Hi. I'm another newbie, although not new to ptsd. I had a stress breakdown a few years ago, had lots of nightmares about stuff from my childhood (not pleasant). A counsellor I saw said that I should see a psychiatrist cos she thought I had ptsd. At that time, I was too scared to go down that road, so I just stayed with the counselling (and ssris) and things got better. I made a new start, new job, new area. Got on really well - much better than I had hoped. Then I got overloaded with work and had an unpleasant experience with an angry student (I'm a lecturer now). The nightmares returned, so I stopped sleeping, then I couldn't work - I guess those of you here know the drill.....

Anyway, I'm due to go for a psychiatric assessment next week. I'm absolutely terrified of it and feeling like I'm going crazy. The thing is, if I have got ptsd, that means the nightmares are based on things that are real. That I don't want to accept. I've been doing the denial thing for so long. Part of me hopes that I'm just crazy.

Whatever happens, I know I'm in for a challenge. I have been unable to talk to friends about this, and I don't have a supportive family. I hope nobody minds me posting this here, but it does help to know that there are other people who are dealing with this crap too.

Thanks for listening.