Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

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I have PTSD from sexual abuse, severe emotional and mental abuse. I have isolated myself from other people all my life. I pushed my friends away and drove off a few boyfriends because I just couldn't handle it. I am so afraid of getting close to others that I avoid people at all times. I don't have any friends or a boyfriend. I'm afraid of men too, even the mailman....I just can't function around them. I have an episode where I shut down and start shaking, sweating, and crying. If someone yells at me or at someone else, I shut down and start trembling. I stop responding to my environment or the person who is yelling at me. I try to stop reacting as a way to make that person go away. It takes all day for me to come down from a PTSD episode....I'm getting better though.

I'm in counseling and my mother is very supportive.

I have C-PTSD. I have a lot of trouble with memories. I can never seem to get beyond certain things, though I know now it is not through lack of effort. It has taken over pretty much everything. I am very distrustful of people, especially certain ones/types, and I deal with triggers nearly every day. Bad ones. I kinda wish mine was from bullying only, that way I could maybe sort my thoughts on it better, but it's from many things, including nearly losing my life and torture.

It's not fun at all. I have to remind myself I have it every so often.

I am experimenting with Jin Shin Tara, which is a version of Jin Shin Jyutsu for those people dealing with a type of trauma defined as shock. Jin Shin Jyutsu is a simple self-healing method using the hands at 'electrical junctions' so to speak. All I know is that it seems to be helping me, so I thought I'd pass on the info. The one book, alone, is not enough, so here are the two that I think need to be read together to help:

We Are All in Shock, by Christine Mines PhD (horrible title and book cover, but interesting, thoughtful content; even my psychologist is looking into it.)

The Touch of Healing, by Alice Burmeister

The shock book helps explain what leads up to PTSD and the drain on the kidneys/adrenals/ and sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. The hand postions on the body really seem to work ... and I'm rather picky about these things, so I hope my opinion weighs a little bit.

These books are real laid back ... you could take classes or go to a person who does this work if the books aren't enough for you, but for those of us dealing with active PTSD symptoms, having the control and ability to help ourselves seems more important.

Definitely more likely to have traumatic experiences capable of causing PTSD, given how we're often victims of violence.

But whether an AS and an NT, having gone through the same trauma, have different probability of PTSD? Hasn't been studied.

(I do know that sexual abuse has a milder impact on asexuals. But asexuality is only slightly more common in AS. And there's no evidence that asexuals are any less affected by other traumas.)