[Nike007]

This is triggering. I am on my iPad so I can't add the trigger symbol to this. Don't read this if you are sensitive to this stuff. You have been warned.

Hello. I have posted on her a lot, but I am finding myself sinking deep into depression, but this may be caused my undiagnosed SAD, which I am going to bring up to my pdoc the next time, but we are focusing on OCD because that has seem to be worse than my social anxiety at the moment.

Anyways, what I wanted to say. I have been looking into what defines PTSD, and every single description says it has to be some physical event that happens. Nothing physical has happened. The only sexual thing that I found traumatizing was I had a baby-sitter/nanny in her mid 50s and while we walked from my house to my garage to go biking, she touched my butt and squeezed it and said I had a nice butt. I am terrified of her and avoid her every time I have to see her. That was really terrible.

But that isn't really big of a deal. If I see her though, I do get really anxious and triggered I guess.

But, for me, I find it's psychological abuse. My mom makes me really confuse. Like, my mom will use me to get mad at my dad and will say I'm fat and obese and will die if I don't start eating healthier. But today, she was saying that my dad wasn't allowing me to get this psychological assessment done so he can use that to get me upset to get mad at my mom. And I am confused because I don't know what is happening. I get confused when my mom is really nice to me (like today she was) and then other days she seems to hate me. I feel like it's me that is causing her problems. I find it hard to trust people now. I trust my friends, but I tend to have really unstable views of people because that's how I feel my mom treats me. I don't get nightmares from this or flashbacks. I have obsessive thoughts from OCD that cause "nightmares". I know I probably will have one tonight because in one of my classes, we were learning about Reena Virk, who was this girl in BC, Canada, who was murdered by people violently. I had nightmares for a week because of the book because she was my age when I read it (last year I think).

Not important, but what defines "trauma"? I always get confused about this. I don't know if this is considered trauma or not, but I know it has changed me a lot. And not positively. I know my life has seem to be a tumbleweed. My parents' divorce triggered everything, which is what created the tumbleweed and now it just keeps moving. Many people tell me my life is really stressful for my age or whatever, but I don't what defines "stressful" either. I get confused with certain words because they are associated with feelings, and my pdoc and I believe I have some form of autism, so feelings isn't my thing at all.

I am really bad at staying on topic sorry. But I have a low self-esteem. I won't accept compliments from anyone really unless they are general things like people like that I red hair and that I have cool t-shirts but if someone says that I am really beautiful and have dealt with life amazingly, that comment is just like talking to a mirror. As a kid, crying was deemed unacceptable, and I would cry everyday, so now if I cry, I apologize because I am showing my feelings of being sad. I have not learned yet that crying is okay. I feel embarrassed crying. People would bully me about that too in school. Every time people tell me a mistake, I can't stop thinking of it. It's probably linked more to depression, but I wasn't depressed until I wasn't able to handle the stress by myself anymore. I have realized that I hate myself a lot, as I stated in another post.

But anyways, overall, what defines PTSD? I felt like at first it was just adjustment disorder NOS or whatever, but I feel unwanted at my house. A few years ago, going home was triggering to bad emotions, so I didn't want to go home. I wanted to be away from my house to escape fear of being yelled at or ridiculed in some way. I do want help to get rid of this, but I can't deal with it yet. I live with my mom, and if I were to be diagnosed with a trauma that was caused by her, she would flip. I will deal with it when I won't have to tell her.

Anyways, it turns out that I found out that my parents' court crap won't be done for probably another year, and therefore, I can't get therapy or treatment or testing for another year due to dumb policies companies have or whatever so not only my life is getting worse, I feel super anxious and depressed, but I can't get treatment for it by professionals because no one will accept me with court orders "following" me. So it doesn't really matter about me now I guess, because no professional cares to deal with me anyways. It's not like I don't have anxiety or anything. People, come on. This part was just my anger post, sorry.

