Hi Dubside,

Welcome to the forum. Firstly, doesn't sound like friends to me if they are constantly attacking you to begin with. Secondly, PTSD is a complicated beast when you get to the diagnosis stage. You sound like you have a trauma from what was traumatic for you, though I am not absolutely sure about that. To actually have PTSD, you need to suffer several key symptoms to be diagnosed. You could just have posttraumatic stress, which is very curable through good counselling.

It actually kind of sadens me telling people like yourself that you could have PTSD, as it is something I would never wish upon anyone. Firstly, you need to look at what symptoms you have, a PTSD self diagnosis as such. the below is a list of PTSD symptoms, or you can read the full list of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms here.

Basically, you MUST have a traumatic event to have PTSD. Without that, chances are you have an offshoot or partial components of PTSD, which can be cured with medication and good counselling. PTSD cannot be cured, and is a life long illness. You don't need all the below to be diagnosed with PTSD, but a high percentage of them, and the main area comes from the strength of each, which depends whether PTSD exists or not. You could have all the below symptoms, but have them so mildly or infrequently, that you would not be diagnosed with PTSD, and could be cured:

• recurring memories of the traumatic event which you can't seem to get out of your mind - Intrusive Thoughts
• recurring dreams of the trauma - Bad Dreams & Nightmares
• feeling that the traumatic event was happening again (hallucinations, flashbacks) - Reliving The Trauma
• things or events act as triggers which remind you or resemble your traumatic event - Flashbacks
• these triggers or reminders make you feel nervous, tense, generate panic attacks - Panic Attacks
• purposely avoiding thoughts, feelings or conversations about trauma - Withdrawn
• deliberately avoiding activities, places and situations about the trauma - Phobias
• when trying to recall the traumatic event you are unable to recall or remember certain things or important aspects that had happened - Memory Loss
• losing interest in people, things and activities (family, friends and hobbies) which were important to you prior to the traumatic event - Lack of Motivation
• feeling more emotionally estranged, separated or feeling cut off from others - Alienation
• feeling a markedly reduced ability to feel emotions, especially those associated wtih intimacy, tenderness and sexuality - Lacking Emotions
• difficutly falling or staying asleep - Poor Sleep
• experiencing irritability or outbursts of anger - Rage
• difficulty concentrating on tasks or completing tasks - Poor Concentration
• feeling overtly alert or watchful when you don't need to be - Ever Watchful
• having strong startle reactions - Edgy
• worrying about coping with everyday situations - Lack of Confidence
• difficulty keeping a regular job - Work Difficulties

I hope that list helps you a bit more. How do you rate yourself from that list of symptoms?