Great thread discussion on PTSD and its symptoms! One of you helped me unlock the fact that though I wasn't depressed anyone; this was the chief player...the repetitive angst of having the sub-conscious play over and over and over the places and people who threatened or repressed me; caused me to lose jobs; stole jobs from me; envied my creativity or appearance; all the snakes and toads in peoples' ugly personalities. A key word was mentioned, "resolved"; yet I doubt the trapped places or non-affirmations ever will get resolved. What I do resolve is to let no person ever hold sway over my mind, will or emotions ever again. Anger helps nothing. What has helped is starting grief counseling over many losses of the last 4 years; untaken vacations; unfinished degrees because I finally recognized, in my case, it wasn't the PTSD (I know of now) which thwarted my progress but the unresolved grief, not knowing the tools which fueled the depression and the counselor pointed out that a part of me which hadn't worked through all the stages of grief (with time periods overlapping, so I have to keep a notebook for each loss); had stopped me from moving forward. This may sound simplistic to some, but grief can snuff out the joy of living and we have to work through it. Oddly enough, over the past 5 years of counselling with a psychdoc, she not once tried to uncover the underlying issues of my "stuckness", or why I didn't take a vacation; always pushing it aside like it was just avoidance. The fight or flight unhappy guy speaks of was a symptom...a sentient soul with physical and psychological protective mechanisms in panic mode.
These are no small issues we confront. I appreciate the post about the definition of PTSD. All these posts and comments are excellent. I forgot to mention in 11/09 I had a panic attack from withdrawal from an anti-depressant and couldn't breathe on inhalation and realized I would die.
I calmed myself down, called the doc, drove to the ER with my dog. This was definitely a stressor to my physical being and a very real component to PTSD and the imagined fear of losing control.