sorry I edited the message but it didn't worked, so again:
Roerich didn't say that. That DES-NOS is the same as complex ptsd it is something I was taught and have learned and red about.
Those new (sub)classifications aren't helping the sufferers in anyway.
Once a psychiatrist said that they should let go of their bible (DSM) and start focusing on their patients. The DSM is not a manual with diagnosis, it is a classification system. And psychiatry is not an exact science. There are no lab results or any other prove like in the other fields of medicine. In psychiatry you have interpretations of theories made on the basis of symptoms and brain scans. You could call it empiric science maybe. We try something on the basis of a theory and see what it does and if it works. But that isn’t enough to say afterwards, okay so this theory is a correct theory because it stays a theory.

i suppose i didn't even have ptsd at the time of the 911 stuff, but i deliberately stayed away from the televsion reports, just scanning the newspaper articles even. did the same with the katrina situation. i could feel it distressing me, so i just "didn't do it." i still don't watch tv, and very seldom read the paper because some things are going to shake me up too much. as far as people being over-diagnosed with ptsd--where can we go to give ours back, lol?

that's funny, imagine yourself making an appt. with your psych. just to return his diagnosis. "Thank you for giving it to me, but I don't need it anymore. Here you have it back" :-)
("and by the way, it didn't help me very much")

avoiding triggers is normal, you yourself decide how much you can handle
I sometimes expose myself to tv and newspapers for a while and then quit when the symprtoms are getting worse. A signal that it is enough for the time being.

hay I saw this and it explains some of the confusion about the classifications of ptsd. In the new DSM (V) they are most likely going to make this distinction. If they're going to use these names I don't know because what I red is that complex has also been referred to as DES-NOS.


Complex PTSD

A National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet
By Julia M. Whealin, Ph.D.

What are the differences between the effects of short-term trauma and
the effects of chronic trauma?

The diagnosis of PTSD accurately describes the symptoms that result
when a person experiences a short-lived trauma. For example, car
accidents, natural disasters, and rape are considered traumatic events
of time-limited duration.

However, chronic traumas continue for months or years at a time.
Clinicians and researchers have found that the current PTSD diagnosis
often does not capture the severe psychological harm that occurs with
such prolonged, repeated trauma. For example, ordinary, healthy people
who experience chronic trauma can experience changes in their
self-concept and the way they adapt to stressful events. Dr. Judith
Herman of Harvard University suggests that a new diagnosis, called
Complex PTSD, is needed to describe the symptoms of long-term trauma.

What are examples of captivity that are associated with chronic trauma?

Judith Herman notes that during long-term traumas, the victim is
generally held in a state of captivity. In these situations the victim
is under the control of the perpetrator and unable to flee.

Examples of captivity include:

Concentration camps
Prisoner of War camps
Prostitution brothels
Long-term domestic violence
Long-term, severe physical abuse
Child sexual abuse
Organized child exploitation rings

What are the symptoms of Complex PTSD?

The first requirement for the diagnosis is that the individual
experienced a prolonged period (months to years) of total control by
another. The other criteria are symptoms that tend to result from
chronic victimization. Those symptoms include:

* Alterations in emotional regulation, which may include symptoms such
as persistent sadness, suicidal thoughts, explosive anger, or
inhibited anger

* Alterations in consciousness, such as forgetting traumatic events,
reliving traumatic events, or having episodes in which one feels
detached from one's mental processes or body

* Alterations in self-perception, which may include a sense of
helplessness, shame, guilt, stigma, and a sense of being completely
different than other human beings

* Alterations in the perception of the perpetrator, such as
attributing total power to the perpetrator or becoming preoccupied
with the relationship to the perpetrator, including a preoccupation
with revenge

* Alterations in relations with others, including isolation, distrust,
or a repeated search for a rescuer

* Alterations in one's system of meanings, which may include a loss of
sustaining faith or a sense of hopelessness and despair

What other difficulties do those with Complex PTSD tend to experience?

Survivors may avoid thinking and talking about trauma-related topics
because the feelings associated with the trauma are often overwhelming.

Survivors may use alcohol and substance abuse as a way to avoid and
numb feelings and thoughts related to the trauma.

Survivors may also engage in self-mutilation and other forms of self-harm.

There is a tendency to blame the victim.
A person who has been abused repeatedly is sometimes mistaken as
someone who has a "weak character."

Because of their chronic victimization, in the past, survivors have
been misdiagnosed by mental-health providers as having Borderline,
Dependent, or Masochistic Personality Disorder. When survivors are
faulted for the symptoms they experience as a result of victimization,
they are being unjustly blamed.

Researchers hope that a new diagnosis will prevent clinicians, the
public, and those who suffer from trauma from mistakenly blaming
survivors for their symptoms.

PFFT.. and what difference is there between PTSD and that? NONE.. just more money making, labeling crap. PTSD is PTSD. Period.

What a crock.

bec

yes it's a complex matter but only because so many symptoms aren't classified as PTSD, they call them DES-NOS symptoms, they are always associated with PTSD and together they are called Complex PTSD
it's just because the regular treatments for "normal" PTSD didn't work for this group
it all started with "soldiers heart" and it’s evolving ever since
like in the article of map9 the metaphor about finding more and more pieces of the elephant ;-)
I started a thread about this subject

I've read it the other thread already!

I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD.. it's just that it seperates us as sufferers and that doesn't help us in the least..

If it makes them stop handing out dual diagnosises.. then I'll shut up.. cause that really drives me batty!

LOL

bec

I am afraid that will never happen
1 patient and 6 psychiatrist equals 6 different diagnoses/classifications
the diagnosis is often a reflection of the person behind the psychiatrist itself, his own life experiences, his age, his own life events, social background, skills, his own world, culture, values, religion etc.
remember it is all about the interpretation of the presented symptoms and the interaction between patient and psychiatrist, the duration of their contact with eachother, so many variables so many classifications. Therefore they call them classifications and not diagnoses

Sorry, just to get back to the 9/11 thing...I realized at some point that 9/11 was one of the things that sort of sparked my ptsd. There were other factors as well, but I still point to that event as the first Trigger to all the turmoil I've experienced since, because it brought up old feelings of being unsafe no matter what; those feelings had been buried for a long, long time.

I'm far from the education as a lot on this site! But must agree, I wonder if past experiences, then whitnessing the #2 plane plow into the South Tower, & being close enouh to see the people jumping is part of my problems today!:die: