[wintersoldier]

Hello! First of all, I feel a little stupid for asking this. Mostly because, when I read about PTSD or hear about it, peoople always suffer from it because something really bad happened to them, like abuse etc. I've been suffering from clinical depression and anxiety (no panic attacks) since I was like 15. I took a break from school and was home for a good half a year with 17. I did basically nothing. I laid in bed all day long, didn't eat right, didn't leave the house, overslept and so on. My parents went on vacation in summer and I went with them and I was actually looking forward to it and everything. I was really anxious the entire drive there and once we arrived I just, well, cried the entire day. I didn't even know why. The first night I had the worst panic attack of my life. I was shaking and hyperventilating for nearly 4 hours until I fell asleep, mostly from exhaustion. I had to sleep with my parents because I wouldn't calm down. Which is really great when you're nearly 18. The second day wasn't any better. It was like I was having a panic attack that just didn't stop. The panic only stopped after the fourth day. In those four days I begged my parents to please let me go home, I even pay for the flight and everything. I thought that when I'm back home, back in my 'safezone', I would be good. I was really wrong. The panic attacks didn't stop, I had them every single night and day for 3 months. They always lasted hours and nothing would calm me down. Then they stopped during the day and i only got them at night. I often stayed up for up to 3 days because I was too anxious to even fall asleep. Even when I fell asleep I had horrible nightmares. Every single night I dreamed that I was back at this vacation, back at this apartment. Every time I wasn't able to leave. Or my parents left me there or something. I also dreamed that we were suddenly going on vacation again? I often even dreamed that my parents dragged me into the car, locked it and just drove? Or I dreamed of car accidents, saw my parents or my best friend die every single night in really horrible ways. I never had dreams like that before. I woke up with a panic attack, or screaming, at least 3-4 times every night. I had my last panic attack about 2 months ago. I stopped having nightmares. I still have them when I'm having a really stressful or anxious day. I started to have really severe depersonalization about 2 months ago. Just when the attacks stopped. Whenever I think about that vacation I start to panic. I immediately start to get hot and cold flashes and start to shake. Thinking about that vacation and the panic attacks and the fact that I had no way of getting home, that feeling of being stuck there makes me want to throw up.
Could this be PTSD in any way? I'm just wondering, especially because of the nightmares. I know people normally suffer from this because they experienced something actually bad in their life and not something ridiculous as a vacation gone wrong. Thanks!

[ChipperMonkey]

As written, no it cannot be PTSD. Did you leave out any trauma in your life? You must have experienced certain types of trauma i.e. Sexual trauma, your life threatened, etc. in order to have PTSD.

PTSD isn't just a lot of anxiety. Yes, PTSD IS always "something bad" that happened to you.

[ensconce]

It does not sound like PTSD to me.

-"PTSD develops after a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm. The person who develops PTSD may have been the one who was harmed, the harm may have happened to a loved one, or the person may have witnessed a harmful event that happened to loved ones or strangers."

NIMH » Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder