So here's my question. Chronic PTSD is PTSD that lasts. But, if PTSD is (currently) incurable, then wouldn't everyone with PTSD have chronic PTSD?

nic, I'm pretty sure Acute means: sudden (as in its onset) and severe (as in degree). Chronic as opposed to acute, speaks of the duration of time since PTSD was diagnose(able). Another words, a traumatic experience sustained today in an individual without PTSD, when left untreated could not only develop into PTSD months later and be diagnosable then, but would not be of a chronic nature, ...yet. Not until one lives with it for a long-standing period of time and, in my experience, finds that PTSD (it's imbalance) hasn't up and gone anywhere; then it could be classified as chronic.

So I'd figure that yes, everyone that goes on to live with PTSD for a long duration of time would then have chronic PTSD. But, it doesn't necessary mean that chronic PTSD spells any greater disaster, it's possible that with it's long-standing duration it may have become easier in some respects for an individual over such time to have accepted and processed much, and to manage it then for another who is still suffering in it's acute stages.

Now for me to keep it simple,...Something I could use practice in. Yes, chronic PTSD is just PTSD, yet already prevalent for a long period of time.

Hope

Thanks for the claification. I was wondering why some said chronic. It is like pain if you just got hurt it is treated as acute. If the pain has been going on for a long time it is treated as a chronic condition. So, I suppose most of us have chronic PTSD.
sunnydaze

I have to disagree. Chronic PTSD is in response to trauma that happens repeatedly over a period of time. I was sexually abused for over 10 years. Each and every occurrence was a trauma, during which I experienced the fight or flight response, and could do neither. THAT resulted in a chemical bath of my brain cells, and literally restructured how my brain now responds to certain stimuli. Therefore, it is CHRONIC in that it happened over, and over, and over again and I couldn't get away from it. Now I have a potpourri of mental and physical issues in direct relation to the multiple traumas, as opposed to someone who was raped once (equally traumatic) or the victim of a crime, etc.
PTSD is usually a reaction to one incidence of trauma, or a short duration of trauma (such as war veterans in combat). The current Iraqui / Afghanistan war veterans are presenting with more intense and repeated traumas (i.e. multiple IED hits) than previous wars.
Hope that clears up any confusion.

I think if PTSD has been diagnosised for a long time and one still has issues it is chroinc or as 2tiredtodeal says it could be chronic of repeated offenses. Both are right in my book. Anyone else have concept of this?
sunnydaze

My understanding has always been that if the symptoms of PTSD arise within one month of the trauma, it is considered an "acute" response. If the symptoms of PTSD arise after 3 months of the trauma, it is considered "chronic", and if the symptoms arise 6 months or later, it is then considered "delayed onset".

Also, my understanding is that if a person is traumatized repeatedly over a lengthy period of time, then it is considered "complex", not chronic.

Of course, I could be wrong, and the internet doesn't provide tons of information on this. Everything I've been able to find is pretty ambiguous.

Best,
Rachel

Ooops, sorry, my bad; I got a little agitated reading the original post, sorry. I did mean complex, not chronic.
There is a good website for definitive definitions, as they are doing much research now into all forms of PTSD: if you google PTSD, go to the VA web page, it's the first or second thing to come up. I think it's listed as the National Center for PTSD.
I apologize for my inaccurate response.

I thought chronic just meant PTSD that has lasted more than 3 months (ie it could start immediately but doesn't go away), acute is is shorter, and delayed onset is if it doesn't begin until 6 or more months later.

It seems that delayed onset and chronic could co-exist though. And complex has slightly different diagnostic criteria.

I'm actually not sure if I'm delayed onset or not. It's kind of hard for me to piece together when things started happening. Initially I really really slept a lot and was sort of in a dream world, and kept reliving things, it was later than symptoms diversified.

The National Center for PTSD is a great resource. They seriously changed my whole life!