at a party recently and one of my \friends\ questioned wether I had really been raped in the past because of it. (Another friend had apparently told them about the past incident) I was very upset and since then have been having nightmares and panic and anxiety again. I feel like a failure and don’t want to go back on medication but also feel like I can never really move on from what happened to me and that I am still being judged and talked about behind my back. I made a fool of my self recently when propositioned by another man as I freaked out about it and I am left to wonder if I am ever going to be able to conduct a normal relationship again. Can anyone recommend any useful therapy for me to consider that doesn’t involve meditating, writing stories or drawing pictures and that will actually give me some closure.
That should read put on antidepressants… not off
hi all,
4 years ago i heomarraged after havin my daughter it happended to me at home i lost alot of blood and the doctors at the hospital told me if i had com any later i cud have been dead. 3 years later i fall pregnant again and the fear of that happenin to me made me bad, i took loads of asprin to try and miscarriage yes im not proud but it was sheer panic. i ended up in hospital to be told again i cud hav died with the ammount i had took. so now i have a fear of death i constantly stress that i will die or my loved ones.every week have some imagned illness like cancer or hiv my kids cant cough with out me stressing over them im scared its effecting them to me being like this. i visisted the councilor to be told i cant be suffering with ptsd its health anxiety but feel wat caused it is my near death exsperiences the g.p at the hospital said its ptsd. i dont want to take medication for it as i am scared to take tablets now due to nearly over dosein i just dont know what to do i take every day at a time and avery day is a battle for me. i ahve a supportive partner and 2 lovely children i just want to be normal im all well up until i get alot of stress stress cant be avoided in my life work amd my family are alot of stress. i dont laugh alot i dont smile im just numb to feelings thank you for listening
Hi Shaz
That must be very distressing for you. Have you spoken to any professionals, i.e. therapist or psychologist, after that traumatic experience? I would recommend you to speak to a therapist and get some professional support. We provide a range of therapy including counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy and clinical hypnotherapy. May I also suggest the Overcoming Traumatic Stress by Claudia Herbert and Ann Wetmore to you? This is a very well written CBT book and should give you a better insight on your experience, and suggest techniques to manage the stress and anxiety. Best wishes.
Andy
my symptoms are insomnia, hot flushes,blurred vision,foggy head,migrane,crying alot,tingling and numbness in my arms,sore throat,tiredness through lack of sleep,nightmares do i have to take tablets to get better or can i fight it myself please could anyone advise me
Hi Shaz,
This sounds pretty awful. Sadly, tablets don’t do much except hold the symptoms until you’ve sorted yourself out, so best not to start taking them if avoidable. I suggest instead you read a book, but not just any book. Ask your library for \Waking the tiger\ by Peter Levine. If they haven’t got it, it’s less than £10 on Amazon. I think you’ll find it helpful.
hi andy i have spoke to my g.p his answer was i can do three things for you medication.sick note for work or Councillor. he doesnt take me serious i can tell in his patronizing voice and i had one session with a councillor who basicaly said i dont have ptsd i have health anxiety and the best thing to do for me is try and get the stress out of my life that causes to bring on my anxiety symptoms. so im back to square one wat should i do. i think its terrible how im so confused in wats best for me. thanks for your reply.
Hi Shaz
Our volunteer therapists are specialised and experienced in treating anxiety and may be something you can consider. One session of counselling is obviously not enough given that you had such a traumatic experience. Whether it is health anxiety or PSTD, it doesn’t really matter as long as you are getting the right professional support. Name is only useful if you are searching for help, not as an excuse. I strongly recommend you to speak to a therapist or a counsellor. Let us help you and give us a call on 08444 775 774 to speak to one of our volunteers for more details.
Andy
hi Dzerbj
thank you for your reply tablets are the last resort im adamant in not takein them. i will purchase that book for a defo thank you
new year and new start i thought i was feeling 99 percent brilliant i felt that i could over come my anxiety and that im strong. after today though i think different stress from family has caused me to relapse and the symptoms are here.i just wish i could run away from it all in to a different place where i was normal when i thrived on challenges and i felt like i could take the world on why oh why?????? thanks for listening to me rant
Although not a former military professional, I was deployed to Algeria in the mid 1990′s ( oil & gas work), and can only summarise as human carnage the acts that the locals were performing on each other. After wiping the contents of a four year olds head from my face one day, I snapped, returned to the UK, and effectively, lost a year in time. I was a broken mirror, and have spent the past 16 years putting those pieces back together. No therapy, no medication will work without buy in, and it’s really hard to communicate your emotions when you are in effect emotionally switched off. Until that time in my life, I’d never been seen as cruel or cold, my children have seen me as this person.
My comment here is this, for me, the mainstream support, understanding, attitude to, and treatment for PTSD has been a journey that at times has been in itself almost as painful as the condition.
Seriously, I wouldn’t wish PTSD on anyone, as I’m sure none of us would. My most frustrating aspect is explaining and educating, even now I watch people and they don’t get it, not a judgemental comment, just an experienced eye.
The analogy I give when people ask, imagine not seeing, not hearing, having no ability to speak or smell, and you can’t feel via touch, that’s what it gets to in emotional lick down, it takes years to acknowledge that and crawl back out, but during that time, you are operating in a fight or flight mode.
I’m presently battling a relapse, but with a wiser head, refusal to lock myself down, I know that this will pass. However, on the outside, I’ll display someone who is tense, on edge, and emotionally charged.
To everyone out there like me, keep the faith, there is light, dont give up, rely on logic and the eyes of your loved ones for strength
Harry,
I found your comment really moving.
Unlike a lot of the people previously commenting, I have only experienced severe anxiety for the past three years. I’m still only a teenager but I’ve been severely depressed for most of my adolescent life and have missed a large part of the growing process so many take for granted.
I find all these comments helpful as I gain new perspective and identify with the extreme energy it takes to feel ok and carry on in daily life. I’ve tried to take my own life 5 times in the last 2/3 years and it is such a struggle to find the strength to continue until it gets better.
So Harry, your last line “keep the faith, there is light, dont give up, rely on logic and the eyes of your loved ones for strength” really hit home.
For all of us, if we persist, it can only get better than this.
Stay strong!
xx