PTSD and Rapid Mood Swings?
I was diagnosed as bipolar 2 from a psychiatrist but after my appointment today he said that he's unsure if it is bipolar. We know for sure I have some social anxiety, generalized anxiety and PTSD symptoms. I just get more confused after I leave my appointments and I just want everything to make sense. I was molested by my father during most of my childhood. Growing up I learned how to disassociate the event from my life. I barely think about it much anymore and when I do it is usually from a dream or a flash back. I've become emotionally numb to it most of the time and I push them away. It still affects my life tho in the sense of my mental health. I find myself cycling between anxiety, extreme anger, depression and being happy. Sometimes I just am completely numb or I experience derealization. These mood swings affect my relationship as I take it out on my loved ones. They never know what to expect. Does anyone else with PTSD experience extreme mood swings? Does anyone else feel numb to your past traumas or have pushed them away? Sometimes it doesn't even feel like it happened or I was a different person when it did. It is just all so confusing. All I know is I want to keep pushing forward and make my experiences worth it by being a success and helping others.
Absolutely. In my opinion it has nothing to do with bipolar disorder, but it's only the PTSD causing those symptoms.
To me it happens a lot that I switch from happy to *extremely* sad in a matter of minutes. I get random flashbacks that make me feel anxious and sad. Of course that leads to mood swings, derealization/depersonalisation etc.
Thanks for your response! I've been waiting for someone to reply. I think it has something to do with PTSD but the thing is, is I don't have flashbacks often. Maybe one per month but my mood swings are constant. They affect me everyday. Mostly it's anxiety, depression and anger and then I have like normal and generally happy days. So do you have mood swings regardless of your flashbacks?
Thank you!
@PerfectlyImperfectt21
Sorry this is sooo late, but to anyone reading...
You said the abuse went on throughout most of your childhood, and repeated abuse often causes complex PTSD, which can be characterized by non specific flashbacks, that means less visual flashbacks and less vivid nightmares, body memories (somatization of the pain or random body sensations that might connect to the events), and emotional flashbacks: a slight trigger and you find yourself experiencing the same emotions you experienced when you were right in the middle of the abuse, they seem to come form the present, because there's no image on your mind or sensation on your body to connect them to your past, and it might take a while to realize that those emotions are not rational, or proportionate to the present, and that the whole mindset is just a copy-and-paste from your past.
I think I get a lot of those. When I was depressed for most of the time, they were mixed up and confused with the depression, they could trigger it, worsen it, mix nicely up... but when I got out of depression and negative self-talk, it was clear as day that those mood swings didn't belong to depression, they came suddenly and regardless of my mood, and they followed specific triggers. They brought back depression, negative self talk, extreme black and white thinking, anxiety, fear and hysteria, they were so intense, and overwhelmed me in half a minute, and in max half a day they were gone completely, leaving me like "wtf???!!!" That's when I started to wonder if they were flashbacks
@Lotusflowers My councillor thinks I have PTSD after witnessing someone bleed to death last year. A lot happened in the immedate aftermath and I never really had a moment to go 'Woah, that just happened', if that makes sense.
I'm pushing my friends away and they're fighting to stay. They're good people but i have become a black cloud. I'm horrible to them for no reason and I get horrible mood swings. I love my friends yet I'm going to lengths to push them away even though I'd go crazy if I went even three days without hearing off them.
I booked my first PTSD counselling session about an hour ago.
I think I'm doing it more for my friends than for myself. These mood swings are like flicking a switch and it's become a malevonlent little voice that wants to harm the people i love, yet let the people who grieve me get away with everything.
I hope you understand i mean it out of companionship that it's reassuring to know that it's not only me who has had mood swings after something traumatic. And that if other people can get through it then so can I.
@Lotusflowers
You're both genious, this thread is exactly what I needed!
Not sure I have anything PTSD related, no formal diagnosis, but I was confused over those sudden extreme mood swings that happened in a matter of minutes and lasted from hours to... half a day more or less. Can't be bipolar, I wondered if they were emotional flashbacks, since most of the times I can identify triggers, and relate the emotions with my past