Amy, I have PTSD plus Attention Deficit Disorder, a fairly common combination as it turns out; as a younger person (19, I think) I was "date raped" and a few years later "date raped" again. I think the term "date rape" is itself misleading, as it suggests it was somehow just a feature of the date. And at 56, my PTSD and ADD came roaring to the surface at once, and what can I say? I'm on long-term disability (much of the newer trauma happened in the context of workplace bullying) and was found permanently disabled by Social Security.

I've also been triggered by rape scenes in movies, and if I know a movie might contain one, I avoid it. (I used to try to be a hero and watch them anyway, but no longer.) During the first year or so after my diagnosis, I was so often dissociated that I'd find myself doing things I had no idea I was doing. It was hellish.

I have found this a safe and often quite useful forum, but my psychiatrist (who is also my psychotherapist) really gets most of the credit, in my opinion, for helping me stay on Planet Earth. One of the things he has told me, which I'll tell you as it undoubtedly applies to you as well, is that the world so needs people like us, people with brains and compassion. Please learn all you can and get all the help you can from a psychiatrist or psychologist with lots of skill in dealing with PTSD. I don't know that I'll ever "fully recover," and I know my world has been shattered in some ways, but I do feel that I have met myself at last. My best wishes on your road to recovery.