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’m not replying for OP’s benefit, as I agree they are being goady. I’m replying for the benefit of all the other people who might be reading, so if they don’t have a lot of direct knowledge of this area they aren’t taken in by it.

DM didn’t think PTSD was real until she saw me with it. I’m hoping a few of these descriptions will make people stop and think next time they read somebody banging on about snowflakes.

You’re bang on the money OP but so few people will openly agree (despite the votes!) because as women we’re expected to #bekind and believe that ‘all feelings are valid’. They’re not.

YABU I'm sorry. If mental health support was functioning in the UK we wouldnt all be trying to figure it out ourselves.

I've had severe mental health issues for 20 years, unable to work. First time I saw a psychiatrist was this year. We're all having to make do.

Better than gatekeeping mental health.

How can I ‘gatekeep’ it? I have no such power.

I have no problem believing PTSD exists. But if you go on Twitter or Insta, every second young person claims to be suffering from "trauma". That can't be right. The word is being bandied about for ordinary life events like breaking up with a boyfriend, failing an exam, or being overweight.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a diagnosis? I am self diagnosed with CPTSD related to childhood abuse. I've had anxiety attacks since I was 9 and periods of extreme depression to the point of ending up in A&E yet the NHS has only ever offered me 10 hours of counselling (with a counsellor, so not someone able to diagnose) or antidepressants. I was discharged from hospital a few years back following a suicide attempt after a 5 minute chat with their mental health team. No follow up whatsoever. Private services are out of my reach. If anything I'd say PTSD is very much under diagnosed as people are unable to access services

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?

He said all she needed was a secure, loving home - and yes I did disagree with him, because there is a plethora of research showing that children impacted by developmental trauma benefit from early therapeutic intervention. A secure loving family is part of the picture but not the whole picture. Denying therapeutic support on the basis that love is enough leaves parents trying to support deeply traumatised children while also blaming themselves for their child’s distress because if they were merely loving enough, patient enough, their child would recover.

His job is to gate keep CAMHS resources, my job is to advocate for the best treatment for my daughter.

I have cptsd and was incredibly angry with the diagnosis before I came to terms with it. I actually shouted at my psychologist because the thought of it was so overwhelming.
I appear ‘fine’ and am a professional with a lovely husband, 3 dc and a great job, and no one would know unless I told them. Over the past couple of years I’ve slowly started telling a few people and I’d be horrified to think that people thought I was self diagnosing or making it up.

This is the distinction I make for people.

Everyone will or has experienced trauma. Only some people experience significant trauma. Only some of those people go on to develop behaviours, thoughts or feelings related to the trauma which affect their lives significantly. These are the people who need support.

For example I have a friend whose experience of childbirth was almost exactly the same as mine, almost to the hour. She has PTSD and I don't. Because she thought her baby and she were going to die and I did not.

We both experienced trauma. Mine wasn't significant and doesn't affect my life. Hers was and does.

The same with young people. They will all experienced anxiety, situational mostly. Only some will experience significant anxiety which affects their life. Unless you're psychic or a professional, you can't tell which is which.

@Jellycatspyjamas in my opinion, it should never be up to a psychiatrist whether someone has access to therapeutic help but the routes needed to access CAMHS support are ridiculous and in itself material for another thread. However, psychiatrists are mostly pill givers which a lot of people don't realise. Mostly not very nice ones.

Everyone will or has experienced trauma.

See, the first line of that Julia Samuel article is that not everyone has trauma. So I am in two minds.

Potato, potato. That doesn't work written down does it?

I think she's referring to significant trauma. I mean we probably have all experienced something which could affect us. It just didn't.

However, psychiatrists are mostly pill givers which a lot of people don't realise. Mostly not very nice ones.

Absolutely, on both counts. It was clear from the outset he was meeting me to tick a box and get my DD off the waiting list. Unfortunately for him I know the system well, and have a strong understanding of trauma professionally - it shouldn’t be the case that parents need expert levels of knowledge to get the support their kids need, but realistically if you don’t know what you’re talking about and stand your ground, chances are you won’t get the help you need.

NHS mental health services are appalling, a diagnosis should mean much more than an increase in your life insurance costs.

@Lentilweaver I think everyone will have experienced traumatic events, and may even have flashbacks or periods where they are struggling with them, but not everyone will have PTSD. I think this is the distinction we need to make. Experience of traumatic event or events does not equal PTSD. A period of anxiety is not PTSD. We are essentially belittling the severity of PTSD by associating it with anxiety. .
PTSD is life long, chronic, and debilitating. Post traumatic stress isn't. One can develop into the other but it's not the same. Neither is pleasant.

Experience of traumatic event or events does not equal PTSD. A period of anxiety is not PTSD. We are essentially belittling the severity of PTSD by associating it with anxiety.

Indeed, a period of anxiety or stress is normal after a traumatic event, we do no one any favours pathologising normal human distress.

I don’t think most of you realise quite what the NHS is facing in terms of mental health.

They are facing an astronomical rise in people presenting at their GP with mental health issues, many of them complex and not fitting into any clear diagnostic box. ‘New’ mental health issues - gender dysphoria, different forms of OCD, ADHD and ASD in adults where the diagnostic criteria just gets wider and wider - have absolutely overhwhelmed the services which cannot keep up. It isn’t surprising that the NHS haven’t managed to triple their services and create five star, gold standard and timely pathways for every person turning up with a mental health complaint in the space of a handful of years.

So it does irk me when posters make it out to be incompetence, malice or a deliberate withholding of services. The system isn’t broken as such, we are breaking it.

This makes sense.

@Jellycatspyjamas I wish it was just an increase in life insurance. A close family member was sectioned at 14 and given the diagnosis then. Absolutely incorrectly, about 10 other psychiatrists also gave them multiple other diagnosis. It was like they were playing russian roulette with a diagnostic manual. They've managed to get rid of them all aside from the C-PTSD one. It certainly feels like crap when you're being referred for physio but have a massive at risk patient sign on top of your file because of the C-PTSD diagnosis. Or when you've given birth and have to embarrassingly wait for a shrink to give you the ok before you're discharged in front of family members. Not to mention the amount of life insurance companies that just won't touch you.
None of this of course is mentioned at the point of diagnosis.
I completely agree, the MH system here is absolutely broken. There is very little, if any, support aside from pills.

This comment is inaccurate. Some people do work and other don't.

I agree.

So many people neglect their health, don’t exercise, don’t try to go to sleep at a reasonable time, spend all their time on screens then wonder why their mental health is poor.

If I’m having a shit day, my first port of call is to tidy/clean the house and get some fresh air, even just a 15 minute walk. I always feel at least 50% better after this.

But now people are just encouraged to draw the curtains and lie in the dark ruminating over their problems. There’s a lot to be said for basic self care.

@Moonicorn I agree, however it was crap even when people weren't chasing a diagnosis by the million. Aside from a diagnosis there has never been much in terms of therapies available.

A close family member was sectioned at 14 and given the diagnosis then. Absolutely incorrectly, about 10 other psychiatrists also gave them multiple other diagnosis. It was like they were playing russian roulette with a diagnostic manual.

Thats appalling, I’m sorry for their experience - I firmly disagree with psychiatric diagnosis for young people, there’s simply too much going on developmentally to label a child for life.

@Dodgeitornot there simply isn’t the money for the level of intervention the public need with their mental and physical health any more (and the two are very intertwined). That’s the bottom line.

It is almost as like people are being told that being sad, anxious, depressed, scared..... any negative emotion.. is bad and needs therapy and medication.
Negative experiences and feelings are part of life.