Not bad enough for PTSD?

I've been making a lot of threads lately.
This post may be very triggering, so please be careful!!

Anyway, I brought this up with someone last night, I told them that even though I am diagnosed with PTSD, it doesn't feel like my "trauma" is nearly as bad as someone else's with PTSD. For example, I was never beaten, I was never forced to kill anyone in the military, I was never shot at, or stabbed or anything like that. Comparing my trauma to all of that, my trauma was just small.

I also read online somewhere someone who posted about PTSD, and they basically said that people who have been raped or sexually abused should not be diagnosed with PTSD because the trauma is something they can easily get over. I mean, I disagree, but at the same time I feel like the sexual abuse/rape is something I should have gotten over years ago. I thought I did but I guess I really didn't.

I know everyone recovers at their own pace... but does every person who survives trauma automatically have PTSD? Is it possible that I do not have PTSD and I'm just struggling through the after effects of the abuse?

I would not visit that particular site again.

Unfortunately anyone can post anything they want online ... Regardless of their education or expertise on the matter.

I can assure you that rape and sexual abuse are traumatizing, and that PTSD & C-PTSD are valid diagnoses for this kind of trauma and abuse.

Survivors of rape and sexual abuse, as well as the professionals who treat them, can attest to this fact, and their numbers far surpass one uneducated jerk whose only credential seems to be PWS ... Posting While Stupid ... !!!

please don't minimize your trauma because it is not "as bad" as somebody elses. I think we have a tendency to think we are weak for having ptsd when we haven't been "abused enough". trauma is defined as any event outside of ordinary experience, it is not based on degrees. how we deal with that trauma would depend on the amount of coping resources we had at the time of the trauma, some of us have more coping resources so we are not impacted by trauma as deeply as those who have fewer coping resources. we cant help it we didn't have the resources to cope with whatever happened to us and this caused us long term stress. so have some compassion for yourself, be understanding. being nonjudgemental of your ptsd is part of its healing. take care.

Kori, I can relate to the way you feel, what I went through with my father was rough, but nothing like being in a combat situation or being raped in some parking garage or sonething. So at times, I feel guilty about that. But Kaliope is right, our experience is our own, and can't be equated to someone else's.

As far as someone online saying a rape victim should "just get over it" - that is assinine, it shows extreme ignorance of psychology as well as being extremely insensitive. Ignore zone for sure.

I am learning that the universe of PTSD is very complicated, and there are no "one size fits all" situations or answers.

I used to think I wasn't worthy of a PTSD diagnosis either. In my case it relates back to a cardiac arrest. I literally died and was revived with a defibrillator. But because I was unconscious the entire time, I wasn't sure that PTSD was a proper diagnosis even though many symptoms led to that. I eventually sought some counseling and the therapist told me that even though the conscious part of my brain was not aware of what was happening, the subconscious part of my brain, that controls automatic functions such as heart rate, breathing, etc, was very aware. My subconscious experienced a trauma that was essentially a life or death struggle.
Like others have said, everyone is different and the source and degree of the trauma is quite different from person to person.