Self Diagnosing PTSD and Other Mental Health Issues

[Mari9999]

Is anyone else struck by the what seems like a significantly high number of women who describe themselves as suffering form PTSD ? Is it possible that these women are all self diagnosing ? Usually they attribute these conditions to what are seemingly every day life conflicts.

Many other say that they cannot work because of their mental health. Has there been some drastic increase in debilitating mental diagnosis that render women disabled and physically incapable of working? Are these women all capable of qualifying for disability benefits?

AIBU to think that this cavalier attitude towards mental health makes it difficult for women with medically diagnosed issues to be taken seriously?

It also seems that every second woman claims to have been married to a narcissist or for their current partner to have a cheating narcissist as an ex?

What ever happened to simply coping, being responsible, and owning one's behavior?

I had PTSD after a violent stranger rape (diagnosed by a NHS consultant psychiatrist), and I absolutely couldn’t work. Couldn’t leave the house, scared of all strange men (as I was excruciatingly aware of what they could easily do to me), panic attacks and flashbacks multiple times a day. I had been a high-achieving medical student also holding down a part-time job immediately before I was assaulted.

Your husband was able to work because he wasn’t encountering all of his triggers multiple times a day. Rape victims may be triggered every time they see a strange man, or have to walk alone in public, or wait at a bus stop. Would your husband have managed to hold down a full time job in a firing range, or as a fireworks coordinator?

Diagnosed with ptsd by an NHS consultant psychiatrist here. To echo the thoughts of a previous poster, I only got diagnosed because I had a psychotic episode and ended up in front of a psychiatrist. I was too ashamed to seek help for the trauma by itself until the situation was taken out of my hands. Instead I tried to box it all way until I couldnt anymore. Based on my experiences though, I think I was lucky to get diagnosed so easily. I had a medical record of the physical aftermath of my traumatic event, I can be articulate and I'm well educated. I've encountered many others both before and since who haven't been listened to in the way I was.

I don't work (I do ad hoc hours for the LA in a role related to where I used to work but don't think that counts) and haven't since I had postpartum psychosis after dc1 was born (also diagnosed). Although like a pp's dh I also held down a stressful public sector role for years climbing the promotion ladder between the trauma and my diagnosis. I am obviously much better but a combination of being ill and the underlying trauma completely trashed my sense of self. Just before Covid I thought I'd pulled through and was planning a return to a proper career, then I had a massive relapse during lockdown and was offered an inpatient bed. I don't get benefits though, haven't ever tried claiming as we don't need the money.

I have been lucky in that I got 2 years worth of therapy of varying types off the NHS but I'm still a shadow of the person I was. I have encountered the self diagnosed but because accessing services is hard who am I to judge.

I am in the USA so while many go without MH services, the services are still relatively easy to access.

I think they’re easy to access if you have funds/health insurance, and the MH landscape in the States is very different to the U.K. so not hugely comparable.

Wow, well this is a difficult read.

My thoughts as I read were how few women in RL that I know or have known who were diagnosed with PTSD.

I have not told anyone, ever, as far as I can recall, except for exDH.

I’ve no idea why you think people would automatically talk to you about such things.

On the narcissist point, part of me agrees with you. ( and I’d describe my ex as a narcissist. His behaviour really fits it) it does seem to be interchangeable with ‘arsehole’, rather than describing every exH. Even I think they can’t ALL be narcissists!

I would, however, say that misogyny and narcissism bring out similar traits in behaviour. Let’s face it, if you believe yourself not be superior to half the worlds population just because you have a penis, then that’s pretty narcissistic, right?

i think that most people labelled as narcissistic are really just sexist, entitled misogynists…and, well, every other person IS susceptible to being a misogynist!

The problem with threads like these is many people will earnestly lay bare their own mental health struggles and trauma to have a discussion with the OP misguidedly thinking the OP is posting in good faith and not just another spin on the popular variety of 'society is sinking because of the snowflakes'.

I agree with this OP.

I have diagnosed PTSD from events in my childhood. My life was ruined by this until I got a diagnosis, treatment and was able to turn my life around.

I get very frustrated by people throwing the label around for stressful life events, difficult break ups, falling ours etc. It takes away the true devastation that PTSD can cause.

I held down a job but that's about all I was doing, flashbacks were a permanent feature, panic, living on high alert all the time us exhausting.

Took me a long time to accept the diagnosis but doing so saved my life.

Agree. I have been told I likely have PTSD by an nhs self referral, who also told me I have/had severe anxiety and mod-severe depression. I am what you’d call “high functioning” if you met me you’d think I was Mary Poppins.

