5 replies to this topic

[jack black]

i came across a wonderful series of lectures by Tim Fletcher on complex trauma (link below). i was earlier familiar with the cPTSD, read the Pete Walker book (Complex PTSD: From surviving to thriving), and i was unsure if it applies to me or not. After hearing the description by Fletcher, i came to realize it matches my (not the best, but not terrible) childhood and various mental difficulties very well. like 100% match. now, i accepted that all those undiagnosable mental difficulties in me and my family member are simply signs and symptoms of abnormal development while exposed to complex trauma.

 

to rehash my previous postings, i’ve been diagnosed previously with depression, dysthymia, and adjustment disorder, but had doubts about validity of those. i also meet some or most criteria of atypical depression, BD, BPD, ASD, ADHD. i also have addiction personality with various soft addictions now or in the past (as escape and self-treatment).

 

some say that 90% of all psychiatric diagnoses in the general population is simply due to developmental complex trauma. based on my experience, i agree. the worst part is the complex trauma is passed from one generation to another (i see it in 3 generations in my family).

 

the link is here, first lecture of 8 in this series (he has so many more):

 

 

please enjoy and discuss!

 

PS: sorry for typos and mistakes in the title. i see no way to edit it.

 

Edited by jack black, 17 February 2021 - 07:32 PM.

[Mr Serendipity]

Well in my case I reckon it is. I’ve gone through emotional flashbacks which are known among cptsd and had a traumatic childhood. But I’ve recently been suffering from mania I’ve had a hard time controlling, and have had OCD all my life (though recently it’s been it’s least apparent), and have had bouts of suicidal depression. Oh and paranoia, ahedonia, sexual anhedonia (no orgasm for 16 years now), mood swings, irritability, anger issues, addictive personality.

 

I’ve tried everything from A-Z when it comes to supplements (and some drugs), and think I found a stack that helps manage them, but it’s no cure.

 

So I guess a lot of us are waiting on cures to come into existence, or therapy’s that are highly effective.

 

I think a lot of mental illness exist on the same spectrum, so I think for example if they find an effective cure for bipolar, it will have a knock on effect on a lot of the others like schizophrenia, OCD, PTSD, etc... but that’s just an assumption.

Edited by Jesus is King, 21 February 2021 - 04:53 PM.

[Mr Serendipity]

 

 

the worst part is the complex trauma is passed from one generation to another (i see it in 3 generations in my family).

 
This part I disagree with. What I’ve noticed in people is whether they have selfish tendencies or not. My wife and her two sisters were abused, but my wife’s sister is the most loving mother, and my wife is kind and upbeat, both of which suffer from PTSD and flashbacks. However her mother, which I have no doubt has her own trauma, has selfish tendencies, the same with my father who had no trauma from his upbringing.

 

So I think it depends on the person. There are those who suffer from mental illness and struggle with its symptoms and fall, but only have good intention. While others who suffer from the same (or don’t suffer from mental illness) but are very selfish and only think of themselves, and don’t care who they hurt including their own children.

 

An extreme example you can take is poor people in a poor country. They’ll be some parents who would sell their children for sex just for that little bit of extra money, and they’ll be others who with what little they have, would protect them and never do such a thing. And then others who sell themselves just to provide for their children.

 

Personally I don’t think wealth, status, or trauma has anything to do with the intention of peoples hearts.

[Hip]

It should be pointed out that the majority of psychiatrists and psychologists are heavily biased in their research into the causes of mental health diseases. 

 

The majority never even consider physical causes of mental ill health that arise from neurological disease or dysfunction in the brain, but solely focus on psychological or psychosocial factors arising from life events and traumatic experiences.  

 

This bias is in part because many psychiatrists and psychologists are not intellectually equipped to understand the complex biological subjects of neurology and brain function, so they instead take the easy route, and play with theories like trauma as being the cause of mental health.

 

Yet as we learn to probe the physical brain deeper and deeper, we increasingly find that there are major physical dysfunctions in the brains of people who suffer mental health illnesses like major depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, OCD, etc. So it is increasingly looking like mental illness is caused by physical dysfunction in the brain. In particular, new research is showing brain inflammation (which may be due to a brain infection) is behind a lot of mental health conditions.

