PTSD overdiagnosed?

[Grimreapers]

I read this article recently
www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/835551#:~:text=Misdiagnosis%20with%20PTSD%20also%20risks,protective%20social%20factors%2C%20they%20warn.

It just got me thinking, how people feel about the diagnosis? Do you feel people throw it around too easily nowadays? Do you feel people self diagnose when in reality although their feelings are valid it's not PTSD.

I just worry it's being diluted, and people won't take it as seriously as it should be taken.

I think it's a self diagnosis issue.

Because PTSD is a specific disorder - not a term used for all conditions arising from a traumatic experience.

It's important, as with any MH condition, to be properly diagnosed

I was diagnosed with it. The full on flashbacks and triggers. It took a couple of years from the traumatic event. It's a normal human response to trauma and it's a good job it's being taken seriously.
If dickheads want to trivialise it, that's on them.

I think all are over diagnosed and it is not necessary for any to be. It is a normal response so doesn't need to be labelled as a disorder as it can't be both normal and abnormal.

I think PTSD is an abnormal response. Not everyone with a traumatic (in the true sense of the word) develops a disorder that impacts on them so much they can't function.
I think there is a normal trauma response and then PTSD. When people throw the term around because they've been cheated on etc, of which is incredibly distressing but I wouldn't agree that it can cause PTSD.

I have been diagnosed with PTSD due to several traumatic events, and I think it is a normal response to trauma. The likelihood of developing PTSD is linked to the severity and duration of the trauma and also to the number of traumatic incidents. Different people have different thresholds before they will develop PTSD, this is normal human variation. It doesn’t make PTSD abnormal at all that some get it and some do not when faced with similar traumas.

I say similar because on the surface, say a car accident or being stabbed may seem to be “similar trauma” but that’s a very superficial view as much of what causes PTSD is the entirety of the incident. If a car accident results in you being the only survivor and your child dying, that is very different from a car accident that results in a broken arm and minor injuries.

It’s also been shown that exposure to trauma over long periods can cause PTSD..such as what war reporters and ambulance crew or police…where nothing happens to them, but they often are first to see and witness the aftermath of very traumatic events.

So PTSD isn’t abnormal, but it affects a minority of people. That’s why we can say it’s “not the norm” in the meaning of saying “not what the average person experiences” but “not the norm” doesn’t mean abnormal as in not how people usually react.

Everyone has a threshold. There isn’t a human being immune to PTSD.

It’s called a disorder for good reason - it isn’t a normal response to trauma at all.
Ive had numerous traumatic events- death of a child, almost died myself, abuse as a child, rape.. none caused PTSD. What did cause PTSD was a SA 3 years ago. What was different in that scenario was the fear that imminent harm was present and it seems that fear is a big factor, if one reads the relevant research. What isn’t PTSD but you hear people say it is is if they have difficulties in life, bad hospital experience and they sometimes think about it later.
there are specific registers for symptoms that can be only assessed by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, not the average person who claims to be triggered by a joke or an advert to feel sad, for instance

I've got a c-PTSD diagnosis because I didn't go through one trauma (such as witnessing something horrible) which would give the PTSD diagnosis, but I have been through a prolonged (talking years) of trauma that has had an adverse effect on my brain chemistry.

It's not self diagnosed. It's a diagnosis I've been given in order to access the best treatment for me. If more people get the label maybe the NHS will stop using CBT as it's front line treatment (it's shit for PTSD).

'Diagnoses have risen since the 80s'

No shit.

People know and talk and understand so much more then we did in the 80s.

I have c-PTSD. If my life had taken place 40 years earlier I still would have had it in the 80s, just unsupported.

I am sick reading these 'things are rising, are they over diagnosed' bullshit threads.

I’m sorry you have been through so much trauma in your life, it’s deeply saddening to read what has happened to you.

Trauma is cumulative. So it’s perfectly normal that you did not get PTSD for the earlier more serious events. You must have had a high threshold to endure so much.

That’s how my psychiatrist explained it to me as to why I didn’t develop it after other just as serious and some more serious incidents earlier in my life, but only later in my life after a near death incident. I hadn’t hit my trauma threshold until that moment.

Because we are functioning ok in daily life, we think we have dealt with stuff, overcome it, moved on but our mind and body never forgets. So then comes along even a straw can break the camels back….and suddenly we cannot cope. We have flashbacks and insomnia and so on.

The Body Keeps The Score is a good book that explains this concept. That it’s a normal response to the cumulative effects of trauma. It’s not that you responded normal every other time, and then abnormally after the last one. All of it is normal, you had reached your limit of human endurance. At least that’s how it was explained to me.

I agree completely fear has a lot to do with it. If you feel that your life is in danger, you’re far more likely to develop PTSD than if your level of fear isn’t that a traumatic event is life threatening.

Perhaps different psychiatrists are explaining PTSD differently? The above is how all the different ones I have had to date think of PTSD.

The difference between PTSD and c-PTSD isn’t one traumatic event vs many traumatic events.

I agree CBT is awful.

It's how it's been explained to me. It's that my brain has never had a break from traumatic events, so I had prolonged exposure to trauma rather than just one life altering experience. If I've misunderstood it then I apologise

I think they are all mental health issues are normal responses to trauma and justified and that is why I don't see any need for labels at all. I also know those who create the labels admit they are made up but that is another reason why I think labels are not needed.

@WeeWillyWinkie9

My 'labels' are what saved me.

Why do we need them when the conditions are admittedly made up?

Can you expand on this a bit further please?

The creators of the mental health diagnostic manual admit that they made up the conditions inside and that none have biological markers at all. They admit that they just make up new ones and vote on what goes in for each updated version.

Why do we need them when the conditions are admittedly made up?

What? The fuck?

Oh. Right I'm out...

I have had a lot of traumatic events but only one has given me actual PTSD. I'm not formally diagnosed (avoiding talking about it) but I know and am educated enough to know. I'm also educated enough to know that not talking about it is the wrong thing to do, but here I am, not talking about it. If I ever did decide to talk about it, I would have to write it down first. So there are missed diagnoses out there.

Yes, that is all true, but the reason why I have PTSD and not c-PTSD is I do not have the additional symptoms as c-PTSD is PTSD plus additional symptoms like emotion dysregulation, feelings of being worthless/useless, finding relationships very difficult, and can’t remember the rest- but suffice to say I agree completely that c-PTSD is what happens when a person already with PTSD keeps being traumatised.

Yes, you can get PTSD after only one traumatic event, but I did not develop PTSD until after many traumatic events including long term years of trauma: domestic abuse (17yrs) and my time in the military (19yrs).

I think they are all mental health issues are normal responses to trauma and justified and that is why I don't see any need for labels at all. I also know those who create the labels admit they are made up but that is another reason why I think labels are not needed.

Lucky you aren't a psychiatrist then

Funny, my PTSD showed up in my MRI plain as day….

Thats funny as there are no biological markers at all as admitted by those who define the conditions.

They should be disbanded, the biggest abusers hiding in plain sight.

That's funny because science
www.ptsduk.org/what-is-ptsd/the-science-and-biology-of-ptsd/