(C-)PTSD and Voices

I'm so frustrated with not knowing what I need to be diagnosed with, I know that I don't need to have a label, but that would just make it so much easier for me. I have a psychiatrist appt. tomorrow and I will talk to him about my diagnosis, but I'm on Geodon and was on Abilify before for voices, but I have not been diagnosed with anything really except for dissociative episodes, I have Complex-PTSD which is where the voice originated from, so if I didn't have C-PTSD then would I not have the voices ? Who knows ? Not me, but the voices are so annoying and won't stop ever, always chatting telling me what to do, what to say, how to say something, how to walk, how to dress, what I shouldn't wear, how I should wear something, if I look good enough, or terrible enough, all the time, so frustrating. Anyone with PTSD and hear voices up in the forum !?!?!? HELP !

Justicia, have you ever been evaluated for a complex dissociative disorder? I was [mis-]diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder 7 or 8 years ago and put on antipsychotics because I hear voices, but for me the meds never helped. Several years later I got a more accurate diagnosis: dissociative identity disorder. My voices are internal, coming from dissociated parts of me. DID (and dissociative disorders in general) is usually associated with trauma, and since you mentioned C-PTSD and dissociation, it made me wonder if your voices might be dissociative in nature rather than psychotic.

Exactly, that's what my friend and I have been thinking that schizoaffective symptoms are what we are experiencing. And I have thought that my voices are internal definitely not auditory, they are just thought-like voices that never cease. And yes I have dissociated parts of me that's for sure. I didn't know that DID is associated with trauma that's interesting. I'm going to ask my psychiatrist today what I am diagnosed with today. So now my frustration is that what medication do I go on to stop the voices, I know that psychotherapy will help and I'm working on my trauma now, but in the meantime the voices need to stop !

if you are going on just the symptom of hearing voices and you are here in the USA you will not be diagnosed with a dissociative disorder.. back in May 2013 USA changed to a new standard of diagnostics. dissociative disorders no longer include a diagnostic of hearing voices because this symptoms comes with many different mental and physical health problems.

here is where you can read about the new diagnostics for dissociative disorders...
http://forums.psychcentral.com/disso...s-dsm-5-a.html

Also be aware that dissociative disorders are not the only reason a person can have internal "parts".

if your voices are due to a dissociative disorder rather than PTSD, medication will not stop the voices. there is no medication for dissociative disorders.

there is medication for other things like Anxiety/panic, psychosis, delusions, hallucinations, and many other problems a person may be hearing voices with, but there is no medication for dissociative voices.

if being on medicaiton helped you before with stopping the voices they were related to your other diagnosises not a dissociation diagnosis. the only thing that helps the voices with dissociative disorders to go away is to work for many many years with a therapist learning how to not dissociate, learning grounding and other therapeutic tools that will enable a person to take care of their own problems rather than relying on the dissociated parts. this most times if not always causes something called integration. integration is where due to an alters job/purpose/reason for being is no more they merge back together with the host (here in NY host means person in which they reside with in, the biological person's name that appears on a birth certificate)

to do this it can take as little as a few years to many many many years.

just a tip here in the USA hearing voices regardless of whether its inside or out can be any mental disorder. some people with DID do perceive their alters to be so separated from them that the alters voice is perceived to be coming from right beside them, behind then or even above them.

let me show you an example.... the next time you think of something pay attention to where you sense that thought...is it in the front of your head, back by your ears, the top of your head......now think about a time when you were thinking/remembering something that included someone saying your name. did you get so involved in that thought that you actually turned around because your brain perceived this thought may actually be happening. lol before I was integrated, I cant tell you how many times I have been doing something and I would hear my name and physically turn around to see who said that, only to discover though I perceived that voice outside my body it was an alternate personality calling my name not someone on the street.

the line in the sand is that with dissociative disorders a persons internal system is made up how ever and what ever that person needed at the time that that alter was created, to do what ever the host was unable to handle...

this and many others are the reason why voices are no longer a diagnostic criteria for dissociative disorders.

my suggestion keep working with your mental health treatment provider and you will have what ever diagnostics that are accurate for whats going on with in you.

