I'm very confused

[Dee]

Kizzie,

I see the new childboards.  Each seems to have symptoms and I think causes.  I can't seem to remember exactly.  Yet I feel some segregation.  What about us that were re-victimized as an adult?  Also, are symptoms different?  I get if there were causes for adults and causes for childhood, but completely separate?  I don't know, right now it looks like two different forums.  Very, very confused.

[Dee]

I just went back and looked and it is separate for everything to include treatment.  Are there two different types of CPTSD with two different types of symptoms and treatments?

[Contessa]

Hi Dee,

I was thinking the same thing with segregation, but in my mind I don't see why you cannot contribute to both childboards with what you have described.

I think cptsd is just that, but from discussions in the original board there appears to be a distinction between adult and childhood onset with regard to causes and some symptoms. I rarely contributed to these sections of the board as I do not identify with some of these causes and symptoms. Maybe treatment is a little different, not sure.

I'm not sure if that helps, but that's how I see the changes. As far as I see, jump right in! I hope to chat with you in the forum

[Dee]

So my questions is will you read both areas and contribute, or will you stay in one?  I certainly value everyone's experience and input.

[radical]

I also experienced substantial trauma as a child and as an adult.  Is the onset time the important factor?

I've often noticed differences between people who were always physically disabled, and those who acquired similar disabilities as an adult.  Thing is, I also have felt myself functioning pretty normally previously as an adult, and wasn't diagnosed until after adult trauma. 

I feel wary about splitting into two groups, partly because I fear I wouldn't entirely fit into either, also I feel anxious about a kind of "elite" adult-onset dynamic because I've known people who became disabled as adults be at pains to dissociate themselves from people who were disabled children.

[Max]

I also experienced substantial trauma as a child and as an adult.  Is the onset time the important factor?

Me too.  Symptoms in general are so unique to the individual based on so many factors including age and personal experiences.  How two children in the same environment can be affected differently, etc.  If I remember correctly,  the excerpt posted about attachment therapy indicated it can occur from adult relationships as well.  Honestly, about the new boards, I felt excluded since mine started in childhood. I was not planning to post there.  Which is ok, since it helps others.

As a side note, I read an article about PTSD and why some soldiers come back with PTSD and others do not.  They found that those who do also had difficult childhoods.  I don't know how true it is or if it was an absolute, but thought it was interesting.

[Kizzie]

My symptoms developed because of childhood trauma so I will not be posting in the adult onset forum, but I will be reading with interest.  This is a bit of a pilot to see what the needs of members who developed CPTSD as adults needs are because there may be differences despite ending up at the same place (with Complex PTSD). 

For example those with adult onset CPTSD are dealing with trauma experienced as adults so presumably will not have the same developmental arrests as those who are traumatized as children.  The trauma they experienced is in the near past as opposed to the far past (i.e., they may not have Inner Child issues; it may take less work to bring the trauma to the surface and process it because it is not buried as deep or for as long and these members have a more "normal" past to draw on; there may be less damage to their nervous system and fewer, less longstanding co-morbid conditions, etc). 

I'm not exactly sure whether and how the separate forum will turn out, but I think it's important to give it a try.  If there isn't enough traffic or things are not that much different in terms of symptoms, treatment and recovery, etc., the threads can easily be merged back into the original sub-forums.