Posted by hyperfocus on December 31, 2012, at 18:12:52
In reply to Re: CPTSD » hyperfocus, posted by SLS on December 30, 2012, at 14:31:13
> Brilliant explanation. Thanks.
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> Let me know what you think of this:
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> http://www.positivehumandevelopment.com/developmental-ptsd.html
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> How does this compare to C-PTSD?
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> http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/JTS_Oct_09_Cloitre_et_al.pdfThanks for the articles. I was unaware of the differences between what's called Developmental PTSD and Complex PTSD. Although they are very similar I suppose their development and root causes warrants a distinction. Developmental PTSD can be an extraordinarily powerful diagnostic tool for abused and disadvantaged children to mend their lives.
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> I am looking at the possibility that prazosin would be an effective treatment for these conditions.
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Honestly I've become skeptical of the ability of meds to treat conditions like C-PTSD rooted in psychological trauma. Our emotions, thoughts, behaviors, memories, and perceptions are locked in very complex relationships.....I think that changing just one thing isn't sufficient to get a mind healthy. Also it is critical for people recovering from trauma to re-establish in themselves the belief that their will, however you wish to define this, controls these emotions and thoughts and behaviours et.al . Meds like prazosin and atenolol can reduce the overexcitability of adrenoreceptors in the nervous system and reduce anxiety and the occurrence of intrusive memories and flashbacks and nightmares. These things can help somebody tremendously with dissociation and depression and the sense of helplessness CPTSD and all MI sufferers feel, and give them back some semblance of control over their inner experience. But to me switching the locus of control of inner experience to medications, with all the expectations of recovery, isn't a long-term viable or safe strategy.To me knowledge and understanding are powerful tools, just as powerful or even moreso than meds. I think a lot of people with MI simply are unaware of what they are suffering from, and the piecemeal diagnostic strategy psychiatrists have employed so far doesn't help at all. This is why I do not understand the decisions to remove conditions like Asperger's and Complex PTSD from the DSM. I find the ability for a patient to see what are a vast and often confusing array of conditions as having a single root cause to be incredibly useful, independent of whether one can define a 'cure' for these things. For many people just having knowledge of what actually is wrong with them is like 50% of the battle.
Just a personal example: today I did some work in our front-yard. Usually I can't do anything like this because it seems I get fatigued and depressed very easily and a huge amount of poison just seems to bubble up from the depths of my mind and I just have to stop after like five minutes. Like a lot of people on PB I find physically demanding activities like yardwork or routine activities like housework to be beyond me most of the time. But as I started working, just the knowledge that the initial physical fatigue I felt in my muscles was actually part of my Asperger's and that I was just different from other people and not lazy or weak gave me the will to carry on. Just the knowledge that the bad things people would say about me as a kid whenever I attempted sustained physical effort were no way my fault or under my control made me able to put them aside and keep working. When I started getting the familiar feelings of depression and worthlessness and all the accusing voices and memories of being called stupid and lazy and careless et.al, just the knowledge these intrusive thoughts and feelings actually had a psychological cause and were just how my brain worked presently was enough for me to continue with what I was doing. Somehow just the ability to recognize and understand the emotional distress as just a bunch of thoughts and memories and feelings and perceptions that had nothing to do with my actual abilities, and had nothing to do with the present moment; that were completely separate from what my present day reality was, allowed me to carry on much longer than I thought possible. Afterwards, the feeling that I had that for the first time in a long time our house would be semi-presentable for the New Year was quite encouraging and liberating. I actually look forward to what I can accomplish tomorrow. I honestly believe that this is the kind of progress I can make independent of whatever meds I am on.
Part of the principles of mindfulness and I suppose Buddhism is that our pain and suffering and desires are not who we are in the least. For me personally, this knowledge and knowledge of my condition and tools and exercises and strategies I've learned to re-establish a sense of control over my inner experience have been extraordinarily powerful weapons that have gone far beyond what I hoped for from medication. I think that this sense of control is what CPTSD victims may crave the most and meds are not sufficient to establish this permanently. All of us who had a response to medication at some point dreaded the day poop-out would occur. To me it is much better to try to find a sense of control by using adversity and illness and all the things that have broken us down as a way to rebuild ourselves into people who are more aware of who they really are and what their real place in life is -- people who can become better and stronger and smarter than we were before.
C-PTSD: social phobia, major depression, dissociation.
Asperger's Syndrome.
Currently: 50mg amitriptyline single dose at night. 75mg Lyrica occasionally.
Significantly improving.
poster:hyperfocus
thread:1033465
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121231/msgs/1034306.html