Anyone with PTSD actually managed to recover?

[Trying2Heal]

I've been diagnosed with Complex PTSD and "Dissociative Disorder" by my local Community Health Team, but all they seem willing to do is prescribe me medication and medication is actually making my anxiety 100 x worse.
The psychiatrist seems really nice and he wants to refer me to some Talking Therapies place but he said they'll be unlikely to accept a patient who is so dissociative or traumatised.
Anyone managed to get help with PTSD on the NHS and actually make positive changes?

Hi TryingTo sorry to hear you're having such a tough time. In my experience, and where I am there isn't support for people with c-ptsd beyond medication. I've finally found a trauma-informed private psychotherapist (who has kindly reduced her rate a little). It's very early days and I think it will take quite sime time, but I am mostly optimistic. She is also trained in EMDR which is supposed to be good.

I'd say it's worth keeping in asking your psychiatrist.

Really hope you get the help you need. It's an awful condition.

I'm far better than I used to be, though not with much help from the NHS.

I recommend The Crappy Childhood Fairy. She has a lot of videos on reregulation and practical steps for habits to help improve C-PTSD and dissociation.

Talk therapies can be a bit hit-and-miss, more likely to help with someone trained specifically in helping trauma conditions. It's probably why he's so upfront about it possibly not being a good match with their skillset. I've previously gained a lot from group therapy with someone who knew a lot about child trauma, but this was before I moved to the UK.

This organisation was set up by a trauma survivor with experience of dissociation (Carolyn Spring):

www.pods-online.org.uk/

As I understand it, Carolyn was able to receive trauma therapy despite being very dissociative as she had a therapist who understood that was a necessary part of her healing and was prepared to work with her and her dissociation.

I have also known other people who also had therapists who weren't afraid to work with dissociative trauma survivors (tbh, I think any therapist who says a blanket no to any kind of trauma therapy is not experienced or competent to deliver trauma therapy to anyone - it's an integral part of trauma even if the severity varies).

You may find the info and resources useful.

IAPT wouldn't take someone with dissociation, but that's precisely because they're not anywhere near qualified to work with trauma survivors or deliver trauma therapies.

But IAPT services won't normally see patients who are under the Community Mental Health Team. CMHT should have access to their own therapists who should be qualified and competent to work with dissociation. It can't be drugged away!

Yes, after emdr from a private psychotherapist.

Oh, and there is a growing body of evidence on "trauma sensitive yoga" in relation to PTSD and dissociation:

www.traumasensitiveyoga.com/resources.html

What is IAPT @user196523585443

@user196523585443 Thank you. I'm aware of PODs but have not really explored their website and have not yet read Carolyn's book

@newtb I don't have enough to pay for private EMDR at the moment

@BiBabbles. I had never heard of the Crappy Childhood Fairy before so thank you. I will check it out

I was also going to recommend Carolyn Spring. I’ve found her podcasts helpful, and hopeful. I also have CPTSD and struggle hugely with dissociation, I’ve been working with a private therapist for a long time now, I often feel hopeless but she says there is hope it’s just a long, (painful!) process. I also have a care coordinator through CMHT, which is helpful for support outside of therapy, I’m lucky to have finally been given someone I really click with. I only take medication in times of extreme anxiety or insomnia, I’ve not found antidepressants helpful although tried many times. Having said that I’m considering trying again in desperation to get through a particularly awful patch. Private therapy is expensive but in my experience, long term therapy seems the best chance of recovering and sadly it’s just not available on the NHS.

I had 8 years of therapy with a therapist who dealt with DID and complex trauma. I truly believe she saved my life.

@RagamuffinCat. Wow. I think you are the first person I've ever "spoken" to who has the same diagnosis as me.
What sort of methods did your therapist use? EMDR? Talk therapy?

How are you feeling now? Have your symptoms totally disappeared?

