I was not diagnosed with PTSD until I was 38 years old. I really had no in-depth understanding of it except it was a dx given mainly to combat soldiers.

Once I understood what it was, I could (with jaw-dropping awe) trace the disorder all the way back to when I was nine years old. (It could go back further but I have no real memories before that time) My behavior began to make sense. Like you, my trauma continued almost daily for many years until I was removed from it when I left home at 21 and begin to stand on my own two feet. But as you know, with PTSD you get back up and SLAM. You fall down. Get up. SLAM. Fall down. That is how it goes for me.

It was amazing to me that they had a name for something I thought no one in the world understood. It was amazing to me that I survived that level of trauma and managed to make it as far as I did before the final collapse at age 38.

I can't begin to think what my life would've been like had someone been kind enough all those many years ago to "induce" a diagnosis on me and get me into therapy.