I was mainly wondering what psychological abuse is, and if someone with just psychological abuse can be diagnosed with PTSD. I don't think that one sexual event is really significant enough for anything, but it did happen, but it is not a normal triggering event. Seeing my mom is though. I see her and I fill with anxiety and think "am I going to be yelled at tonight"? I am constantly on-edge about it I guess you can say. Thanks for any responses .

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[ChipperMonkey]

I didn't read your post (please forgive me as I tend to avoid things that have a trigger warning)

However, I will answer your title question.

Yes, people can get PTSD from psychological abuse.

Again, I didn't read your whole post, but I glanced above again and see you had one sexual incident?

Ok, so here's my story. I had one sexual incident at the age of 4. It didn't seem like a big deal, but 25 years later the walls came crashing down and I realized it had a devastating effect on my life. I had other trauma as well. Lots of verbal/emotional abuse at the hands of my mother. LOTS! I'm still dealing with all that shame to this very day.

Again, I don't know your exact story, but please don't say that one sexual incident isn't enough to cause PTSD because it is.....and even more so when you have a ton of psychological abuse on top of it all.

I'm going to stop there....its still hard for me to talk about all this stuff even though I've been through lots of treatment.

Oh, and I would like to add that I think you have a problem with shame. I do too. I am reading a number of books on the topic that are really helpful.

[vonmoxie]

There is some definition around what kind of traumas incur the stress disorder referred to as PTSD, which represents a smaller subset than the array of possible answers to the question "what is trauma":

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to one or more traumatic events, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, terrorism or other threats on a person's life. Symptoms include disturbing recurring flashbacks, avoidance or numbing of memories of the event, and hyperarousal, continue for more than a month after the occurrence of a traumatic event. (source)

A stress disorder resulting from psychological abuse would more likely be categorized as either C-PTSD or another diagnostic construct:

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), also known as Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD), is a proposed diagnostic term for a set of symptoms resulting from prolonged stress of a social and/or interpersonal nature, especially in the context of interpersonal dependence. Subjects displaying traits associated with C-PTSD include victims of chronic maltreatment by caregivers, as well as hostages, prisoners of war, concentration camp survivors, and survivors of some religious cults.

Situations causing the kind of traumatic stress that can lead to C-PTSD-like symptoms include captivity or entrapment (a situation lacking a viable escape route for the victim), as well as psychological manipulation (gaslighting and/or false accusations), which can result in a prolonged sense of helplessness and deformation of one's identity and sense of self. C-PTSD is distinct from, but similar to, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), somatization disorder, dissociative identity disorder, and borderline personality disorder. (source)

It's all dependent on what symptoms are being exhibited though; people have different reactions, and not all traumas result in a PTS disorder.

[Open Eyes]

Hi Nike007, emotional abuse can cause PTSD, however, you may not have PTSD but might be dealing with anxiety resulting from the dysfunction in your home and parents.
A child that doesn't feel safe in their own home, safe from experiencing negative treatments from their family is bound to struggle with feeling depressed and yet struggling with anxiety. The fact that you have a hard time accepting a compliment is a red flag that you have been taught that you are not worthy of praise but instead only being criticized.

Your mother is putting "her" issues onto you. Unfortunately a lot of parents really don't know how to be good parents Nike, instead they think parenting means bossing and giving out orders and even criticizing. They don't respect their own child's boundaries, they don't even teach their child how to have boundaries. Often they themselves have a poor attitude about boundaries and is a big reason for many divorces.

Often children and young teens struggle with anxiety and depression because they don't know how to have their own healthy sense of boundaries. The fact that you struggle with compliments is a sign that it doesn't feel right to you, instead you feel you deserve criticism.

Your life isn't supposed to hang on what your mother thinks Nike, your life is developing your own thoughts and desires and sense of self. If a parent doesn't understand that is their job to help their child with, then that parent will struggle more or tend to argue too much or fail their child when their child is becoming a young adult. This is something that is a challenge with many, not just you. Individuals that you come across that treat you badly are saying a lot about who "they" are, it is not about who you are and what you deserve as well as how your boundaries deserve to be respected.