@glitteringfishy
Was it difficult to get assigned a Care Co-ordinator? I really need one but unfortunately the CMHT always seems to think I'm high functioning even though I'm actually not all that high functioning. I look well groomed and am articulate and this actually works against me and it's assumed that I am more capable than I am. Typically I cannot even remember something I may have done 5 minutes ago.
They've put me on Buspirone and I'm not sure whether it is helpful or not. It is meant to reduce anxiety. But my dissociation is so bad that I usually can't remember whether I have taken a dose or not. I will recall reaching for the packet but have no idea whether I took out a pill and swallowed it or not. Am terrified of cooking because what if I lose normal consciousness and burn the flat down? (I did once inadvertently start a small fire).

My therapist works from a perspective that DID is an attachment disorder, so a lot of effort was put into forming a stable relationship to work from. She worked with whichever part of me was present that day, and over time I have switched less and less. I now go for weeks at a time without dissociation and have formed other more healthy coping mechanisms. It has been a long process though, and I had had years of therapy with other people because I found the right one for me.

@RagamuffinCat

Is it talk therapy that you do? Once a week?
My therapist is good but I'm still quite a mess

Yes, it's talking therapy. It's once weekly, but with contact between sessions.

@Trying2Heal it’s been a bit of a process and I’ve had to keep pushing. It’s been complicated for me by the fact I also have anorexia so have been passed back and forth between CMHT and ED services. I had a temporary one for a bit who I eventually told to not contact me again as she made things far worse (temporary + severe abandonment fears was never going to work and she kept alluding to me being psychotic which I was not) and then was told I’d be reassigned another and never was - I had to call again and be reassessed (is it just me or do they love to assess and reassess a million bloody times?!) and have ended up with someone brilliant who is so far really helpful. It’s taken a couple of years to get to this point though. I would say you just have to really fight for what you need, unfortunately I think they are just so underfunded they are thin on the ground. It sounds like it would be beneficial to you and I hope you can access the support you deserve.

Similarly to the above poster, I’ve had a very long period of establishing an attachment to my therapist (3.5 years so far) to try and make me feel safe enough to get anywhere near my trauma, we are still in that phase really, I’m still extremely dissociative. Hard not to feel hopeless.

Sorry, I’ve rambled on. A book I’ve found helpful recently is Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors by Janina Fisher - would recommend.

Thankful for this thread . Also in therapy for complex trauma and a dissociative disorder . It’s a long slow frustrating process. I’ve saved a couple of the links for tomorrow morning. Hoping to get a bit more sleep (my sleep is awful atm)

I've been to talking therapies for years but they didn't work for me. I then had three sessions with a private hypnotherapist and that completely sorted me out! Some people hear the word 'hypnosis' and think it's all nonsense and a bit too 'fluffy' but it speaks to your subconscious and just helps your mind to resolve things. Honestly worked wonders for me.

@Buntyjones Wow that is interesting. What did the hypnotherapist do exactly?

@RunGinSleepRepeat
What sort of help, if any, are the NHS giving you at the moment?
I found they were good at diagnosing me but then they were like "And that's not something we can offer you treatment for...."

Anyone here been medication for PTSD that has actually proven useful?

I used to get Valium to use on an occasional basis, but they are terrified of giving anyone Valium these days in case you get addicted to it. They offered me an anti-anxiety med called Buspirone which ended up making me feel 10 x more anxious. Similar response to SSRIs previously. So now i am on nothing.

@Trying2Heal He helped me to build a 'timeline' of my life so I could pinpoint exactly when and where the trauma happened. He then worked with me to re-visit the traumatic events and then take steps to 'neutralise' them so they no longer cause issues - they're just things that have happened in the past. All of this is done while you're 'under' - so I was fully hypnotised and he was speaking to my subconscious. I was really sceptical at first but I had tried everything else and it was having such a negative impact on my quality of life that I thought I might as well try it. It's honestly worked wonders - I feel like a different person and it only took 3 sessions, it's that powerful. The guy I saw has literally cured war veterans of PTSD via hypnosis - it really does work.

@Buntyjones Wow!! Is he based in London by any chance? I'd be interested in some sessions with him