Diagnosis and treatment

Hi guys,
I’m not new to forum, I was around under another user name about 3 years ago and tried to be relatively active in some of the forums. However this is a new one for me and I had a question first. Is this an active section if the forums? It’s really nice to talk to people who can relate and I was wondering if this would be an experience like that for me.

So, let me just give a run down of how this played out. I’ve been in therapy and receiving medication for my mental Illness for about 6 years now, but of course my problems started well before that. I initially was pegged with dysthymia, major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. That turned into a probable bipolar II diagnosis and I’m not even sure those things are still considered now. I received a new psychiatrist and therapist when I traumatically left home and had to adjust to living in a city in a pretty harsh way. My therapist is convinced I have PTSD and that’s the principal issue, at least right now.

Of course as we develop this story there is a lot of physical, emotional, and psychological trauma in my life. The kind of stuff you wouldn’t dream of, or only saw on TV or horror movies... it wasn’t your family... except it was. Anyway, to the point here. Despite what your stance on repressed memories are— a few years back after I moved out from my moms house (again, not a great situation) and things were better for me I had a rush of memories and emotions overwhelm me, play out in my head and it was like I was reliving them again. Memories I know I had probably not thought about since they happened and they sure as hell wouldn’t come up even if probed about trauma, at least not easily. I got confirmation later that the events happened.. I literally spent without exaggeration a day and a half in my floor crying.

In recent days, some more came to light. Not as many and not as severe. It was overwhelming and emotional but I wasn’t incapacitated like before. Anyway, with all the traumatic events I remembered, added to these new memories I had obviously forgotten or stored somewhere different in my mind the idea of complex PTSD was thrown around.

I understand I have lots of PTSD symptoms... but these are events that happened 20+ years ago. Is it really possible to have PTSD from it now? I mean intrusive thoughts , images, avoidance ... it’s all there, but it just seems weird to me. I’m no psychologist and don’t pretend to be or understand the complexity of things like this, but I was just curious if anyone else has had a similar story in that you’re labeled with PTSD for events well in the past.

My life has been filled with abuse and traumas and it’s not a wonder that I would have a disorder reflecting that, I guess. I’m frustrated with the memories that came back. It’s really inopportune and I’m just trying to get my life together, I don’t need **** from so long ago creeping into the equation. I get it’s all about processing the information and coming to terms with things but... I don’t even want to look at it and on top of that I don’t have time. I have to work on getting things settled in my life where I am on my feet again. I’ve made great strides but not quite there yet.

So I know this is hard to answer not know my medical history or having the training, but I wonder if my new therapist views my depression and anxiety as a reflection of PTSD specifically, that is, are symptoms of it-1 or if she is thinking they are concurrent with PTSD. I guess the best way is to ask, but it doesn’t really matter. I guess what I’m trying to say is, we can resolve the memories of trauma, I’ve done a lot of that throughout therapy based on things I did remember and experienced. Getting to a good place where PTSD isn’t controlling my life, but managed is good — but the depression and anxiety are still there. They all interconnect and I know that, and the underlying roots kind of all stem these issues but I feel like you could “cure” the ptsd and there are chemically and physical changes the trauma has done to me, that those mental illnesses are part of me and not just a symptom of PTSD.

I hope I’m making sense. It’s actually a moot point. It doesn’t change treatment and we work with the primary issue at hand and right now it’s these memories and getting my life together. I guess part of me just is afraid we’re gonna put all our eggs in one basket and expect the other issues to disappear once we find some resolution. I guess that’s something I need to discuss with my therapist.

I guess most of the post was useless for you to read. I kind of answered my own question. I know where to go for those answers.

So my question is reframed — were you diagnosed with cPTSD many years after the fact? and do you have mental illnesses such as MDD, GAD, BPD or others Comorbid with PTSD or are they approached as only symptoms and not their own diagnoses?

Thanks for reading.

MarcusAurelius