ptsd Difference Between Ptsd And Chronic Ptsd

[Jon1371]

I'm wondering if there is a difference between a diagnosis of PTSD and Chronic PTSD. My Healthevets notes have a diagnosis of chronic PTSD now. Is there a difference between the diagnosis as far as VA ratings go?

Thanks all,

Jon

[jesusplay]

Ask a mental health professional.

If I had to guess, chronic means constant, non chronic mean occasional or requires a trigger.

[Jon1371]

I'll ask the Dr the next time I see them. Thanks for the reply.

[john999]

Chronic means you have it and it is not going away, so I would say a DX of chronic PTSD is worse. I had vet center counselor write a letter saying I had "Chronic and severe PTSD". I don't think the VA even considered it.

[Jon1371]

Thanks john999. I recently found out that my hallucinations are actually flashbacks. My memory is so bad I've forgotten so many people and so many events that I didn't recognize those people until I started going through photos to figure out what happened. They DXd me as Schizophrenic/Schizoaffective and put me on anti psychotics that I had a severe reaction to. That's when I decided to look into things and figure out what happened and what's wrong with me. No more taking a bunch of pills until they figure out what's really wrong.

[john999]

Jon

They did the same thing to me in 1972. They never heard of PTSD. They had heard of panic disorder, depression and dissociative disorder which all are related to some degree to what is now called PTSD. It was easier to just say I was a schizophrenic instead of looking beyond immediate weird symptoms. I kept telling the Army and VA what kind of symptoms I was having all of which indicate dissociative disorder, but these people just wanted to say I had some personality disorder and residual schizophrenia. The treatment I got in the Army and at the VA was so poor when I got out of the Army I spent a few weeks in the VA rubber room and did not go back for 20 years. They got everything wrong and caused me a world of grief. I had to pay a private psychologist for the rest of my life to deal with issues that started in Vietnam. If I had continued with the VA I would have ended up in an institution or one of those "Will work for Drugs" guys. I had an awful reaction to the anti psychotic drugs they put me on and stopped taking them immediately.

[Tbird]

Chronic - (especially of a disease) lasting for a long time; difficult to cure or get rid of.

Not to be confused with Complex PTSD