My mother was sectioned to mental hospital when I was somewhere under 1 year old in the early 60s. She was diagnosed with post partum psychosis. I have no idea how long she was in hospital for, I do know that she said most treatments didn’t work and she received amoungst other things electric convulsive therepy. Most of the time she would not discuss this period in her life- I just got snippets before she passed away in her very early 60s. What she did say was that it all went wrong for her mentally after her first birth ( I was her 3rd), and she started to get panic attacks and other stuff. She was put on Valium for months following that and blamed that a lot for real difficulty emotionally

Then seperately she’d talk about her first birth experiences- as if they were completely unrelated. She had 4 th degree tear as a result of forcep delivery . Was in labour for 4 days . She wasn’t repaired properly and suffered her whole life from some faecal incontinence and prolapses.

im pretty sure looking at her symptoms now and causes that she had PTSD following a horrible traumatic birth and treatment . We know now that post partum psychosis is rare and usually associated with individuals with psychotic episodes earlier or a family history.

so, I think looking back even into 1990 s, women just weren’t diagnosed very often with PTSD. It is recent .

it wasn’t until 1991 that a conviction for marital rape was made, but only in 2003it was explicitly written into law. During my abusive relationship in 1994-2003 I saw no criminal act made by my husband Ashe didn’t abuse me physically. It was coercive control, emotional abuse and that was simply not a police matter at that time. It was even unlikely to be seen by courts for unreasonable behaviour grounds for divorce .

20 plus years later I have been diagnosed with PTSD. I have suffered from recurring depressive symptoms that don’t respond to antidepressants, I got panic attacks, highly intrusive anxiety, and self harmed periodically. I never told anyone of causes nail I had a massive flashback recently, considered suicide and called for help. I now have a diagnosis that helps and have nearly completed 6 months of therepy and feeling, for first time in 30 years in control of my emotions and flashbacks

so, yes lots of women are experiencing PTSD . It has probably been massively under diagnosed for centuries . Women experience higher level of trauma in birth by far than men getting trauma through war, or anyone getting ptsd through accidents, terrorism etc. numbers of women giving birth swamp that and a small proportion of those being traumatic is still a large annual number.
add to that the huge proportion of women experiencing abuse in relationships, or outside of relationships then you have another massive cohort who, traditionally, would have been undiagnosed

sure a lot f folks can’t access mental health services to get formal diagnoses and don’t have private medical cover like me, so will self diagnose. But, have you ever read the diagnosis observation lists for DSM mental health diagnosis’s? It isn’t rocket science, and unfortunately most psychiatric reviews are so short that even people with severe and enduring mental health issues don’t get good diagnosis. I know this- my ex has psychotic illness and has had so many different diagnosis varying around schizophrenia to schizoaffective disorder to jus5 about any of the other DSM psychosis illnesses. It is not an exact science. It is purely observational and horrendously no one is seen for sufficient time to get that right in many cases. People aren’t admitted to hospital any more, let alone sectioned , to enable good thorough observational data .

so, yep there are a lot of folks who are self diagnosing with something they haven’t got. But there are thousands like my mother living with misdiagnosis and thousands like me who have suffered in silence for years

I've been diagnosed with bipolar II (also told I have a lot of ADHD symptoms), OCD, GAD and SAD all on the NHS over 20 years.

I work full time in a professional job and I've never been on any benefits.

I saw a therapist for over a year who said my ex had a cluster B personality disorder. He'd been arrested a few times when he was younger, then for domestic abuse against an ex, so I don't think it was an outlandish suggestion.

Are you a woman @Mari9999 ?

Also, are you even remotely qualified to know the first thing about MH, services, funding, diagnosis or historical treatment versus current?

The following link has distressing statistics so you may not wish to click but given what it says it doesn't seem hard to imagine that a lot of women would have PTSD or CPTSD.

rapecrisis.org.uk/get-informed/statistics-sexual-violence/

@Jellycatspyjamas PTSD is in the DSM5, C-PTSD is not. I never said the diagnosis is not real but people picking and choosing traits to match it is not helping.
A PTSD or C-PTSD diagnosis doesn't give you access to much at all on the NHS, except void or much more expensive life insurance, a massive at risk patient note on your medical history, for life, which is included in any referral your GP does for you, and a compulsory check by a psychiatrist before you get discharged from hospital, for whatever reason. All of which you're effected by regardless of your current mental health status. You cannot just take the diagnosis off your medical history. It is a lifelong diagnosis and incredibly reckless to give to young people. It is far more responsible to recognise that someone may be experiencing post traumatic stress, than slapping them with a post traumatic stress disorder diagnosis. Yes the two are not the same.
You can already see on this thread how some people view PTSD, oh my husband worked, it's not that bad. Than your husband didn't have PTSD. May have had post traumatic stress, yes, but not the debilitating disorder that doesn't let people function, let alone work.

