Suggest Treatment For PTSD After Years Of Molestation And Prostituion

Posted on Wed, 4 Mar 2015

Question: Hi;

I have been a few things in my years, 7 yrs of molestation ( 5yrs old to 12 yrs old), at 17 yrs old I was sodomized. I had been off and on the streets prostituting for years. I was living in downtown Kelowna BC for the 2003 fire. I was in the High River Flood of 2013. I now have a good career and beautiful home. I have nightmares nightly, I have been overweight my whole life and struggled to lose the weight. I feel overwhelmed and angry all the time. I worked so hard to get off the streets, drugs were not a problem. I do smoke weed to help me sleep and stop crying.
I ask my doctor to send me to a physiatrist for a diagnosis and she asks why I want that. Then she told me that I have something where my brain doesn't process whats going on? Does this mean I'm just plan stupid?

Answered by Dr. Karen Steinberg (32 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
This does not mean you are 'plain stupid'

Detailed Answer:
Hi, thank you for using Healthcare Magic. No, you are not stupid and you have gone through a lot in your life. These events all have likely led to the nightmares, difficultly sleeping, and crying.

I'm presuming you meant psychiatrist and not physiatrist, which is a rehab specialist. You most likely have Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which a psychiatrist can help you deal with. As far as the weight, it is very common for women who were sexually abused as children to experience obesity in adult life. A good therapist could help you deal with this as well.

I do not understand what your doctor meant about you having something where your brain doesn't process what is going on. Depression and PTSD can affect your ability to concentrate and interfere with clear thinking, but that is not the same as being stupid. When the depression and PTSD are treated, those kinds of things clear up. You have done remarkably well in life in spite of the many traumatic experiences you've had, so you obviously are not stupid!

Find a good psychiatrist and therapist to make the correct diagnosis of what I believe may be depression and PTSD, and get treatment started. You deserve to have a good life. Hope this answers your query. If you have further questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar