PTSD ... The Rest of the Story

by The Berean 12 Replies latest jw friends

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  The Berean

  On a previous posting I suggested that I have experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders due to my JW upbringing. Feedback has been mixed. Some agree with my assessment, others suggest a misdiagnosis on my part.

  Please allow me to be more specific concerning ACTUAL EVENTS that led to my usage of that trerm:

  Age 8 ... I watched my Father burn all of my Mother's literature in our back yard, leave and never return. We would live in poverty during my entire childhood. He claimed his wife had chosen her God over him.

  Age 10 ... I was assaulted in a KH bathroom on a Sat morning by a mentally unstable servant because I could not get the part in my hair straight before service. I never told anyone.

  Age 12 ... I was publically convicted of "blood-guilt" by a presiding overseer because a Bible student allegedly stated that if all youngsters were as bad as me ... this could not be the truth! I believed it at the time.

  Age 13 ... Althgough unbaptized, I was temporarily thrown out of Junior High School for rufusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag. I was just being "obedient" to a parent.

  Age 14 ... While forcing me to attend each and every meeting, Mother delivered a child out of wedlock and was DFd. Even though reinstated, she would shamefully never tell my half-brother who his Father was and remained in her denial of guilt for over twenty years until I told this confused fatherless boy the truth!

  Age 18 ... I faced an attempted rape charge by a baptized Sister after rufusing to have sex with her in her car. Her father was an elder, therefore the "faithful" believed her story . I was disgraced. Her Christian boyfriend angrily attempted to run me over in a parking lot.

  These are but a few real events. I could go on.

  Although some may claim that I have misapplied a term, for me these experiences were and are:

  A) Traumatic,

  B) A Cause of delayed damage and

  C) At the root of several unhealthy mental conditions for my entire life

  Right or wrong, I will call it PTSD. Somehow, I think many know just what I mean

  See Proverbs !8:13
• 

  Mad Dawg

  What are your symptoms?
• 

  Georgiegirl

  PM'd you.
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  The Berean

  Here's one:

  I can not hear what others say because I believe that they do not know thei own heart . It goes back to telling the public that they" are interested" when they say they aren't. I continue to doubt and analyze every statement I hear from others. I still tend to believe Jeremiah 17:9
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  rebel8

  B--I have no doubt that being a jw can be extremely disturbing etc. No doubt at all. And no one should ever try to minimize that truth. And you do not need a label to validate it or make it any more serious or real.

  PTSD is an actual diagnosis though and there are specific criteria that, when evaluated by a licensed clinician, must be present. An ex-jw could have PTSD but not all of us do. And it is not possible for a person to diagnose themselves.

  DSM-IV-TR criteria for PTSD

  In 2000, the American Psychiatric Association revised the PTSD diagnostic criteria in the fourth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). The diagnostic criteria (Criterion A-F) are specified below.

  Diagnostic criteria for PTSD include a history of exposure to a traumatic event meeting two criteria and symptoms from each of three symptom clusters: intrusive recollections, avoidant/numbing symptoms, and hyper-arousal symptoms. A fifth criterion concerns duration of symptoms and a sixth assesses functioning.

  Criterion A: stressor

  The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following have been present:

  1. The person has experienced, witnessed, or been confronted with an event or events that involve actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others.

  2. The person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Note: in children, it may be expressed instead by disorganized or agitated behavior.

  Criterion B: intrusive recollection

  The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in at least one of the following ways:

  1. Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. Note: in young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed.

  2. Recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: in children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content

  3. Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur upon awakening or when intoxicated). Note: in children, trauma-specific reenactment may occur.

  4. Intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

  5. Physiologic reactivity upon exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event

  Criterion C: avoidant/numbing

  Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by at least three of the following:

  1. Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma

  2. Efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma

  3. Inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma

  4. Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities

  5. Feeling of detachment or estrangement from others

  6. Restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings)

  7. Sense of foreshortened future (e.g., does not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life span)

  Criterion D: hyper-arousal

  Persistent symptoms of increasing arousal (not present before the trauma), indicated by at least two of the following:

  1. Difficulty falling or staying asleep

  2. Irritability or outbursts of anger

  3. Difficulty concentrating

  4. Hyper-vigilance

  5. Exaggerated startle response

  Criterion E: duration

  Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in B, C, and D) is more than one month.

  Criterion F: functional significance

  The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

  References

  American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV-TR ( Fourth ed.) . Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.
• 

  rebel8

  I've treated lots of PTSD cases.

  A therapist who is experienced with PTSD has skills that apply to treating the illness, regardless of their cause.

  The diagnosis of PTSD, as you may have noticed, depends little upon what experiences the patient had, but rather the symptoms it caused afterwards.
• 

  The Berean

  rebel8

  Every morning I wake up angry that I am still alive. I have given up on life and feel as though death is the only thing that will remove the pain. My life is but an act and I have absolutely no self-esteem. Since you are qualified, can you mention a few possible alternative disorders? Four different therapists have seen little "out of the ordinary."
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  Tyrone van leyen

  Sounds like we have a bit in common Berean. Sorry. I didn't mean to take over your thread before. I wasn't sure if Georgie was referring to me or you.

  Anyhow, it can get very confusing. You see, there are diagnosis' that can be mistaken for something else, and the more you learn the more confusing it gets. I like to keep things simple.

  You see, the human mind is a very complex and indivdual thing. What effects some, may not effect others, depending on your makeup and all the contribting variables. For example, some folks can fight the dirtiest war and see horrors that end up making them snap, like Arthor Shawcross. Others can see the same things, and take it more in stride, so to speak. The visual info is being processed differently. The movie " Full metal jacket illustrates this. Background, gentics and the severity of trauma make each case rather unique and complex. Therefore how can a correcet diagnosis be reached.

  I know exactly what your talkin about though, with the low self esteem. Every day I wake up I wonder, "why in the hell am I alive? What for? I won't go into detail about me. I'm not a professional, nor do I know you, but have you ever looked at something called Asperger Syndrome. It is highly underdiagnosed. They say one in 300 people have it. It is a bit like a mild form of autism. It's symptoms include, having difficulty with eye contact. Not being able to pick up signals from girls, not being unable to bond with others. eccentricity,( High intelligence, could be the good part though.) It just means we're wired differently. So anyone raised as a witness, that has this condition will experience a far worse scenario than others and will be more easily singled out than others. The elders love to find victims to single out. This is my new theory with regard to me. It could be mistaken however for disassociative disorder or probably a whole bunch of other things.

  Naturally, all the things that happen , and shaped you caused pain, but living in witness world could potentially make it ten times worse. They say that plenty of love and attention could bring someone out of this their shell with regards to autism and I beleive the same to be true with Aspergers. The problem always was, artificial love, and a punitive, judicial insane upbringing.

  I'm not saying this is you. But it might be worth lookin at. By the way I disagree that a person can't diagnose themselves. I have pretty much diagnosed myself all my life with doctors and have later been found to be correct
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  jamiebowers

  IMHO, it would be very difficult for rebel8 to diagnose you on this site. It would probably be better to see another therapist who is willing to read Steven Hassan's work. Please don't give up on having a happy life! Please look for my pm.
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  garybuss

  Many of us who were raised by Witness parents have anxiety attacks whenever a child screams or cries. I did for years. I don't any more, but I avoided locations with children for years. I witnessed so much abuse in the kingdom halls that I'll never forget it, nor do I want to.
  
  Now, whenever I see a child in danger from an adult, I intervene . . . every single time.