this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
12 points (92.9% liked)
Melbourne
1870 readers
54 users here now
This community is a place created for the people of Melbourne and Victoria. We are a positive, welcoming and inclusive community. We might not agree about everything, but we always strive to stay civil and respectful.
The focus of our discussions is based around things that affect Victoria, but we are also free to discuss our local perspective on wider issues. Or head to the regular Daily Random Discussion thread to talk about anything.
Ongoing discussions, FAQs & Resources (still under construction)
Adoption Certificate for Nellie, the Daily Thread numbat (with thanks to @Catfish)
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
There's a difference. OCD is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The most well known symptom is being compelled to do a certain thing over and over until it is "right", such as turn off a light switch multiple times until you get it "right", or washing your hands until they bleed because you can see "germs" still.
PTSD is when a person experiences and extremely traumatic event, such as war zone combat, victim of an assault, etc. the brain will rewire and enact pathways to "protect" you from the event/memory. This leads to the brain not storing the memory in long term memory, but always in short term, so flashbacks (essentially being teleported back to the traumatic event) occur frequently as the brain thinks the short term memory is a new event that is happening.
CPTSD is similar, but it's Chronic or Complex. This means a person has experienced trauma over a long period of time, or multiple times. I have this. This can be caused by being stuck in an extremely abusive relationship (be it romantic or familial), and the brain has a plethora of short term memories not stored correctly, so the triggers for a flashback are numerous and esoteric. The flashback won't just be one event, it could be multiple different events.
That's a simplified explanation.