Possible ptsd breakdown?

[tammycakes 0]

Hi, I believe my mental health is progressively getting worse. I've been to my doctors and because I'm only 17 so counselling is really my only option. But that doesn't help me, talking makes me worse. Anyway, the other week I was with my friend after college in mc Donald's, and I hear someone who I've had issues with in the previous year (getting involved in someone else's business) talking about me and my recent ex, and I confront her to ask her not to talk about me (she had deliberately spoke with a volume so I could hear) so she refused and called me a slag etc (false remark I'll have you know ?) but when me and my friend sat down I tried to control, but didn't, I started crying, shaking a lot, felt sick and went off my food, replaying it all in my head and not about just that mini argument that I had described... Does anyone with ptsd or know anyone with ptsd have similar symptoms, or this is possibly anxiety? Like I said I have been to my doctors and to be honest I'm avoiding going again unless I'm really out of control. (first time using this site so I don't know if I'm doing it right) 

[MobileChucko 23]

Hi Tammy!...  I know it's been a long time since you have been on the site, but you wrote a very good post, and I wanted to see how you are doing.  I am so sorry for what happened to you at the McDonald's.  People can be so, so hurtful.  Disorders of the mind/brain very often times bridge themselves into other disorders.  I am certain that I have PTSD because of relationships in my past, as well as a physical condition I had many years ago.  My PTSD popped-up nearly ten years ago in the form of anxiety, that being Panic Disorder with panic attacks.  I am lucky that I have a very good psychiatrist that I see very three months, and she, along with a counselor that specializes in Panic Disorder, have helped me so much.  I am hopeful that during the nine months since you have been on AC, that you have been able to get some help, and that things have gotten better for you.  The very best to you!...  Chuck🐈

[jonathan123 2269]

Ah yes. Past relationships!!! The big mistake we all make is that we tend to think we have forgotten past traumatic events. Abuse, bereavement etc. can all play a major part in subsequent adult life. Emotions come 'out of the blue', or so it seems. But events that caused these emotions as a child are not brought back to memory, only the emotions. That's why anxiety is so difficult to understand. There's no mystery about it. You may have been hurt badly and, as a child, your brain safety mechanism comes into play at the time and you 'forget' what happened, or seem to. But nothing is ever lost. From the moment you are born the recorder is on. Medication and talking about it won't cure anxiety.

PTSD is a good example in adults. You are involved in a nasty accident. But you remember up to the accident but not the actual event. The brain has protected you from trauma. But the symptoms will arise again in the form of dreams and nightmares. Soldiers who have seen comrades injured or killed often have no memory of the events, but all the symptoms of extreme stress and anxiety.

Good counselling is so often helpful. Short term medication is too, but only that prescribed by your doctor. Getting to the cause and the root of the problem can take time and be expensive. But unless past traumas or upsetting events can be brought up and looked at as adults, then recovery can be difficult. So many begin some form of therapy then when the going gets tough, drop out. This is so common. They are the 'four week clients' that counsellors talk about. Few actually stick it out because bringing up past events is painful. But going through pain is essential rather than trying to forget or medicate it away. We avoid emotional pain. Of course we do, who want's to suffer? But it's so often that avoidance, not facing emotions, that perpetuates the problem.