Could this be cptsd?

[colouringinpro]

Hi. I've had a horrendous 8 years, and some pretty shit stuff before that.
Just this week, 1 ds tried to jump out of upstairs window, 2 ex said he wanted a divorce (not unexpected in scheme of things, but v unexpected this week). 3. First intense and v stressful family therapy session which caused ASD dd to meltdown.

Beginning of month ds nearly drowned in bath as a result of functional seizure (symptom of his ptsd).

Before that husband with undiagnosed bipolar for over a decade, severe depression; very determined suicide attempt, massive psychotic breakdown in the home with me saying we were all going to die. very verbally abusive whilst ill for next four months. marriage breakdown. Multiple bereavements inc one by suicide. ds ptsd causing acute onset paralysis 15 months ago, still symptomatic. dd ASD finally diagnosed after years the day after ds paralysis.

me. constant state of anxiety, exhausted. nightmares, over react to everything. overwhelming emotions. suicidal thoughts. massive crush on a kind man. brain fog. feel mentally and emotionally wrecked by last 10 years.

Before that, unexplained infertility, traumatic birth mentally and physically, pnd. Mother severely depressed.

have been reading up about childhood trauma and came across cptsd.

found this description which really resonates

www.exploreyourmind.co.uk/blog/2019/9/3/what-is-cptsd-and-do-i-have-it

could this be what's going on with me?

www.exploreyourmind.co.uk/blog/2019/9/3/what-is-cptsd-and-do-i-have-it

I'm no expert but it sounds like you have C PTSD..Richard Grannon on YouTube does videos on CPTSD and highly recommends the book by Pete Walker called CPTSD From Surviving to Thriving.

You have had a lot of trauma , I hope you are getting counselling individually for everyone.

Thank you Lexie I'm really grateful for your thoughts. I've found good people for the kids, don't know where to find the right person for me. Hundreds of therapist list trauma in their lust of stuff, but that's no help.

Exhausting day, feel totally overwhelmed again..

I hope you find somebody specific to help with Cptsd.

You have a lot to deal with and I’m not surprised your feeling overwhelmed.

Try and rest over the weekend, probably easier said then done!

does anyone else have any experience of cptsd, expertise, recommendations? I'd really appreciate

I have CPTSD, a combination of nightmare birth with ds resulting in me nearly dying & rape by ex husband. Took until 3 years after ex husband to be diagnosed, had 2 years of weekly sessions with IAPT worker through GP before seeing a psychiatrist who diagnosed me after a 2 hour assessment, have been on Mirtazapine for nearly 3 years now after taking Citalopram for years, still have times when I struggle, just had a nightmare two years when my mental health took a battering, but am hopefully coming out the other side now, am staying temporarily at my mum's with ds until I am back on an even keel. It is like two steps forward one step back, getting any help is a nightmare with the state of mental health services now. Best thing to do is ask your GP to refer you to a psychiatrist, it will take ages to get seen & in the meantime try & access IAPT to get some initial help.

Nat so sorry to hear about your awful experiences. Thank you for posting, it's helpful to hear about your route through iapt and psychiatrist. Around here adult mental health services are dire. I've been taking fluoxetine for a while, not sure it's having much impact.

Where about in the country are you OP? I was referred to a wonderful therapist via IAPT. Was a pure fluke that I ended up with someone who specialised in EMDR.

I'd recommend looking for someone who specialises in EMDR, which is an effective NICE recommended treatment for PTSD and C-PTSD. I think the NHS wait is pretty bad. If you can afford to go private it would be a lot quicker.

Avoid counsellors who list trauma amongst a whole load of other things, I've found they don't usually do EMDR and I've had poor experiences with such counsellors (e.g the type attached to a GP surgery or a work assistance programme as a sort of general counsellor, able to deliver a short CBT course on any area) who have been out of their depth with any complex trauma. You need someone good or they unpack it all and aren't capable of putting it all back again in the right order. You end up triggered instead of helped.

snake thanks I'm in the beds/hets/bucks chunk of the South East.

I've come across EMDR, heard it was good for ptsd, didn't know about cptsd so that's good to know.

Pollaidh (name anything to do with Scottish mountain?!)

Thanks. yes that was my suspicion re a generic "trauma" bullet point. I am very easily retraumatised...

Yeah I'm expecting to go private. Came across this place (though London probably £££) but might give them ring...

londontraumaspecialists.com/

Well spotted!

I don't know that London clinic, but sounds like the right kind of place. If you can get to Oxford there used to be a trauma centre attached to one of the hospitals in Headington, that did some (good) private work. One of the trauma charities like ASSIST might be able to recommend somewhere.

EMDR works for C-PTSD, it will just take longer as you will have to work through each one, though you might find aspects of each trauma are linked anyway in terms of the thought processes.

www.oxforddevelopmentcentre.co.uk/ this place sounds good, bit nervous about £££.

both places have v long waiting lists. Feeling really spaced out today.

Some to someone today who combines person centred counselling with NLP and hypnotherapy to treat trauma. Anyone any experience with these?

*spoke

I don't think hypnotherapy or NLP are NICE recommended, or recommended by the American Psychological Association, so I imagine the evidence for their effectiveness is limited.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng116/chapter/Recommendations#management-of-ptsd-in-children-young-people-and-adults

I had someone try NLP 'rewind technique' on me. It was similar to some of the recorded exposure therapy treatment which is recommended, but it lacked the care in helping people deal with the trauma of the sessions themselves. Whereas EMDR and exposure therapy includes making sure you are safe after the sessions.

NLP hasn't been subject to the same quality checks as CBT etc, and its effectiveness is in doubt. Hypnotherapy doesn't appear to be recommended, but a very quick scan of the scientific literature shows a review paper that suggests it can be effective. In EMDR you do go into a trancelike state during the treatment.

I'd be wary on the basis of (1) NLP evidence seems weak, and (2) in general therapists who do NLP, and hypnotherapists tend to work on less serious MH problems, and may not be able to deliver it safely in severe cases of PTSD where the treatment can act as a trigger.

Actually I've just recalled I've had two experiences where NLP practitioners tried to "help" me, once during a work stress situation affecting our team, and once during an entirely unrelated physical medical appointment (think massage). In both cases the NLP practitioners jumped into what even to an idiot was clearly a potentially dangerous mental health diagnosis and tried to "cure" me in a 30 minute appointment for an entirely different issue, without taking a case history, and without any safeguards for making sure I left the session in a good mental state. I actually made a complaint about the second instance, it was so inappropriate and dangerous. It's a bit like letting a manicurist treat a cancerous tumour of the finger!

If NLP practitioners are so badly trained they are not even aware of the potential dangers, I wouldn't want them coming anywhere near me.

yeah I'm a bit ??? about the NLP stuff. Practitioners always seem to be so evangelical it puts me off iykwim.

She does have a good foundation in person centrered counselling, looks like NLP and hypnotherapy has been added on top. But I'm not sure.

Trauma centres I've looked at are superpricey and have very long waiting lists. Keep looking?

Personally I would keep looking, sorry. Money wasn't an issue for me, so might be different if it was, but on the other hand it's pointless and even damaging to waste money on a treatment that has little chance of working and which could trigger you into a downward spiral.

Thanks Pollaidh. I've found three others that are commutable to and offer EMDR. One has already come back as no availability so fingers crossed for the others...