Undiagnosed
So Im 18 years old, not diagnosed with PTSD or other trauma based disorders. However, I would like some advice. I have significant trauma surrounding repeated encounters with infidelity (myself and others affected), and I exhibit some symptoms, as my therapist suggested. My therapist is not qualified to diagnose me, but Id like to have validation that I can be struggling with stress after infidelity, as it was just as much traumatic for me.
@chaitealattyay
You dont need a diagnosis to have your problems count as valid. But to get a diagnosis will help, as youll have a better understanding of your symptoms (I hope) and to have this diagnosis will give you better access to treatments.
Your problems are valid and you deserve help, which I really hope youe get. Please get assessed. Having a diagnosis can change your life and how you look at yourself.
I just found out a few hours ago that I got diagnosed as depressed a whole month ago. It explains a lot, and now I have access to medication and am starting an antidepressant tomorrow. I even feel a little better just knowing.
It might sink in right away, it might take a while to really grasp it. But the first step to recovering from something is to accept you need help, and part of that is to look for it. Find out if you have PTSD or something similar. Then you can take her next step on your journey to recovery. Remember, that here on 7cups, we are here for you, and we care.
Im glad you reached out.
💜💜💜
I stand in a similar position to you. Im currently 20, never got diagnosed nor assessed for mental illnesses. The first, last and only time I ever openly showed distress, the whole extended family lashed out at me for having inappropriate/wrong thoughts and my parents wouldnt have born such a mad-in-the-head child because they are both decent people (weirdly, or ironically enough, when my immediate family immigrated, parents apparently felt concerned that they seemed a little mentally unwell themselves). I dont even know what exactly is wrong with me, but I suspected some degrees of depression (symptoms either dont fit what the book says or not pronounced enough to clearly define; I do experience meltdown episodes that escalate in severity once in a while, following some trigger or just out of the blue).
I fear that someday my condition, whatever it is, will consume me entirely. Someday it will call every occasion that went wrong, every mistake Ive done, every failure Ive committed, every wish broken and every dream shattered, every regret and lamentation back to flood my mind, so overwhelming my mind probably just... blue-screened. Ill then end up either dead or so disturbed Im not even know what is me.
Alas, even though being undiagnosed makes things progressively worse, something inside me secretly wishes I would somehow be able to pull myself together, back to whomever the better self I was...
A good therapist or psychiatrist can make the determination of PTSD but make sure you find one who has clinical experience in the disorder. I was misdiagnosed multiple times mostly because PTSD is a relatively new disorder although it has had other names in history.