[anna342]

It's strange, it has been suggested to me by a professional that what I experience everyday are terrors. He's also said what happens to me would sound to anyone on the outside like I have PTSD.

However, I have never had any major trauma in my life. The worst thing that I can think of is having a bad relationship with my father. But that doesn't count as trauma in my mind.

I was wondering what your opinions on this were, if anyone had experienced similar?

[BBT7]

Hi Anna,
I have nightmares but have no trauma. I work with kids who have experienced varying degrees of trauma and I'm wondering if the fact that I allowed myself to become too emotionally involved with them has caused the nightmares.
I tried looking for scholarly articles about nightmares without trauma but I wasn't sure what key words to type in. Maybe you could try the same for PTSD?
You said a professional told you... does that mean you're in therapy? My physician made an unsuccessful attempt to stop my nightmares. Now I have a consult for a sleep study coming up, but I'm considering finding someone to talk to, also.
Good luck!

[anna342]

Yes, I am having therapy, although it's now become only once every two weeks that I see anyone, becuase of my commitments.

I will have a look through some journals and see if I can find anything.

Thanks!

[Cyran0]

Something that is rarely acknowledged is that trauma doesn't have to be one huge event. It can be lots of little things that cause you to disconnect in the same way. I'm curious what the general tone of your childhood was like. You mentioned a bad relationship with your father. Would you classify it as emotionally or verbally abusive? Were you well liked in school? Lots of friends? Did you have any emotional problems as a kid?

I haven't heard of PTSD without the T but maybe you were effected by some things in your past that caused you to dissociate?

Another possibility is that the features of PTSD may share some diagnostic criteria with a disorder that is not as well known or as frequently diagnosed (which is why your T may not have thought of it).

I hope you find answers soon.

Be safe.

Cyran0

[anna342]

I don't know how to draw the line of whether it was abuse as such, with me and my father. We never bonded properly from the beginning (he wasn't around much when i was really little). Then throughout my life all i really remember of him is him being angry, at me, my sister or anyone.

I didn't have many friends as a child. I never seemed to be able to communicate well, my mum says I was always different from other kids. I have now been diagnosed with borderline personality, so I guess maybe signs of that were present from a young age.

I wouldn't say I had a bad childhood, it could have been far far worse. But I guess it wasn't a particularly happy one, I always hated myself, from a young age.

[Perna]

I don't think nightmares have to be from trauma BBT7; most children have them and lots of adults (myself included). It's true that people with PTSD have them also but that's an add-in :-) I have them reading "scary" books! :-)

But Post "Traumatic" Stress Disorder would have to have a trauma, that being its "purpose." Could it be you have forgotten something particularly scary or abusive in the relationship with your father, Anna? Could also be you have something like GAD, where there's free floating anxiety. http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx24.htm

[anna342]

To be honest I really don't know perna (about my dad that is), I find it hard to talk about my relationship with him though. I've always put this down to the fact I don't want to talk badly about someone who means a lot to me.

Even though I find it hard to remember things from a long time ago, I know that we did have good times. Especially more recently it is obvious that he would do anything for me.

He does still make nasty comments though aswell. I'm often told how I should be acting, what I should be doing, and made to feel guilty for following my mind.

I'm not sure where the nightmare thing fits in to be honest. I do have a lot, but I consider that as nothing out of the ordinary.

[obsids]

It took about 10 years of therapy and meds before my official PTSD diagnosis. Even now, three years into specific treatment for PTSD, tracking down that exact trauma is difficult.

For me, the trauma has been lifelong, beginning shortly after birth and reinforced countless times over the years. So the best I can do is to call my PTSD trauma "cumulative."

It took those 10 years to crack deep enough into my past to figure out what the problem was. It's obvious now, looking back on the whole thing. But getting through all those protective walls in my head was difficult and painful.

Anna,

You might want to look into PDSD. (Prolonged Duress Stress Disorder)

It's comparable to PTSD without the trauma.

It's not an "official" Dx yet but it is being considered.

[anna342]

Thank you, I will read up on it.

[Cyran0]

I hadn't heard of that. I think I'll read up on that as well.

Cyran0