Whether it's depression, an eating disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or something similar: If you've been diagnosed with one of these, it helps to think of it not as an illness, but as an attempt to find a solution.
Am I disturbed?
Maybe you have been diagnosed with something: post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, an eating disorder, or some other mental disorder. This does not mean that you are now forever “disturbed” or sick. Rather, your well-being is disturbed. Your abilities and possibilities to express yourself in life are disturbed.
Why do I have a mental disorder?
Please read this text about problems that can arise after experiencing violence. There, we write that these are strategies to somehow keep yourself in control. We also explain that these are emergency programs that help in an emergency, but can interfere with your daily life. Some of these strategies have been given a clinical name – eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and so on. We recommend that you think of them as attempts to solve problems, to cope with yourself and with life. So, there is a logic behind your disorder. If you become interested in that, you have taken the first step towards “healing”. It makes sense to do this with psychotherapeutic support.
We have listed here some disorders which can be rooted in traumatic experiences:
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Let's say you experienced a trauma – something that you found extraordinarily distressing and (life-)threatening. Then you may suffer for weeks and months from certain symptoms, which are called intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal. Here's what these words mean:
- Intrusion: Although it is technically over, you relive the bad event or parts of it again and again – in the form of flashbacks or nightmares. Read more about flashbacks in this text.
- Avoidance: You avoid situations that remind you of the event. You also avoid thinking about it.
- Hyperarousal: You are jumpy and on high alert. You have a sense of constant threat and experience strong physical and emotional arousal, and/or your mind is racing.
Psychosomatic complaints
The body is a mirror of our soul. Mental pain, such as can be caused by physical, emotional or sexual violence, sometimes turns into physical symptoms. These include headaches or stomach aches, skin conditions, and allergies. They also include sleep disturbances: It might be very scary to give up control during sleep. Or you may be afraid of bad dreams, so you don't fall asleep.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Compulsive actions and obsessive thoughts are also an attempt to avoid bad feelings and gain more control. Maybe you are a “neat freak”, or you engage in compulsive handwashing or cleaning. Maybe you also obsessively have to think very specific thoughts. In the beginning, these actions made you feel safe. Through the constant repetition, they have become a compulsion. This can take up many hours of your day and get in the way of you and your life.
Depression
When you have depression, your self-confidence drops, you feel lethargic and unmotivated. You struggle with making decisions, you have trouble concentrating, and you lose interest and pleasure in life. Maybe you lose your appetite, maybe you eat too much. Maybe you can't get out of bed, maybe you have trouble sleeping. Maybe you feel empty and apathetic, maybe anxious and tense. Depression is quite different from sadness: with sadness, you can cry, knowing why. Depression differs from sadness in that people with depression experience almost no joy and sometimes can't cry either. You can think of depression as a way of putting on the brakes, of getting out of doing, experiencing, and feeling. It's a way of dealing with overwhelming demands.
Eating Disorders
Maybe you eat too little in order to feel and be less and to gain a sense of control. Or you eat only very specific things. Or you eat too much in order to comfort yourself and maybe to create a protective wall around yourself. Maybe you vomit afterwards to get rid of restlessness and tension, or to punish yourself. Anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating and orthorexia: Problems with eating are often rooted in experiences of violence. Often this is a form of hidden violence that occurs in “happy” families. You can learn more about that in this text.