New Member looking for support with complex PTSD.

Annotate · ‎02-03-2019

Hi There,

I was diagnosed with PTSD about six years ago after prolonged traumatic events at work. Counselling revealed the importance of delving into childhood traumas that I had learned to live with as well burried unspoken aspects of my past. It has become clear, that coming to terms with PTS and overcoming it to make the future as positive and rich as possible involves finding a specialist who deals with complex PTSD. Many claim to, but really, complex means complex, thinking outside classic cases. I found a great support group on Facebook which has put reasearch and great resources into my hands. What I need to find is now is a specialist who really does focus on complex PTSD, because I’m kinda tired of putting time and effort into building therapeutic relationships only to find that my case is actually more complex than they thought and not really what they comfortably take on. My life is moving in a really positive direction, I’d like to deal with this.

Summer Rose · ‎03-03-2019

Hi Annotate

Welcome to bb and thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry that you're unwell but I was so glad to hear the positivity in your post. You really sound ready for the right therapist.

I know your pain. I care for a child with OCD and we also had a challenging time finding the right person to help. It is frustrating, demoralising and costly (financially and to your health).

My daughter was only 13 at the time of onset so the job of finding help fell to me. We first followed a recommendation from our GP. This was a disaster.

So what I did was to call the bb helpline on 1 300 22 4636 for advice and names of practitioners. I researched on line and then made a shortlist. I then interviewed these doctors, using the template of questions to ask your therapist, which is on the bb website. Then I introduced my daughter to my chosen psychologist. They clicked and we were in business.

It took time but we got there in the end. I wish you the best of luck with your search and hope we can continue talking.

Kind thoughts to you

romantic_thi3f · ‎05-03-2019

Hi Annotate,

Welcome to the forums and thank you for being here.

Summer Rose has given you such a warm welcome and great advice so I'll try not to repeat what she's said here.

A big credit to you for wanting to find a therapist who deals with PTSD, and I'm sorry you've spent time building relationships that haven't been helpful for you in the long run.

There are a couple of things you can try -

- https://www.psychology.org.au/Find-a-Psychologist (You can enter your location and filter by topic).

- Google search. Many psychologists will have their own website/practice so you can find someone who has a special interest in PTSD. For example "Adelaide" "Psychologist" "PTSD". Often in practitioner profiles they'll list their special interests, or you could see if they've done any additional training in trauma.

- A referral from your GP. If a psychologist were to see this referral and see PTSD knowing they can't help, it's going to spare your time and theirs; so it could be a helpful way of filtering out ones that aren't for you.