question to put

[fibiray]

my question is what is the difference between having symptoms of adult children of alcoholic and post traumatic stress, does anyone know. the symptoms seem to be very closely the same with the exception of a few small things.

[janbear]

Fibiray, i keep hoping someone will come along and might shed some light on your question. I read a little on the net after i read your post at first. Still reading though. I certainly dont feel i can answer your question appropriately since i am not that familiar with ACOA. I have PTSD but i am not an adult child of an alcoholic.

[clean42day]

symptoms of adult children of alcoholic and post traumatic stress, does anyone know

Hi there ((((Fi))))

I am going to give you what I think, but I will also be posing this question in an professional psychological forum that I go to....to get a professional opinion too.

please know that I am NOT an expert....but do share both of these issues and have lived them.

for me ACOA issues have more to do with a slow, progressive, and chronic erosion of the true self. our view of self and the world around us was programmed in a dysfunctional way by unhealthy role models. our perceptions become skewed, we learn to be emotionaly dishonest, we guess at what normal and healthy is (we act as if alot). it is a slow process of developing a false self to be able to cope with the world, and developing some really unhealthy ego defense mechanisms in order to survive. ACOA issues go to the very core of who we are, how we percieve ourselves, and how we were taught to be, and how we view our place in the world. these issues always put "our core meaning or life purpose" in question.

PTSD for me was more of a traumatic event that occured that shook my foundations of safety as a human being, my sense of self, and put all of my personal power in question.

although the who, what, when, where, how and why may be different....I feel that looking at someone with these two issues
from the outside, on a surface level, the resulting symptoms parellel eachother and look very much the same. but characteristics and symptoms are very different terms. characteristics can be changed....symptoms must be treated. do you see the difference?

for me the recovery from these issues were and are still very different. ACOA and CODA is the reverse process of re-learning what healthy is, re-building what works, re-parenting myself with my view of a "spiritual parent" HP/GOD. Giving my life new meaning based on spiritual aspects, re-programming unhealthy dysfunctional coping skills and transforming them into healthy ones with personal boundaries that are functional. ect.............we do eventually RECOVER. I have new freedoms from the chains of my childhood. I have broken many patterns.

Recovering from PTSD on the other hand is more of a self management program. recognizing triggers, distinguishing past reality from present reality, staying in the now. distinguishing feelings of the origional event from residual feelings in the now. ect.............recovering from PTSD is much more focused therapy, Narrowing it down to the specifics and specifically treating each event and the resulting symptom. I have not yet experienced "complete" freedom from PTSD. I still deal with it, when It arises. although it has become less chronic and doesn't rule my life like it use to.....I believe I will on some level...live with it for the rest of my life. Will I ?ever? transform it into something new or positive? maybe on a mental, physical, and spiritual level....Yes. but on an emotional level......?????? I am not sure.

medical science, physchology, support groups,therapy, ect.....can certainly help....

but God is the one who ultimatley works miracles.... and my hope is that one day he will work another one of many with me.

I hope this helps.....

light and love

Gail

p.s. when I get an answer from the other forum I will post it here ok?


Check out this link: http://www.uncommonforum.com/glossary/ptsd.html

[flickchic]

hi, not sure if I can shed any further light than Gail already did; I vaguely suffer PTSD these days. Mine was as a result of the c/hood sexual abuse initially, then rape, then later in life severe dv and battering. I get nervous rather than fear, the nervousness does allow me to be protective of self in that I have an alertness and awareness; i.e re the battering, I was in the city y.day and had to stop at a particular set of lights, right o.side where he and I used to 'hang out' and only metres from where I was collected by an ambulance from a battering by my ex....when I stopped at the lights, I flicked the internal lock system to lock myself in the car....it was automatic....I gave it brief thought, felt ok with it and let it be.....I always lock myself in the car when I travel at night alone or just with kids anyways so not too far off norm. I used to fear to the max encountering this guy, little by little I have overcome those fears by reclaiming my own power, knowing I would now have the strength and courage to do my best to protect myself where as once I did not. I spent months and months even after we moved away from Perth (specifically for me to hide) carrying a mobile phone and personal alarm system on me everytime I walked out the door...even to water the garden etc. I still have my personal safety plans in place, however "no longer live in fear"....PTSD for me is fear based..... I was always jummpy, noises spun me out, my awareness of my surroundings was extreme...hypervigilant I believe that to be. Pure Fear based. Fear of reliving the trauma, living with the memories clear as on a daily basis...yes, I did have a lot of counselling to work through this fear and reclaiming my personal power. The earlier life issues again have all been fear based and yes required a lot of intensive treatment....much I have worked through myself, however I have also had a fair amount of professional help over the years.
I am an ACOA also and the dysfunctional belief systems are "learned" systems and behaviours and yes it is a different way of sorting through as it's about re-programming, loving and nurturing self.

