PTSD and Sense of a foreshortened future.

[akaemmafrost]

PTSD and sense of a foreshortened future

I came across this today and it's something I have struggled with all my life after a pretty abusive childhood. I didn't realise there was a name for it. This combined with other symptoms of PTSD convinces me that I do have it and it's almost a relief to have a name for it.

I have never achieved a fraction of what I should have done in my life, have an above average IQ and perform well without much effort in exams etc. Essays, coursework always left till last minute but still achieved good grades etc. I always thought I must be lazy and work shy (though always worked full time since I was 16 but in jobs way lower than my ability) just couldn't seem to motivate myself to try harder, seemed pointless.

Anyway don't want to ramble on but just wondered if this rang any bells for others on here.

Yes it rings lots of bells for me although I don't think I have PTSD.

I never approached any relationship as if it would be for life, because I didn't think I'd be around for long enough.

Ditto with my career, really.

I feel quite odd reading that. Food for thought.

Did you have a difficult childhood diagonally if you don't mind me asking?

I had PTSD and definitely had this. I struggled to make plans for the following day/week with the kids. I was walking on air when I was diagnosed as it meant I wasn't' just rubbish!

I got treatment (on the NHS) and I'm better.

Thanks for sharing, thats an interesting article.
I have PTSD as part of my neurological disorder.
I used to feel some impending doom was waiting just around the next corner.
Had a constant sense that I had forgotten or lost something.
I used to feel that my life would be cut short.
I never used to plan for the future, I didn't think I'd have one.
I was on hyper alert all the time and couldn't switch my brain off to sleep.
CBT has helped me to positively challenge and change my deeply held beliefs.

I'm so very much better, but am still a work in progress.

It really doesn't have to be this way. I hope You are able to get some support via CBT

Yes I've felt this too. Have never gone into anything seriously or planned. Mostly just feel good to get to the end of a day.

Was only reading that link that it occurred to me that I really honestly have always believed I would die before long. That's really sad.

Thank you for posting, hope you are getting the help you need x

I think the article is unduly pessimistic. Don't think I have PTSD but I've often felt that I'm not destined for 'old bones' and tend not to plan too far in advance (although I have saved for a pension!). However, it's actually been a positive thing in my life because it means I appreciate each day on its merits and tend to live for the now rather than worrying unduly about things that haven't happened yet. Carpe Diem and all that. Interesting the way the same stimulus can lead to very different courses of action.

The key diagnostic feature of PTSD is the flashbacks.

OP: you need to go to GP and ask for a psychiatric referral and get proper treatment for the major symptoms of PTSD, and ask if the minor ones such as this sense of foreshortening (don't like than terminology, but it follows what's in the article) will ameliorate spontaneously as the characteristic one is tackled.

Can someone who had had them describe the sensation of flashbacks if its not too painful? I struggle to understand the difference between them and intrusive thoughts.

Flashbacks are when you are suddenly 'back in' the memory, reexperiencing the event. So it is a bit like if you smell a smell and it takes you 'back' to your year 2 classroom, you hear a siren/word/ etc and you are 'back' at the scene of the trauma. The memories are usually vivid and primarily visual/tactile/sensual, not the sort of memory like 'oh yeah, I went to Tesco yesterday.'

They are intrusive but they aren't just thoughts. So intrusive thoughts are when you break a dish and you automatically think 'I can't do anything right, why am I even trying, etc.' Flashback is you break a dish and you are 'back' in the time your mum threw a dish at your dad and you had to go hide and the lino was green and the catflap was broken and your baby sister was screaming.

It doesn't mean you are unable to function or get on, though you can be sort of out of it and not engaged for a while, as you can't easily stop thinking about it.

I grew up in a house where there was DV and I think I've suppressed a lot of the memories.

I distinctly remember as a teenager being surprised as I reached each birthday. I 'knew' that I would be dead before I reached 21.

I'm 41 now and don't have that sense of a foreshortened future, thank goodness. I don't know if I had PTSD at the time but I was fairly traumatised by what was going on.

I have been doing a bit more googling today and there is complex PTSD also which is similar too but distinct from PTSD. I don't think flashbacks are a main feature of that. I have massive panic attacks and can get very distressed thinking about what went on when I was younger but I am not sure if they are "flashbacks" as such.

I think that it was just such a relief to me to have a name for my sense of "what is the point, I won't be around to see the benefits" when it comes to study and career progression. It makes perfect sense. If you are being attacked daily your brain will develop believing that you are not going to survive and that must surely be pervasive for the rest of your life?

PTSD self-diagnoses make me really annoyed as do the 'googlers' of the trying-to-make-symptoms-fit-a-label addicts. I've been guilty of that myself sometimes and it's such a waste of time.

If you think there's something seriously wrong, get a proper diagnosis. PTSD is not common and isn't something you can self-diagnose and, when you consider that it's something that might be expected from veterans returning from active duty, it's pretty arrogant to consider it as a probability in normal life. Even car accidents with fairly serious injury don't 'attract' that label.

If you have symptoms that concern you, you really need to go to your GP and get a referral for a proper assessment, and the specialist intervention that such a condition might require.

Please don't self-diagnose based on google. Your well-being and health are worth far more than that.

PTSD was suggested to me by a psychiatrist i was working with as a possibility with my background of which you know nothing to be fair and am currently awaiting further investigation and am on a waiting list for CBT. This is why i was googling it . But thanks for your post .

I hope you're not languishing on a waiting list for too long!

About three months they say but I've managed for years so I am sure I can manage for another couple of months. Worse thing I was referred to it for panic disorder about two years ago and then started feeling better so cancelled the appointments (short sighted fool). My own fault but here I am again.