When someone compliments you, that means you are in the presence of another that has the ability to appreciate others. If someone says they love the color of your hair and that you are pretty, that individual has some ability to see "others" instead of being more selfish and only looking to criticize others as they probably learned at home.

It is very important to understand that when others treat you badly, it never means you lack worth, instead it is saying more about the other individual and their ability to recognize others in a "healthy" way.

[TerriLynn]

Yes, emotional/mental abuse can cause PTSD, usually PTSD is cause by one EVENT, like being in combat or a car accident, but now they are looking at a disorder called COMPLEX PTSD for children who have been abused, physically, mentally, etc. They call it complex because it encompasses several different diagnosis, depression, anxiety, OCD, that are all caused by the same stressor.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I have it from emotional and verbal abuse

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by ChipperMonkey

I didn't read your post (please forgive me as I tend to avoid things that have a trigger warning)

However, I will answer your title question.

Yes, people can get PTSD from psychological abuse.

Again, I didn't read your whole post, but I glanced above again and see you had one sexual incident?

Ok, so here's my story. I had one sexual incident at the age of 4. It didn't seem like a big deal, but 25 years later the walls came crashing down and I realized it had a devastating effect on my life. I had other trauma as well. Lots of verbal/emotional abuse at the hands of my mother. LOTS! I'm still dealing with all that shame to this very day.

Again, I don't know your exact story, but please don't say that one sexual incident isn't enough to cause PTSD because it is.....and even more so when you have a ton of psychological abuse on top of it all.

I'm going to stop there....its still hard for me to talk about all this stuff even though I've been through lots of treatment.

Oh, and I would like to add that I think you have a problem with shame. I do too. I am reading a number of books on the topic that are really helpful.

I said it was really minor. Nothing super major at all. I won't say what it is for your sake.

For me, I don't think it is. The last time I was triggered by it because my friends grandma sounded exactly like the person who committed the act and freaked out in my mind. I couldn't get myself to talk.

Also, when I told my family what she did they laughed at me and said she was just acting like a grandma but no grandma would do that. Trust me.

Thanks for the response .

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by vonmoxie

There is some definition around what kind of traumas incur the stress disorder referred to as PTSD, which represents a smaller subset than the array of possible answers to the question "what is trauma":
A stress disorder resulting from psychological abuse would more likely be categorized as either C-PTSD or another diagnostic construct:
It's all dependent on what symptoms are being exhibited though; people have different reactions, and not all traumas result in a PTS disorder.

I read up on C-PTSD but not the PTSD one. The part about gas lighting seems like what has happened to me. I am really confused what is the truth from my mom because of all the negative things that she has said to me. I don't know what to believe from her because of that. Maybe it is more C-PTSD. Thanks for the response .

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[Nike007]

I just got this from Psych Central's page on PTSD:

Many professionals who work in trauma differentiate between “big T-traumas,” the ones listed above, and “little-t traumas.” Little-t traumas can include complicated grief, divorce, non-professional media exposure to trauma, or CHILDHOOD EMOTIONAL ABUSE and clinicians recognize that these can result in post-traumatic stress, even if they don’t qualify for the PTSD diagnosis.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/symptoms...gnosis-of-ptsd

So according to Psych Central's article, I can't have PTSD from childhood emotional abuse. So I don't know. People on here say you can though. I am really confused. Can someone clarify? Thanks.


Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by Open Eyes

Hi Nike007, emotional abuse can cause PTSD, however, you may not have PTSD but might be dealing with anxiety resulting from the dysfunction in your home and parents.
A child that doesn't feel safe in their own home, safe from experiencing negative treatments from their family is bound to struggle with feeling depressed and yet struggling with anxiety. The fact that you have a hard time accepting a compliment is a red flag that you have been taught that you are not worthy of praise but instead only being criticized.

Your mother is putting "her" issues onto you. Unfortunately a lot of parents really don't know how to be good parents Nike, instead they think parenting means bossing and giving out orders and even criticizing. They don't respect their own child's boundaries, they don't even teach their child how to have boundaries. Often they themselves have a poor attitude about boundaries and is a big reason for many divorces.