The biggest thing that helps people with MH problems is lower stress levels and a secure environment. Most triggers are to do with financial and relationship worries, so yes, love, security and patience are some of the best ways to heal. Getting to the feeling of security is for the most part the goal of therapy. A diagnosis doesn't open many, if any, doors on the NHS.

I got to know a woman over the course of a few months who was a narcissist. Going to therapy after an abusive relationship focused on recognising and avoiding people with the traits.

Weirdly, one of her favourite comments was to announce that she hated women.

She was ridiculously abusive towards her boyfriend and people in our friend group.

@Jellycatspyjamas PTSD is in the DSM5, C-PTSD is not.

I beg your pardon, you’re right, it’s in the WHO ICD-11 which classifies illness worldwide.

I never said the diagnosis is not real

No, you said it isn’t used anywhere outside the UK.

It is a lifelong diagnosis and incredibly reckless to give to young people.

I’d argue the same for any psychiatric diagnosis where children and young people are concerned.

Most triggers are to do with financial and relationship worries, so yes, love, security and patience are some of the best ways to heal.

You sound like the consultant psychiatrist who told me all my DD needs to recover from developmental trauma is a loving, secure home, which flies in the face of the body of research relating to the physiological impact of trauma on brain development. Love and security are certainly necessary, but not sufficient in many cases. What has helped are therapies aimed at supporting her developing secure attachment, which love and security alone wouldn’t help her with because her ability to cope with close relationships was so impacted by trauma.

Getting to the feeling of security is for the most part the goal of therapy.

There are many varied goals in therapy, but if your capacity to be in relationship with others is compromised due to complex trauma, therapy provides a space and environment which family and friends can’t to the same extent.

You say you don’t know anyone in “real life” with PTSD but m if you come across as judgmental as you do here, then I can’t imagine why anyone would wish to disclose their trauma to you!

My friends - who are kind and supportive- know I get very anxious, they don’t know my PTSD diagnosis. Some things we don’t feel comfortable sharing, even with those close to us.

My 19 year old dd was diagnosed with PTSD, by GOSH,several years ago after witnessing a traumatic event. It has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Seeing someone in such a distressed anxious state most days, horrific nightmares for 2 years. I had to take her out of school system and home educate because of triggers.
8 months of EMDR therapy two years ago has helped her cope and move on.

I think it's probably a self-fulfilling thing. I know lots of people with PTSD, probably because they aren't scared I'll act like a twat when they told me. Ditto depression, BPD, CSA and addiction.

So the arseholes carry on being arseholes because no one ever shares with them. For obviously reasons.

@Jellycatspyjamas Not worldwide, in 35 countries and in a lot of them, it is up to the psychiatrists discretion whether they want to use that or the DSM. C-PTSD is a contested diagnosis. I am very glad your daughter was able to get the proper treatment and care and had you to advocate for her, however she is certainly not the general reflection of access to MH services. In my experience a diagnosis of PTSD often causes more issues than it fixes and is given flippantly without explanation of the consequences.
So your psychiatrist, a Dr specialising in giving out pharmaceutical drugs for mental illness, not therapy, told you your daughter needs a secure home and patience and you disagree with that?
Regardless, I'm yet to meet a psychiatrist who isn't an egotistical maniac, after all it takes a special type of person to go into the field of medicine where your opinion is what matters most and actual biological tests can't be used to confirm a diagnosis.

@NK346f2849X127d8bca260 This is sadly what PTSD actually looks like. It's horrific and I'm so sorry you had to see your daughter suffer.
It takes years of debilitating symptoms to diagnose.

Well, the therapist Julia Samuels agrees with you, OP. I think this article may be behind paywall- I am a Times subscriber- but she is seeing an increasing number of cases where people have self diagnosed themselves with "trauma". www.thetimes.co.uk/article/princess-diana-friend-julia-samuel-prince-harry-honesty-tpvp3pr52

I don't know anything about PTSD, but I do think that every single person below 30 has self-diagnosed themselves with "anxiety", instead of just saying " I am anxious about a new job."

I know someone who ended up with PTSD as a result of what they dealt with during Covid as a paramedic. They now has FND (which often accompanies PTSD, as does fibromyalgia). They had to learn how to eat properly, pee, and walk again.
Thankfully, they can now do a desk job that is related to their old role.
Many people are not so lucky, so end up on disability benefits.

Self diagnosing does not mean people can easily claim benefits though. You still need evidence from GP, MH professionals etc. They can detail your struggles without a formal diagnosis.

Does she say anything about benefits? I don't think so. She says increased mental health awareness has a negative too, because we are all constantly navelgazing. Like Harry.