 

So generally psychiatrists and psychologists are likely looking in the wrong place in their search for the causes of mental illness. They are looking in the mind, and how life events affect the mind. But the answer may actually be in the brain. 

 

For much of the 20th century, ever since Freud, psychiatrists and psychologists have been looking at how life events might trigger mental illness, but even after a 100 years of research, they have not really found much connection between life events and mental health conditions. So it is looking like life events do not play any major role.

 

Psychiatrists and psychologists have been barking up the wrong tree for 100 years, and many are still doing so.

 

 

Though the younger generation of psychiatrists and psychologists tend to have more interest and understanding of brain physical dysfunction theories of mental illness. So there is hope that eventually we will be barking up the right tree. 

 

 

 

The brain and the mind are a bit like a string musical instrument, and the sound that instrument makes. The instrument is the brain, the sound it makes is the mind. In other words, we can think of the brain as the instrument that creates mind.

 

Now if the sound of the instrument is out of tune and discordant, you know that the cause of that discordance is rooted in the instrument itself. It is the strings which are out of tune, and need to be fixed. Likewise, when the mind becomes "discordant" with mental health, the cause will probably be found in the brain.

Edited by Hip, 22 February 2021 - 12:53 AM.

[Mr Serendipity]

Well I believe is it can be a bit of both, or either.

 

The most obvious case being soldiers and PTSD. They might not be physically injured or had an infection, but they experienced something so traumatic that it changed the way their mind works and now struggle with a mental illness.

 

But I also believe brain injury, inflammation, parasites, infection, and even gut health can cause or attribute mental illness. So personally I don’t think it’s just one or the other.

 

I also think the mind can cause physical changes in the brain. Just like when someone imagines a lemon and their mouth starts salivating a little bit more, or how Pavlov trained dogs to salivate when a bell rang. Who’s to say many subconscious pavlov conditionings don’t exist in someone with mental illness as result of abuse, which physically and continually alter the brain until they’re dealt with.

 

So I believe both physical and mind can attribute to mental illness.

[Hip]

Well I believe is it can be a bit of both, or either.

 

The most obvious case being soldiers and PTSD. They might not be physically injured or had an infection, but they experienced something so traumatic that it changed the way their mind works and now struggle with a mental illness.

 

But I also believe brain injury, inflammation, parasites, infection, and even gut health can cause or attribute mental illness. So personally I don’t think it’s just one or the other.

 

I also think the mind can cause physical changes in the brain. Just like when someone imagines a lemon and their mouth starts salivating a little bit more, or how Pavlov trained dogs to salivate when a bell rang. Who’s to say many subconscious pavlov conditionings don’t exist in someone with mental illness as result of abuse, which physically and continually alter the brain until they’re dealt with.

 

So I believe both physical and mind can attribute to mental illness.

 

 

The interesting thing about PTSD on the battlefield is that until recently, PTSD was seen as something purely caused by the stress and horror of war. And there is no doubt that severe stress and severe emotional turmoil can have an effect, as you can get PTSD from a bitter divorce, for example.

 

But there is now a new understanding that the shock wave (blast wave) from an explosion on the battlefield can cause microscopic damage in the brain, as the shock wave passes through the brain. A shock wave is a special type of sound wave caused by explosions, and will travel through the body and brain invisibly. You may think you are unscaved, because you were not hit by any of the shrapnel from the explosion; but the invisible shock wave can cause microscopic lesions throughout your brain. This may then result in PTSD. 

 

In the first world war, you had shell shock, which most likely was also largely due to this microscopic lesion brain damage from exploding shells all around you. 

 

This blast wave PTSD is all very new research. Some info here.

 

 

 

The trouble with psychiatrists and psychologists is that this sort of physical damage to the brain research does not float their boat, they prefer to give psychogenic explanations rather than physical or biological ones.

 

It seems to me that we should be doing lots of research into blast wave PTSD, as soldiers are surrounded by explosions in the heat of battle. This could be a major factor which explains why so many soldiers suffer PTSD when they come home, and why so many commit suicide, which is extremely sad. Much of this could be down to blast wave brain damage.

 

But so far I have seen very little in the way of blast wave brain damage research from psychiatrists and psychologists, even though this has been known for many years now. This is the problem you get when psychiatrists and psychologists have little interest in investigating physical and biological causes of mental health.

Edited by Hip, 22 February 2021 - 02:53 PM.