Thank you, thank you, thank you again to OpenEyes, who has provided a link in another thread to a site from Britain about PTSD from bullying. Seeing the information put out in such a concise and ordered way has really opened my eyes to some aspects of my own situation that I guess I hadn't really put into context yet.

Out of my entire life experience, I can legitimately say that presenting at a psychiatrists office with the thought I was going to finally deal with my issues, only to be labeled "crazy" and be told that essentially, my life was over, I was hopeless, was the single most defining traumatic moment in my life, worse than any one single thing my father did to me in terms of the damage it did.

Differences between mental illness and psychiatric injury

The person who is being bullied will eventually say something like "I think I'm being paranoid..."; however they are correctly identifying hypervigilance, a symptom of PTSD, but using the popular but misunderstood word paranoia. The differences between hypervigilance and paranoia make a good starting point for identifying the differences between mental illness and psychiatric injury.

Paranoia

Hypervigilance

Paranoia is a form of mental illness; the cause is thought to be internal, eg a minor variation in the balance of brain chemistry

*Hypervigilance is a response to an external event (violence, accident, disaster, violation, intrusion, bullying, etc) and therefore an injury

*paranoia tends to endure and to not get better of its own accord
wears off (gets better), albeit slowly, when the person is out of and away from the situation which was the cause
the paranoiac will not admit to feeling paranoid, as they cannot see their paranoia.
the hypervigilant person is acutely aware of their hypervigilance, and will easily articulate their fear, albeit using the incorrect but popularised word "paranoia"
sometimes responds to drug treatment
drugs are not viewed favourably by hypervigilant people, except in extreme circumstances, and then only briefly; often drugs have no effect, or can make things worse, sometimes interfering with the body's own healing process
the paranoiac often has delusions of grandeur; the delusional aspects of paranoia feature in other forms of mental illness, such as schizophrenia
the hypervigilant person often has a diminished sense of self-worth, sometimes dramatically so
the paranoiac is convinced of their self-importance
the hypervigilant person is often convinced of their worthlessness and will often deny their value to others
paranoia is often seen in conjunction with other symptoms of mental illness, but not in conjunction with symptoms of PTSD
hypervigilance is seen in conjunction with other symptoms of PTSD, but not in conjunction with symptoms of mental illness
the paranoiac is convinced of their plausibility
the hypervigilant person is aware of how implausible their experience sounds and often doesn't want to believe it themselves (disbelief and denial)
the paranoiac feels persecuted by a person or persons unknown (eg "they're out to get me")
the hypervigilant person is hypersensitized but is often aware of the inappropriateness of their heightened sensitivity, and can identify the person responsible for their psychiatric injury
sense of persecution
heightened sense of vulnerability to victimisation
the sense of persecution felt by the paranoiac is a delusion, for usually no-one is out to get them
the hypervigilant person's sense of threat is well-founded, for the serial bully is out to get rid of them and has often coerced others into assisting, eg through mobbing; the hypervigilant person often cannot (and refuses to) see that the serial bully is doing everything possible to get rid of them
the paranoiac is on constant alert because they know someone is out to get them
the hypervigilant person is on alert in case there is danger
the paranoiac is certain of their belief and their behaviour and expects others to share that certainty
the hypervigilant person cannot bring themselves to believe that the bully cannot and will not see the effect their behaviour is having; they cling naively to the mistaken belief that the bully will recognise their wrongdoing and apologise
Other differences between mental illness and psychiatric injury include:

Mental illness

Psychiatric injury

the cause often cannot be identified
the cause is easily identifiable and verifiable, but denied by those who are accountable
the person may be incoherent or what they say doesn't make sense
the person is often articulate but prevented from articulation by being traumatised
the person may appear to be obsessed
the person is obsessive, especially in relation to identifying the cause of their injury and both dealing with the cause and effecting their recovery
the person is oblivious to their behaviour and the effect it has on others
the person is in a state of acute self-awareness and aware of their state, but often unable to explain it
the depression is a clinical or endogenous depression
the depression is reactive; the chemistry is different to endogenous depression
there may be a history of depression in the family
there is very often no history of depression in the individual or their family
the person has usually exhibited mental health problems before
often there is no history of mental health problems
may respond inappropriately to the needs and concerns of others
responds empathically to the needs and concerns of others, despite their own injury
displays a certitude about themselves, their circumstances and their actions
is often highly sceptical about their condition and circumstances and is in a state of disbelief and bewilderment which they will easily and often articulate ("I can't believe this is happening to me" and "Why me?" - click here for the answer)
may suffer a persecution complex
may experience an unusually heightened sense of vulnerability to possible victimisation (ie hypervigilance)
suicidal thoughts are the result of despair, dejection and hopelessness
suicidal thoughts are often a logical and carefully thought-out solution or conclusion
exhibits despair
is driven by the anger of injustice
often doesn't look forward to each new day
looks forward to each new day as an opportunity to fight for justice
is often ready to give in or admit defeat
refuses to be beaten, refuses to give up

My entire childhood experience with my father has faded enough that, while it still hurts, it did not have the immediate force of that one moment in a psychiatrist's office.

These two charts just clarify things in my mind SO MUCH. I identify so many of the things I do on the PTSD side of the chart.