((( desertnurse1977 )))

I'm sorry you went through that. Thanks for sharing.

((( Everyone else ))) HUGS if okay.

I now recognize my first experience with PTSD (that I can remember -- memories before age 8 do not exist) when I was nine-years-old.

The sexual and/or violent death traumas continued to pile up daily for another ten years until I was finally removed from the situation. It was around then that it went into semi-retirement. (Meaning it only knocked me on my *** when something extremely stressful happened, not everyday.)

I thought I was tough as nails fighting it. In retrospect, I would've been "tougher" had I dealt with it then.

In 1991 it came back pretty bad, but I rose up and fought it with all my might. In 1996 it finally won and I fell on my *** hard. Even now I find that I stand up, dust myself off and BAM, the beast knocks me down again.

There were/are times when I would consider my PTSD to be a mental illness due to some of the symptoms I suffer/ed. But there are also times when I guess I could call it a psychiatric injury.

For me, both titles have the same consequences and both pack the same wallop, so again, for me, it doesn't really matter what you call it. Emotional trauma is fine with me also.

Here is some info off of a website that strongly feels PTSD is not an illness.

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Differences between mental illness and psychiatric injury.

The differences between hypervigilance and paranoia make a good starting point for identifying the differences between mental illness and psychiatric injury.

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.

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."

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/s responsible for their psychiatric injury.

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.


Other differences between mental illness and psychiatric injury include:

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