Rachel Riley now reported to have got PTSD from Strictly too

[chachacharcoal]

Both the Daily Mail and the Mirror are now reporting that Rachel Riley also claims to have developed PTSD after doing Strictly. She went on to marry her partner though so he doesn't seem to have been the problem. One of the articles is also claiming she says that many of the other former contestants she's spoken to since doing the show have shared similar experiences. I was surprised by some of the vitriol Amanda Abington got for saying similar but I do realise most people have a fairly basic understanding of trauma. Anyone else very interested in this story?

Faye Tozer is also being reported to have had a negative experience with Giovanni. But the word trauma hasn't been used in that story as far as I'm aware.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13262881/Rachel-riley-strictly-come-dancing-ptsd-amanda-abbington-exit.html

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/rachel-riley-reveals-bbc-strictly-32493863

Have they been formally diagnosed? I haven’t read much about it, so I don’t know.

The diagnostic criteria- of which I am very familiar both personally and professionally- are clear about the nature of the preceding event or events. Perhaps they have been exposed to a trauma not described. Being part of a dance show, however gruelling and awful it sounds, would not fit in with the current U.K. diagnostic criteria.

The issue is people have always denied psychological/mental health impacts - where the line is drawn is down to levels of compassion as much as science, because the impact on a patient can't be measured on a machine.

Thank you.

I wasn't trying to deny anyone's diagnosis - was querying how the diagnosing of PTSD must have changed, as it used to be something that was sharp and immediate, and now it can be as a result of trauma over a period of time.

Amanda's husband was recently paralysed and sustained further injuries. She was clear that the diagnosis had been given based on both her private and working like.

If they were subject to bullying or abusive behaviour on Strictly that could cause a serious stress injury (and sounds like it did). There's nothing to say from the criteria that the serious injury need be physical, as far as I can see, even if conservative doctors are likely to interpret it like that.

Incidentally, the NHS website says "Any situation that a person finds traumatic can cause PTSD." No mention of the DSM criteria being in any way compulsory.

That’s because it’s layman’s terms for the average person. It doesn’t change the diagnostic criteria.

It sounds like Amanda has been through a considerably challenging personal life event.

It's not layman's terms though - it's saying something completely different to what you're saying the diagnostic criteria are. I'm not saying you're wrong about the diagnostic criteria. I'm just trying to work out what's likely to have happened in Rachel's case. She does claim to have received a diagnosis.

I find it totally laughable and desperately wounding to get PTSD from a bloody dance TV show. I have complex PTSD from military action where I fought for peace and stability in Europe so that over paid over privileged people can bloody dance.

These people are a weak disgrace

Strictly Triggered
tangohmyGod
salsargh
pasomydays
sambah
QUICKquickstep
rumbahnotagain
ohfuckstrot
cuntemporary
chachachahbuggerit

But it's a physiological reaction surely? It's not something you have any control over.

Interestingly I was looking up number of hours trained by Olympic athletes and was surprised to see it's often much much lower than what they're reporting some of these stars were doing for the show (Simone Byles. "only does 32 hours a week whereas Laura Whitmore seems to have been doing almost double that or possibly more - it does seem vastly excessive). It sounds to me like they were just pushed to the brink of exhaustion at which point you're much more susceptible to developing a trauma response. Look at the research on things associated with exhaustion like sleep deprivation and autism and the greatly increased susceptibility to trauma.

I would suggest Simone Byles numerous highly skilled peak Olympic performance gold medal winning routines are not equivalent of an energetic quick step, but what do I know.

I have no idea how a medical professional could have diagnosed Rachel ethically and correctly without using the criteria. Perhaps Rachel did experience a different trauma and she does not want to say, which is- of course - her right.
As is stands, being on SCD alone (assuming nothing specifically traumatic occurred but obviously we don’t know this) is not enough to meet the criteria for diagnosis.

Not all of the celebs doing Strictly do that though. The ones that do are choosing to do that level presumably because they desperately want to win. There are numerous celebs who are currently working onsoaps, which have gruelling schedules and have to fit Strictly in around them. If you are training for 32 hours a week, clearly you have the time to do that, owing to you not having any other work...hence why you have applied to Strictly!

I don't think Simone Biles has been on Strictly, has she?! I don't watch it! She's not the only Olympian to be doing significantly less training than some of these contestants though. Cyclist Kristin Armstrong apparently does 20 to 25 hours a week on her bike and Olympic skier Sara Renner does about 25 hours of practice. One study that looked at endurance athletes competing at the highest levels and found the average was 13 to 17 hours a week. Some of these Strictly contestants were doing almost that in a single day. And while for some it does sound like a choice, for others it definitely doesn't. Laura Whitmore didn't appear to have chosen to do that level - it sounds like she was pressured into it to some degree.

Re dancing being less taxing than gymnastics I'm not sure that's true. There have been several gymnasts on the show. Louis Smith did Strictly 2 weeks after doing the Olympics. He said:

“Within the first hour, I was laying on the floor with my ankles and heels in bits wearing Cuban heels.

“Flavia was just kind of looking over at me thinking, ‘How can you call yourself an Olympian?’

“So yeah, it really was a completely different type of energy that you had to use and a different type of fitness.

I still think the diagnostic criteria could have been interpreted very liberally, if you take the risk of serious injury to mean a stress injury like PTSD or one of it's sister conditions (there seem to be others that are essentially the exact same symptoms and presentation but without having the need for the horrifying event - PDSD for example (Prolonged Duress Stress Disorder), Cumulative Stress Disorder etc. Although who knows. Maybe there were other stressors in RR's life as you say or maybe she got the diagnosis abroad where the criteria might be different? Her partner/husband is Russian is he not? We will probably never know.

@chachacharcoal Simone Biles was in the US version and was fantastic

Simone was brilliant - came fourth.

She withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics for mental health reasons - said you need to be 100%.

I have no issue with anyone withdrawing from something that is causing stress.
I know the current buzzword is resilience but I think if you know something is causing you personal difficulty, it's perfectly reasonable to protect yourself, get yourself together and come back at a later date or switch job.

It was definitely a positive thing she (Simone Biles) was able to do that. It might make it easier for others to do in the future.

Interestingly, I just came across this study that found that dancers experience PTSD at over twice the rate of the general population: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26395617/#:~:text=Statistical%20calculations%20included%20descriptive%2C%20distributional,the%20normal%20population%20(7.8%25).

She couldn’t dance for toffee
Bullshit. She lacked confidence in Latin but her waltz was divine.

They came through.

Is that you Riley? Professional gaslighter and victim.

Well, she was amongst those leaping in to blame the Australia shopping mall killings on Islamic terrorism. Just a tad Islamophobic, wouldn't you say?

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24253160.channel-4-told-act-racist-twitter-posts-rachel-riley/