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International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience | ISSN: 1522-4821 | Volume 20
November 26-27, 2018 | Los Angeles, USA
Psychiatry, Mental Health Nursing and Healthcare
World Summit on
Applied Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental Health
International Conference on
&
Comparison between methods of diagnosis re complex PTSD and their application in the 1960s and
today
Margaret Reece
Hope Restored, UK
Statement:
The traditional model of diagnosis, based on overt symptoms is outdated and leads to many misdiagnoses,
inaccurate treatment and potentially ruined lives. Medical advances in the last 5-10 years relating to the diagnosis of C-post-
traumatic stress disorder, using physical evidence by means of imaging and biofeedback would revolutionize diagnoses, but it
will be in vain unless:
1. The knowledge is made available to health professionals at all levels.
2. The treatment is made accessible to the masses, not just the select few, who can afford it.
Purpose:
To integrate personal and professional perspectives relating to diagnoses and treatments of C-PTSD in the 1960s
and today. No predictable adult attachment figure in my childhood to provide the necessary nurture needed for me to develop
healthy life-coping strategies led to cumulative trauma. At age 19, I shut down, could feel no emotion other than fear and was
incapable of rational thought. I was hospitalized for 3-4 years, given inappropriate treatment and discharged to manage what
I considered to be a hostile world alone. In the 1960s, the traditional DSM classification was used, based on overt symptoms.
C-PTSD as a diagnosis was virtually unheard of by most professionals. Clients were guinea pigs; many lives were ruined by
inappropriate treatment, some institutionalized for life. Today, DSM classification is still the main source of diagnosis. No one
is exempt from trauma, albeit in varying degrees. But as each of us is unique, so are our responses. How can one method of
diagnosis fit everyone? But doctors do need guidelines. There have been tremendous advances, especially in the last 5-10years,
which would enable doctors to base their diagnoses on physical evidence using imaging and biofeedback.
Result:
Diagnoses can be made, based on the root cause, not just overt symptoms.
Conclusion:
Unless this knowledge is made accessible to all professionals and the treatment made affordable to the masses,
misdiagnoses and ruined lives will remain as before.
Biography
Margaret Reece BA Hons is passionate about helping people with C-PTSD overcome their struggles. Through her life experiences of C-PTSD and the research of
leading trauma experts, she aims to narrow the gap between therapist and client. A childhood, devoid of any predictable adult attachment figure, plus cumulative
trauma, led to both emotions and thought processes shutting down. She was hospitalized, aged 19, for circa four years, given 30-40 ECTs, insulin therapy and
medication; no success. She divorced herself from professional help to avoid lifetime institutionalization. In her sixties, she sought professional help; she had been
misdiagnosed, aged 19, with what would now be known as a schizo-affective disorder and inappropriate treatment given. Two further misdiagnoses followed within
the last ten years. The antipsychotic medication she had taken for 56years became unavailable, no warning; no substitute available. She set out to transform
herself and others. Her book, Hope Restored: A guide to embracing the storms of C-PTSD is self-help, interspersed with memoir. It is being published later this year.
margaret.reece@btinternet.comMargaret Reece, Int J Emerg Ment Health, Volume 20
DOI: 10.4172/1522-4821-C5-023