I think so. I sometimes find it hard to sort out what is PTSD and what is bipolar. PTSD usually is the cause of unbearable anxiety and repetitious thoughts about the thing causing anxiety. But sometimes it causes low-level, all the time anxiety that is harder to sort out. It used to be a little more clear; I did some very intensive PTSD treatment a few years ago and now it hangs out in the background most of the time. But then something happens and there it is again (like in the hospital, I'd been in the emergency room for 29 hours waiting for a bed and they brought in a big man who was screaming and swearing and fighting and it frightened me. He was next door to me so I heard it all. And I cried and curled up in absolute terror even though he physically couldn't get to me because it just reminded me too much of my past. Something about what he said and how he was saying it and the tone/quality of his voice. I was begging for klonopin and they wouldn't give it because I was going upstairs. Where it took many hours for the anxiety to recede.

PTSD also makes me repeat thoughts over and over again. Lots of "what if" kind of stuff that I'll be unable to get out of my head. I've actually had therapy focused on teaching me to respond to "what if" with the thought "not allowed to say what if" and then the need to re-phrase. This doesn't always work but it does keep me a little more aware of what I am thinking.

But certainly your history could cause trauma. I think most of ours can in the battle to get diagnosed and properly treated, even if there isn't anything else that could cause it.