I think the common factor.....for me has been self esteem, self worth, thinking I was so bad that I did deserve what I recieved....the dysfunctional family I grew up with also did a lot of damage to my slef worth and self esteem. I lost any sense of "who I am", and lived with "what I thought I was".....

there appears to be a lot of grief based issues associated with PTSD, which I don't understand to generally be a part of ACOA.....when we are traumatised through sexual abuse, assault, etc it feels like something is taken from us....particuarly from my own experience; as a child being sexualy abused, the innocence, freedom to simply be, those things are taken away from us. We learn coping technics that can become extreme also, splitting, disasociation, borderline PD, I don't believe those things generally come from the ACOA issues, more the PTSD....by moving into those coping ways of being, we do not grieve for we shut it all out.....so later on the grief issues will arise and that is where I had to have a lot of assistance initially...learning to grieve effectively to enable me to let go and move one. We need to grieve our percieved losses and actual losses to enable acceptance and moving on, I feel.
So grief and fear I believe are the two biggies of PTSD. Oh yes, another 'survival tool I aquired, which I know is as a result of PTSD is a high level of tolerance to physical pain. Through shutting off I found I could cope on a level with much battering later on in life. It has only been since recovery that I actually "feel pain" on a realistic level. I recal when I fell in the bathroom, a couple of years ago and fractured a rib and broke another...the pain was...well yeah...it just was!!!!....I have suffered many many busted/fractured bones including my ribs in the past and sure, they weren't comfortable, but I even recal my ex scoffing at me cause he siad there was no way I'd be able to sit upright on a bar stool with busted ribs and that I was talking cr*p. Well I wasn't, I just had high coping skills.

I just went for a wander and found an old Holyoake book..my childhood in persepective manual...."our emotions arise because of the way we percieve the situations and events, not the events or situations that dictate it."......events and situations dictate behaviour re PTSD.....there is quite a clear difference there. There is a really good section titled "whose in the driver's seat" a look at out beliefs, I'll try and scan it and post it under ACOA......changing our ABC's has got to be one of the best recovery tools I have come across...


for the PTSD
Exposure therapy can also be helpful, although it may seem stressful at first because it involves confronting the fears and reliving the event with the therapist to help the person learn how to cope.
I have done exposure therapy with all of my traumas and yes it can be very painful, however I honestly feel it is what enabled me to face many of my past fears of re-currence.

[fibiray]

Thanks to all those who replied I have read some very powerful stuff here. I was some time ago told that I may be pts due to the violence of my homelife. While I can definitely identify with the acoa I also have a tendency to swing towards pts. I think that I am only a mild case of it as I have a recall that is acute and as mentioned there is a lot of grief associated with it. This grief tends to keep me in the role of victim. As mentioned at 6 yrs sober I went to a therapist who had put me under hypnosis and it emerged that my mother had attemtped to murder my father and was indirectly making an attempt on my life. Sounds quite dramatic I know but I had pushed this down so far as a child because I could not deal with the reality of the situation. As mentioned I have had real anger issues and pts may explain why the anger seems to be a real problem with me.

"our emotions arise because of the way we percieve the situations and events, not the events or situations that dictate it."......events and situations dictate behaviour re PTSD.....there is quite a clear difference there. I can so relate to this point and certainly a very good point in detecting what is acoa and what is pts. thanks again to all those who shared.

[clean42day]

Hi FI...the answer to the quesiton i got in the other forum was not much more enlightening....but I will post it here anyway...........

Michael Lank
Site Admin



Joined: 22 Feb 2004
Posts: 2822
Location: Lewes, UK


I'm not sure that it is being the child of an alcoholic that creates problems. It is the parent's behaviour, whether alcoholic or not that potentially creates problems.

The symptoms and the treatment will depend upon the individual, their current situation and their goals.

The common symptoms of PTSD are flashbacks and repeated dreaming of the trauma.

PTSD can usually be quickly treated using the Fast Phobia/Trauma cure, or EMDR, EFT/TFT.
Tue Aug 01, 2006 7:08 am




ladygenovia
New Member


Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Posts: 6
Location: Oklahoma PTSD>


My husband was diagnosed with ptsd from bein in the Iraq war 3 years ago. PTSD.. symptoms can be flashbacks, night sweats, intrusive thoughts, depression, anxiety/panic, anger/irritability, even some paranoia. He has been diagnosed with sever chronic ptsd, dysthimia, agoraphobia, severe anxiety, panic disorder, and interexplosive disorder. Hope that helps in any way.

Stephanie

[clean42day]

my reply........

just some thoughts............

I do agree it is the "behavior" children are exposed to. for instance:

I child who repeatedly sees his alcoholic father beat his mother on a daily basis, or who is exposed to his mothers inability to protect herself. The high drama of living in an abusive alcoholic family creates an equally high tolerance for inappropriate and abuse behavior. after a period of time...these behaviors become the norm and the nightmares, flashbacks, re-living the events become normal too. Very few of these adult/children come forward to be diagnosed with Ptsd because they have lived with it for sooo long....ptsd becomes normal too. and they have no knowledge or information to call it what it is.

it seems to me it is almost impossible to seperate the two. Both disorders have to be addressed .

[janbear]

Thanks for sharing this Gail.