Often children and young teens struggle with anxiety and depression because they don't know how to have their own healthy sense of boundaries. The fact that you struggle with compliments is a sign that it doesn't feel right to you, instead you feel you deserve criticism.

Your life isn't supposed to hang on what your mother thinks Nike, your life is developing your own thoughts and desires and sense of self. If a parent doesn't understand that is their job to help their child with, then that parent will struggle more or tend to argue too much or fail their child when their child is becoming a young adult. This is something that is a challenge with many, not just you. Individuals that you come across that treat you badly are saying a lot about who "they" are, it is not about who you are and what you deserve as well as how your boundaries deserve to be respected.

When someone compliments you, that means you are in the presence of another that has the ability to appreciate others. If someone says they love the color of your hair and that you are pretty, that individual has some ability to see "others" instead of being more selfish and only looking to criticize others as they probably learned at home.

It is very important to understand that when others treat you badly, it never means you lack worth, instead it is saying more about the other individual and their ability to recognize others in a "healthy" way.

I know my family issue is quite a mess. People tell me that my family is quite a mess too. I used to not feel safe at home, and home is a place that is suppose to be considered "safe" and it was scary in that time because I didn't want to go home and deal with life's problems. Now I can though.

Compliments are hard for me. I don't usually take compliments. I may say thank you but I tend not to because I don't believe the person. This may be because my mom says these nice things about me and then a few days later she says a whole bunch of mean things about me and I get confused. What should I believe?

And I know it's not about what my mom thinks, but about me. I know that my mom has difficulties with her mom because of abuse too, and I am afraid this is turning into the same thing. Hers was physical though, and she isn't DXed with PTSD or anything, but abuse did occur. Mine is emotional, which may stem from her own abuse. I am unsure.

I believe what I mentioned two paragraphs above is called gas-lighting I think. I get confused if they mean it, or if they'll be mean to me in a few days later.

Some more information in general:
I do have a lot of negative views on people. I believe that the only reason people want to talk to me is because there is some rumour going around about me and they want to ask me about it, or if they want something from me. So I am very suspicious that there is some underlying motive to a person who talks to me. I believe no one wants to talk to me because I am a horrible person who no one cares about. In grade 7, there were 2 other girls with the same name to me, and it got to the point that I would never respond to my own name because I "knew" that they were calling another person with my name, and not me. I guess it made me slightly depressed.

Anyways, thanks for taking your time to reply to me .

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by TerriLynn

Yes, emotional/mental abuse can cause PTSD, usually PTSD is cause by one EVENT, like being in combat or a car accident, but now they are looking at a disorder called COMPLEX PTSD for children who have been abused, physically, mentally, etc. They call it complex because it encompasses several different diagnosis, depression, anxiety, OCD, that are all caused by the same stressor.

Thanks for the response . I read up on complex PTSD, and I found the emotional abuse fit what is called gas-lighting. But, I posed in a different post, that according to Psych Central, someone can't be diagnosed with PTSD from childhood emotional abuse. I don't know why, but I probably just need more information on that to make sense to me.

I do have anxiety and OCD, but I am going to bring up depression the next time I see her (soon), which will be the last or second last time I'll see anyone, but I hope I can get it in because we'll be focusing on OCD because she recently DXed with that from our last appointment.

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[SvanThor]

I was sexually abused as a child. I do believe that PTSD can come from things like psychological abuse.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by SvanThor

I was sexually abused as a child. I do believe that PTSD can come from things like psychological abuse.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I read up on Psych Central, and it says you can't, which it confuses me but... Thanks for the response.

