A living nightmare: A mask, painted by a U.S. Marine who attended art therapy to relieve post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD symptoms.
Its a sad fact today that PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is often misdiagnosed within the mental health industry in America by many psychologists and psychiatrists.
I think this stems from a general misunderstanding of what PTSD is and who is at risk of it.
Most people would agree that veterans for example who have been injured in combat are at high risk of PTSD because they have sustained a direct injury in a violent setting. But PTSD comes in many other forms as well, including sexual abuse and assault, domestic violence , being beaten or tortured, being locked down in prison are just a few of the examples of some of the traumatic events that can cause PTSD.
So it often goes misdiagnosed by professionals who mistake it as something else entirely.
Even in those cases where you do have a “qualifying diagnosis” of PTSD, you can still have a difficult time seeking out treatment for it.
To make matters worse, I have even had some doctors suggest to me that I didn’t have PTSD in the first place, despite the fact I had a qualifying diagnosis for it from another doctor. In this case the doctor actually misdiagnosed me as not having PTSD. Even after writing a letter from another doctor stating I had them PTSD diagnosis and indicating I was on a “cocktail” of anti psychotic medications to treat that very condition the doctor refused to admit he was wrong?
The doctor later refused to give me a copy of his psychological re-evaluation in that case, in an effort to frustrate my appeal.
I know the experience of being told you don’t have PTSD, when you live it everyday is very frustrating because it makes it that much more difficult to seek out specific treatments for it, like “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing” (or EMDR) – which is recognized as a highly effective treatment for this condition.
See video: EMDR Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing – How it works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJDrMDT_ezU
That is just one of the tragedies of being misdiagnosed – but it certainly isn’t the last.
I think there need to be more education given to psychiatrists about PTSD – so we can avoid such tragedies in the first place.
See also: See related article: Misdiagnosis of PTSD by The Department of Defense.http://www.ptsdsupport.net/ptsd_given_misdiagnosis.html
For more information on PTSD see website: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) here http://www.helpguide.org/mental/post_traumatic_stress_disorder_symptoms_treatment.htm