I'm not sure when I was officially dx with ptsd. Several people I worked with both professionally and personally implied trauma played a huge role in my life, but the official dx from pdocs had been borderline, major depression, and anxiety for a long time. It wasn't until I started seeing a dedicated trauma therapist 7 years ago that a ptsd dx was ever discussed with me. Flashbacks have been an issue since I was 17 (when I left my abusive household) and I was always open about them with my treatment providers. That was 13 years before anyone mentioned ptsd (with 12 of those 13 years in therapy)... I've been dissociative most my life, but again, it wasn't discussed until I was in my 30's.

Even now that the dx is more accurate, treatment has been slow for a few reasons; I wasn'twasn't stable enough to do any really trauma work until about 3 years ago, I didn't have a stable therapist after I moved (switching therapists every 3 months makes it hard to get anywhere), and the move brought up a while host of intense symptoms... I'm back with the trauma t who introduced the idea of ptsd & we're finally, slowly getting somewhere.

I definitely agree with the previous posters who stated that trauma work is highly individualized. I saw one had touted dbt being something that helps everyone... I have to disagree. I think it can help a lot of people, but it can be quite traumatizing to others. I've tried dbt 7 or 8 times in the past 10 years, and each time was highly triggering. Regardless of how "stable" I was at the time it started, I always ended up highly dissociative and hospitalized. I've learned it's definitely not an option for me... It's all about trying different things and seeing what works for you. Hopefully you don't have to run the gamut of options before finding what works though. It's certainly easier to pinpoint what *doesn't work*, as those indicators pop up rather fast most of the time. It's been a much harder task finding what really makes a positive impact for me, rather than just doesn't send me into a tailspin...