Thanks for your response I'm actually more confused with the bountiful information you provided me with. Specifically the "example" you provided. I haven't had any luck with the voices stopping, they are pervasive and are consistent. And I'm working on integration with therapy and I know that my alter was created due to childhood sexual abuse. (I name them #1 (me/host) and #2 (Nancy, the name I gave it), I have #3 (inner child) but not very responsive.) I just don't know what I would be diagnosed with and that is what is frustrating. I want to be on a med that stops the voices and all the disturbing thoughts that come with this alter. So terrible to deal with on a regular/daily basis. I have voices and it's another personality that does take over on occasion, but not as recently because I don't have flashbacks anymore or I'm not being attacked (physically and emotionally) since I recently just finished doing DBT. I thought that I could have BPD or DID, then I thought about the voices and got confused and thought about schizophrenia and I realized that I probably am not schizophrenic but then I'm taking the meds for that diagnosis so I'm utterly confused. I'll talk to my psychiatrist about it today, about what I am diagnosed with. I'm so frustrated and further confused. This is so annoying … HELP !

the example was in response to your statement ...

And I have thought that my voices are internal definitely not auditory, they are just thought-like voices that never cease.

it was to show you there is a difference between Dissociative type voices and normal thought type voices and that its best not to rely on whether its audio (external) or internal for whether the voice is dissociative or not.

maybe this is a better way to understand what I was trying to say....

human being normally do have thought type voices in their heads. some people call this having a conscience. other people call this thinking. or processing things. on a normal basis fast thinking is called having racing thoughts.

sometimes thought type voices get out of control and end up being a problem like with me when my thought type voices get to going really fast my treatment providers call it manic thoughts. other times my thought type voices are called delusional thoughts....

Dissociative voices are different than thought type voices.

thought....I must get milk today
thought...dont do that this way do it the other way

dissociative thought

Rainy is thinking I should get milk today
Sunny is thinking I shouldnt do this that way
Thelma thinks Im being obnoxious.

see the difference...

thoughts type voices are perceived in the first person/ owned by the one thinking them

dissociative thought type voices are perceived as coming from someone else not my thoughts, not my voices.

my point is there are many different types of hearing voices, some are normal, some come with many different mental and physical health problems. and those voices can be perceived internally or externally or both.

you wrote...
I want to be on a med that stops the voices and all the disturbing thoughts that come with this alter.

unfortunately if these voices are from your alters (dissociative type voices not thought type) then there is no medication for you to go on. the fix for this problem is years of therapy/ integration. there is medication for racing thoughts and other non dissociative type voices but non for dissociative type voices. which was the point of the rest of my very long post. sorry sometimes I can get a bit long winded when I write. thanks for letting me know so much info at once was confusing you.

Im glad you are leaving the diagnosing up to your treatment providers and good luck at your appointment.

My thoughts are definitely not mine, because I don't want to self-harm but Nancy wants me to. I wish I had more energy to respond to your helpful words, I am still struggling with stopping her thoughts, once integration happens then maybe it'll get better, therapy will help, I have an appt. tomorrow.

Justicia,

Actually reading your post made me feel better, because I'm going through this too. I have C-PTSD, and have dissociative (I think) voices, and have been working on integration. I've been going crazy thinking I'm alone and there's no one who understand what's going on in my head. Sometimes I feel like my head is a freaking internet chat room! I just want everyone to shut up and let me have some peace and quiet so I can think.

By everyone, I mean everyone in my head. So far there is See, she's 5, and can be fairly talkative. There's another, I think an older teenager, but she doesn't have a name yet, and we've only had minimal contact.

I hope you can get some relief from your pdoc.

Feel free to PM me any time. I don't really know much about this, but we seem to be going through the same thing.

Seesaw

Hearing voices can be a part of DID. And, even in such a way as you might not have the ability to observe them as "not real," that is, as something created by your mind. They can feel really real. They can seem to be on the inside, but also on the outside.

I have PTSD and hear voices also. They can get so noisy sometimes it's hard to hear myself think! I have found it helpful to talk to them sometimes, it makes it easier to distinguish what they are saying and what they need. In my case they were ruled dissociated parts, not hallucinations. You are not alone Justicia!