A person sent me an email just yesterday asking if I knew where they could find counsellor's and physcians who are more specialists within PTSD. I actually had to stop and think about that after reading it, because I didn't really know, well... nothing came to mind anyway. Then I though about this, and I thought about the majority group that is generally associated to PTSD, being military.

So, the answer actually lay within me all the time, I just had to find it. Regardless whether your military or not, more often than not, military support groups, ie. main National groups and bodies, government associations, etc etc, will generally have a list of doctors, counsellors and so forth, all off whom are specialists in PTSD, because they have generally been dealing with military PTSD since Vietnam.

What came flooding back to me was something my own doctor said to me when I was seeing him, in that I asked him if all he did was PTSD now, to which he replied, "No". He specialised in PTSD, though still took on a range of clients that he felt comfortable with to actually help. Then I asked if his PTSD clients where always military, to which he told me, they used too be when he first started with PTSD and Vietnam veterans, then as time went on, he was more known as a PTSD specialist, and VVCS and counselling services around the area sent patients to him whom they suspected had PTSD for official diagnosis, because basically the man could tell within a few minutes of looking at you, and talking with you.

So, the answer to the question is, seek out your military support services and enquire with them about PTSD specialist counsellors and physicians within your area. Again, these people see everyone, not just military, its just that military may be their main role, though they generally treat everyone. So these type of organizations are a good source to get straight to the experts in the field, and hopefully provide you the sufferer / possible sufferer a lot less stress with misdiagnosis and so forth from physicians and counsellors whom have little exposure or experience with PTSD.

I thought about this further, and what popped into my mind was, if I was raped, where would I go? I wouldn't go looking through the phone book or military counsellors, I would go looking for rape groups and organizations to provide me with the specialists directly, so I get stuffed around a whole lot less. Now if that rape developed into PTSD also, then those sources may know experts in the field, or you actually do then move onto military groups and organizations around you to find the experts in the field.

I hope that helps you... and thanks to the persons (no names) that asked me that question.