PTSD from childhood, can anyone realate? Does anyone have any similar experiences?

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I was diagnosed with PTSD almost one year ago and am still trying to understand it. My childhood was kind of chaotic. My parents were arguing about money all the time and screaming at each other every night. Both my parents are alcoholics, my Dad would come home drunk or high every night. Long story short, things at home were never stable. By the time I entered high school, my situation at home was effecting my school work. When I was younger I got used to my parents being out late. I was usually with them and would beg them to go home because I had school the next day. When my parents weren't out late, they brought friends to our house. It was mostly my Dad, as I got older my mom kind of slowly stopped partying as much as my Dad. I remember to this day, laying wide awake at night, I could hear my Dad's music turned up really loud and people yelling and laughing. Eventually by the end of the night my parents were having a screaming match. My mom would start an argument with my Dad over me having school the next day. She usually took it too far, cursing at him and sometimes hitting him. I remember it like it was yesterday, him telling her "God I would like to knock your teeth out right now! Your a crazy B****, you need to go back on your meds!". My mom used to write down all the things he said to her, it was heartbreaking to hear. So most nights growing up I cried myself to sleep, more often than not, my mom would join me in my room. She just couldn't be in there with my Dad. I remember telling her "We have to get out of here." She grab my hand and say "I know" with a crack in her voice. It sucked, and eventually when I got to high school I started missing school even more than usual. I used to love school but just never really had the opportunity to just focus on my education. My dad expected me to do well in school, to the point where I was scared to death of fialing. When I was younger, school was kind of my escape from my home life but eventually, it became jsut as bad. I had a friend, she was my best friends actually. She was like a sister to me but in a way she was my worst enemy. She always bosssed me around, was always making comments about my clothes and weight. I remember all the time I had to hide back my tears when she would call me out in front of a group of people for wearing the same jeans two days in a row. She knew that my parents didn't have much money for me to spend on clothing and when they did it was spent on unpaid bills or alcohol. There were times that a group of us would be at her house after school and she would let me eat at her house. All the other girls got pizza but no me, she said I didn't need it, I was already gaining too much weight. Sometimes it wasn't even the weight comments (even though I was not overweight.) it was the fact that I didn't have much food at home and just one slice of that pizza may have been the only thing I ate the rest of the day. She abused me, emotionally and physically. This post is already too long so I am going skip through the rest of the details. My depression started my sophmore year of high school, then my junior year my anxiety, and by my senior year I was dropped from high school because of low attendance. I was hospitalized for two weeks and after that I just couldn't bring my self to go back to school. I went back into my depression after being dropped from school. That lasted for almost one year. I eventually got into counseling and am seeing a psychiatrist. I have been taking Wellbutrin for almost a year and I think it has really helped. I overcame my anxiety and finally got my GED and am about to start classes at a community college. This may not seem like much but it was huge accomplishment for me. Getting my GED gave me so much anxiety and I just started holding it off. I feel like I have gone a long way the past few years but every time I feel like I am making progress, I remember something from my childhood. Random little things bring back all the unwanted memories and it just sucks. I haven't really been able to open up to anyone, even myself, about what went on during my childhood. I know I need to talk about it and address it.

Does anyone have any similar experiences? Any advice?

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  • Posted

    Hello Marie.

    Your story has reminded me of my own child hood listening to my own parents, but they are both passed over to a better place. When i was 59 years of age and he was 86 years old i confronted my father about my step mothers actions towards me, the more i opened up about the past i began to see the a surprised look on his face, he didn't know what she had been doing to me.

    But he was right in the way he replied to me , he said son let those memories go you cannot go back, forget about them, and i have, because they only bring to the surface feelings that i don't want.

    But that's me we all have to deal with the past in our own way, so be brave and try and move on with your thoughts, the past has gone think only of now and you will i feel see a change in yourself.

    Be patient Marie the good always comes to those who wait.

    God bless

    John

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