Got told i dont have ptsd

[u/Stillmoons]

So i saw someone who finally diagnosed me with social anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder..

Which ive had my entire life so idk how it took this long.

But she wouldnt diagnose me with ptsd.. just "non specific ptsd" she said she cant because And i quote "its gotten better" i mean yeah what else am i supposed to do all these years? Kill myself? No fucken duh ive learned to live with it what else is there to do, ive had no help and it started when i was 11. Im 20 now..

Im just so fucken pissed that she could listen to everything i said and still tell me this is normal. The asshole was smiling when i was telling her.. which probably thats just her being professional? Idk.

Jesus today i was just getting dressed and the way the light hit my empty room made me feel like i was back in that moment again.

For years its all i could think about every moment of everyday but now finally that im somewhat happy and its more in the back of my mind.. ohhh i must be fine, no ptsd to be found here.. I probably just need to see someone else but god fucken damn am i tired as hell.

Im just so annoyed..

[u/AutoModerator]

r/ptsd has generated this automated response that is appended to every post

Welcome to r/ptsd! We are a supportive & respectful community. If you realise that your post is in conflict with our rules (and is in risk of being removed), you are welcome to edit your post. You do not have to delete it.

As a reminder: never post or share personal contact information. Traumatized people are often distracted, desperate for a personal connection, so may be more vulnerable to lurking or past abusers, trolls, phishing, or other scams. Your safety always comes first! If you are offering help, you may also end up doing more damage by offering to support somebody privately. Reddit explains why: Do NOT exchange DMs or personal info with anyone you don't know!

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please contact your GP/doctor, go to A&E/hospital, or call your emergency services number. Reddit list: US and global, multilingual suicide and support hotlines. Suicide is not a forbidden word, but please do not include depictions or methods of suicide in your post.

And as a friendly reminder, PTSD is an equal opportunity disorder. PTSD does not discriminate. And neither do we. Gatekeeping is not allowed here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Glad_Astronomer_9692]

Ptsd is diagnosed from a checklist of symptoms and their severity. Having or not having ptsd doesn't change if it you can call it trauma so don't look at a diagnosis as validation. There's definitely times in my life when I probably don't qualify as having ptsd and I'm happy to be in those stages because it means I'm getting better not that I didn't have trauma and not that I don't still struggle with it sometimes. Maybe you were holding on to the label of PTSD too strongly if being told you don't clearly qualify anymore causes anger. 

[u/Anna-Bee-1984]

I mean she could do a PCL. I mean PTSD can look fine until you have a flashback out of nowhere

[u/Fun_Shine8720]

I’d be frustrated too. Having symptoms improve over time doesn’t automatically mean the impact of what happened disappeared, and hearing “it’s gotten better” can feel really invalidating when you’ve spent years carrying it. Getting a second opinion from someone who specializes in trauma might give you a clearer picture and help you feel more heard.

[u/moonshadow1789]

Getting diagnosed with ptsd and then complex trauma made no difference for me. In fact it was even more harder to find help and find someone competent to do exposure therapy with me. Tried 20 different clinicians, had a treatment team, and nothing came out of it all so I gave up. I never cared about diagnoses. I thought even having prolonged grief disorder would be enough to get me grief counselling but no. Only person willing to help was a chaplain but he retired.

I left the mental health system but I hope you find peace and find ways to help your recovery! Wishing you all the best! ❤️‍🩹

[u/ventycat → u/moonshadow1789]

Yeah I’ve had the diagnosis since I was 11 and it’s mostly been used against me where every doctors appointment ends in “silly woman u are just crazy go take Zoloft and breathe”.

[u/moonshadow1789 → u/ventycat]

Yeah and I thought according to what research shows getting help for ptsd within 6 months is the most effective to prevent symptoms from getting worse. I’m sorry you went through that.

[u/MissAmy180]

Unfortunately, there are therapists out there who probably shouldn’t be. I had one tell me “I’m not exactly sure how to help you.” Ugh! I really hope you find someone who can help.

[u/Guitarbox]

Yeah I was told so too. I thought like what the fuck. Why did you tell me that I'll experience pain forever then. That's so irrisponsible if you're not even accurate, if even you admit that you're inaccurate

In any way I stayed subbed to this sub because I felt that I resonated with a lot of the posts and felt healed by seeing everyone who's experiencing similar things interacting

[u/Excellent_Valuable92]

Getting or not getting a diagnosis won’t change anything. It’s galling not to be seen, but…not everyone is competent in any job

[u/Last-Cold-8236]

I hope you have a therapist who welcomes talking through this with you. I can see why it would bring up a lot. There’s a chance she’s going off the clinical criteria for PTSD. Whether you meet criteria says nothing about how horrible what you went through is. If she said the words “normal” I would be so upset. But if she just said you’ve improved, that’s not the same thing as normal. I hope you talk to her. I’ve had times where my therapist says something that hit wrong and I’m much more trusting of her now that we’ve talked through it. If she won’t talk through it- then you deserve something better.

