Can severe depression be the same thing as PTSD? Just misdiagnosed?

Answer 1

Excellent answer by Lilly-I would have nothing more to add other than my own experience in supervising clinicians and to testify to the truth of what Lilly said.
Major Depression is easy to spot and recognize, even PTSD is fairly easy as there are hallmark symptoms for that, if the clinician is well-versed enough in trauma to ask the correct questions. DID, on the other hand, is much harder to recognize as the symptoms often look like so many different disorders if they are not viewed in a complete context. It's not uncommon for someone with DID to have been in the mental health system for a good 7-10 years with multiple diagnoses before someone recognizes it as DID. I've been supervising clinicians for 5+ years and it's been my mission to educate them on all the various ways in which trauma presents in order to reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosis and superficial treatment, just as Lilly indicated. (Glad you found someone who recognize and treat it, I've found few folks who can, but working on that!)

Answer 2

It really depends.

PTSD stands for posttraumatic stress disorder. By definition it implies there was some trauma in your past that has impacted you so deeply that one of the symptoms would be severe depression - depending on the trauma.

If you have a knowledge that there was a trauma.

If you don't have a knowledge of trauma, but suspect it because of 'lost time', there could be some dissociation that occurred during the time of the trauma - especially if it occurred in childhood.

The question to ask YOURSELF would be: 1. Did you suffer any trauma in your childhood or past at least 6 months ago? 2. How long have you had severe depression and when did it start? What age did you begin having severe depression? 3. Do you experience any other symptoms that might indicate another disorder along with severe depression or encompassing severe depression as a symptom of something else rather than the sole diagnosis (ex. If you had PTSD, or MPD/DID, or Complex PTSD, or Bipolar, or Schizoeffective Disorder, or a Personality Disorder (such as borderline), etc. There are so many disorders out there, the only person that can properly assess and diagnose for what you are looking for would be a well-qualified Psychologist and a Psychiatrist. Most trauma hospitals will be able to assess you more correctly than someone that is in private practice. Reason being: Most therapists in private practice may not believe in certain diagnosis or symptoms or may not have enough experience in the specific field in which you would need for a proper diagnosis.

I am sure that it is frustrating when people just post links for you to check out on other websites, and I figure you could probably do that already.

What you really want are some answers.

Some clues and some direction that can guide you to find the answer you need.

Although I'm not a trained therapist, I'm a patient myself with diagnosis of DID and PTSD, I know that it took over 7 years before they could get a correct diagnosis on me.

Hopefully this helps.

The fact that you are coming on here and asking if you could have PTSD indicates that you probably are really trying to seek help and figure out why you are severely depressed, and that there may be more questions than answers in finding what you need. But keep asking until you find someone that can finally work with you. FInding a therapist that can diagnose properly is extremely hard. Psychiatrist mostly are happy to prescribe meds rather than really assess the problem.

It is possible you could have PTSD AND Severe Depression. Severe depression, I gather, means that you have suicidal ideation almost all the time, and you have attempted or desire to attempt committing the act most days.

It could also be a symptom of Bipolar or Schizoeffective Disorder or Schizophrenia or even Dissociative Identiy Disorder or PTSD. It is usually comorbid (in addition to) a primary disorder, not necessarily a symptom of. But to be sure, you would need a proper therapist to diagnose.

This is my best uneducated, but patient-end experienced guess.

Lilly

Answer 3

I have both bipolar and PTSD. The bipolar is very severe, and I think the trauma of abuse made it worse than it would have been otherwise (nightmare childhood). When I was doing research on involuntary commitments, it turns out a sizable majority of people who are involuntarily committed (that is, the most mentally ill people) were sexually abused. PTSD can happen all by itself, and depression can happen all by itself, but if you have a tendency toward depression, PTSD may make it a lot worse. So then you need lots of help for both (and counseling does work, but it takes a couple years, and you get worse before you get better. And if it turns out you have chronic depression, you may need the support of a therapist off and on for the rest of your life, unless the pills really work for you.)

All the best to you! There was a lot of great information in the other answers, I just thought I would give you some personal information (support groups are just the best thing for PTSD, better even than individual counseling, I think.)

Answer 4

Yes, sort of. They are separate, but not mutually exclusive diagnoses. From the way you ask the question, I picture a person who has both at the same time, which is not uncommon.

Sometimes mental health practitioners don't arrive at the correct diagnosis initially, but if you keep going back and communicating with your provider, then the likelihood of accurate diagnosis & care improve.

Fortunately, both are often treated with the same medications. However, PTSD often requires higher doses of SSRI's (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, a type of antidepressant). A good medication that has been FDA-approved to treat both is sertraline (Zoloft).

FYI:

*Depression - here are a few different types . . .
- adjustment disorder (depressed due to situation, & depression resolvies when the situation ends)
- dysthymic disorder (more depressed days than not for 1 yr if a teen or 2 yrs if adult, without a two month break from the depression, plus some other symptoms that go with depression like problems with sleep, interest, low self-esteem, energy, concentration, appetite, suicidal thoughts)
- major depressive disorder (depressed more hours out of the day than not nearly every day for 2 wks straight, plus other depressive symptoms listed above)

*PTSD is an anxiety disorder after experiencing a traumatic event (life/limb threatening event to yourself, or a more liberal interpretation includes life/limb threatening event witnessed to occur to someone else), with persistent reexperiencing of the event (like nightmares & flashbacks), avoidance (like trying not to think/talk about the event), & hyperarousal (like always checking over your shoulder & being startled easily).

Answer 5

It is possible to be misdiagnosed with any disorder if you are not seeing a doctor who is well versed with these types of illnesses. A friend of mine has both PTSD and severe depression, as well as many other mental disorders including Multiple Personality Disorder and Disassociation. She sees a therapist but never on a regular basis or long enough to effectively treat her many issues. She also refuses to take her meds like she should. If you feel you have any mental illness, please get the proper help and listen to your doctors if you want to feel better. Best wishes.

Answer 6

Lots of mental illnesses can be misdiagnosed for another mental illness as often symptoms overlap & not all symptoms are seen or told to the psychiatrist so a misdiagnosis can be made quite easily even due to error. If you are suffering depression or other symptoms prior to any event which has caused you extreme stress which to even think of it, provokes these symptoms then i think it would be ptsd

Answer 7

Depression and PTSD are 2 different things, but, as with MANY mental disorders, depression often occurs as a result of another disorder.

Answer 8

Over the last five years I had begun to have increasingly withdraw into a downward spiral of depression..

But now with the method I can fully focus my energy and thoughts into a decisive line on how to make my life better constantly. And it works like magic! I'm beginning to attract people to me once again and things have just been looking up since then.

Helping you eliminate depression?

Answer 9

I have to let loose on something that really annoys me on Yahoo answers: what the heck is PTSD? can you not spell it out? Then I could have a decent answer for you.

Okay, I had to look it up and NO, drepression is not the same as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder unless you had a traumatic occurrence that continues to bother you.

Answer 10

It could, but the Dr would half to interview the patient to find out.