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[vonmoxie]

The thing is, "PTSD" is just a construct that was set up to group persons reacting in similar way to certain situations, to enable research to occur addressing their common problems. Similarly, the still-under-discussion "CPTSD" construct is set up to research ways to help another group of persons reacting in certain ways to yet another grouping of situations. However, their existence as construct groupings and commonalities doesn't negate the possibility of other, unnamed stress disorders resulting from traumas. The naming conventions could certainly be a lot less confusing, but I'm not sure how much they matter. Then again, my regrettably unique array of symptoms and impacts qualifies me for both categories of PTSD diagnoses, so I find it particularly counterproductive to worry about whether I am one, the other, or both. To me they're just billing codes. And my situation's too much of a weird red herring to make me a useful research subject, so what I refer to it as is really just between me and me, especially since mindfulness and yoga are among the only treatments known to be helpful and I can do that without the expensive counsel of a mental health system oriented towards pharmacology.

I've shared this link before, but in case anyone's interested, it's

about the evolution of the PTSD and CPTSD diagnostic constructs, and the way that they intersect with affect regulation and BPD. He has extremely depthful perspective on the topic, having been involved with primary and relevant research since the 1970's.

[leomama]

Sounds to me more like a personality disorder. Would you be open to looking at that?

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by leomama

Sounds to me more like a personality disorder. Would you be open to looking at that?

What type of personality disorder? And I would once I'm over 18, yes. I pretty much know one personality disorder is likely OCPD, but maybe not. Most things that I score high in terms of personality disorders are OCPD and AvPD.

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[leomama]

Ah, you're a teenager. Ok. I'm out of my element here. Are there DBT classes for teens in your area? As a teen I had an adolescent identity adjustment disorder or something like that for insurance purposes. It morphed , and I did go through a personality disorder myself. Now I just have symptoms of PTSD.

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by leomama

Ah, you're a teenager. Ok. I'm out of my element here. Are there DBT classes for teens in your area? As a teen I had an adolescent identity adjustment disorder or something like that for insurance purposes. It morphed , and I did go through a personality disorder myself. Now I just have symptoms of PTSD.

It's fine. Most people don't assume I am one due to how I talk and behave. People assume teenagers are bad and rebel against parents, drink, do drugs. A lot do actually do this (like some of my friends), but I don't. I'm afraid I'll mess myself up even more.

What is adolescent identity adjustment disorder? I'll look it up, but from you anyways. Oh okay, thanks for the response .

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[leomama]

Oh I only assumed you were an adult because I didn't know minors posted here. You could be a teenager based on your writing. The reason I mentioned my adolescent diagnosis is that as an adult I found out I had some borderline traits, and identity issues is a symptom of borderline. I don't know that I had those as an adult. Have you read anything about borderline ?

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by leomama

Oh I only assumed you were an adult because I didn't know minors posted here. You could be a teenager based on your writing. The reason I mentioned my adolescent diagnosis is that as an adult I found out I had some borderline traits, and identity issues is a symptom of borderline. I don't know that I had those as an adult. Have you read anything about borderline ?

They have a teen lounge wherever. I'll be 18 in a couple of years. Yes, I have read up on borderline. I do have some tendencies indeed, but I have read many psychs are afraid to DX borderline due to stigma reasons. I am unsure what will happen in a few years, but maybe I will have BPD or maybe not. Thanks for the response .

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[leomama]

Are you open to medication if you're not taking it already?

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by leomama

Are you open to medication if you're not taking it already?

I do take some already. Just Lexapro, which it is in my signature. I was thinking of adding a few more things for panic attacks and if I have ADHD, a stimulant. Thanks for the response .

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[globularrae]

Neglect and emotional abuse can lead to PTSD, definitely.

Emotional Abuse: Undermining an individual's sense of self-worth and/or self-esteem is abusive. This may include, but is not limited to constant criticism, diminishing one's abilities, name-calling, or damaging one's relationship with his or her children.

Not sure that how many times one is abused really enters into it. I think there could be a single incident of abuse and it could still count for a lot because there are so many factors involved. All abuse carries an extremely heavy weight.

[Laurielrocks]

I was diagnosed from a horrible abuse as a child

laurie

[Permacultural]

heck yeah! mental abuse leaves scars. i still have a startle response any time i hear a text message come in.