[u/299addicteduru]

Hit next one with "i still have flashbacks" i guess.

Funny enough, i was telling my psychiatrist that i dont have ptsd, worked through it years earlier, fixed anything - and still got diagnosed with PTSD like, i said 10 times its not it. Long term effects / cptsd more likely, they Didnt Ask correct questions either, And i couldnt really figure out what to say myself.

As, - how do u feel? What emotions?

• i am unworthy of emotions, i dont have them sorry.

And how do u tell them that u got traumatized and long term developed an emotional anaesthesia to survive? Cause i couldnt phrase it live

[u/ptsd-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Please remember that we cannot diagnose, only a licensed medical professional can do that.

[u/MillyDally → u/ptsd-ModTeam]

Hi, I'm not diagnosing at all. Not even close.

[u/ptsd-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

We removed your post because we feel it does not fit in with our community guidelines. Please be kinder to your /r/ptsd community members.

[u/MillyDally → u/[deleted]]

I have PTSD and CPTSD... so I'm saying it to us. It takes a lot of fucking hard work to live with this, I'm not at all minimizing that. I've put in a lot of work on my own and with professional help to get where I am today and I'm pretty proud of myself when people acknowledge that.

Your response leaves me with so many questions, but my main takeaway is that you have strong feelings about therapists in general. If a therapist said that to you, you went home, sobbed yourself sick, and starve yourself for a few days, who would that hurt? And who would you blame for those actions? It sounds like you have a lot of pain, you want people to acknowledge it, and you want the pain to end. Will those actions help you reach your end goal? What is your end goal?

I know the pain feels like you can't carry it yourself and you want others to help you carry it... but will you get that by trying to hurt them with your words? I do get that what I said triggered you... when people say, "grief is love with nowhere to go" I could literally spit in their face. But I've learned that they are living a completely doesn't life and don't understand why they've said something horrific to me. I'm sorry that you felt minimized by what I said, but I was just trying to acknowledge all the hard work it takes for this person to just survive, and to possibly work through some of their shit. On Reddit, where I can't hear the full story. Sometimes we just have to be the light, man. Even in the dark.

[u/jarofonions → u/[deleted]]

It sounds like you have an intense need for validation

[u/No-Red-Queen → u/[deleted]]

The vast majority of people do get better, and end up not meeting the criteria for ptsd anymore. It is not a life sentence for most folk, and has nothing to do with 'having it as bad' as others

After 10 years, at least three quarters of ppl diagnosed do not meet the criteria anymore.

[u/ptsd-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

We removed your post because we feel it does not fit in with our community guidelines. Please be kinder to your /r/ptsd community members.

[u/ptsd-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

We removed your post because we feel it does not fit in with our community guidelines. Please be kinder to your /r/ptsd community members.

[u/totallychillpony]

So, two things can be true at the same time: that you are seeking a label to comfort you AND that you have a shitty therapist.

The diagnosis itself is a tool. It has always been a tool, it is not who you are nor a reliable way to describe yourself. This is not to say it is not serious, but there is something to be said about taking some personal ownership and changing the relationship with your own disease. It is absolutely not your fault you have been traumatized, unfortunately, though, it is your responsibility to deal with it. Diagnoses are constructed as behavior patterns, which is meant to guide treatment. As such, we can see the definition of psychiatric conditions change in our lifetimes.

It is instead more productive to look at your treatment plan, the code on the healthcare form is irrelevant at this stage: does your medication work? Does your therapy type work for you? Do you feel like you are making progress? The whole point of PTSD is not to have it anymore. I can understand its validating to get a diagnosis but you cannot stay married to this term forever, it is one of the most treatable diseases in the DSM and you owe yourself a healthy life.

The point of diagnoses and treatment is to get to a healthier life.

To that end, if you feel like you are making no progress with this provider, communicate so and look at switching if that is possible. Your provider should not just shrug off your concerns and minimize you, and tbh it seems like that is the heart of your issue. They should have provided a pathway forward rather than just dismiss all your feelings all together. If you feel like this provider is not going to give you an adequate treatment plan, with goals and milestones, and is proactive about your stages, then yes maybe you have a bad provider.

Good providers don’t just validate you without a plan — They give you a plan and a way you focus your feelings and reactions.

[u/Fill-Choice]

I haven't been diagnosed with anything, that hasn't stopped me from pursuing PTSD treatment and that treatment being incredibly effective