r/CPTSD•
SkinII

Trying to help a friend

Hello all. I just found this sub-reddit because I'm trying to help a friend who's in a bad way.

She's a young lady who was traumatized by a very dysfunctional family and left with her younger brother to live by themselves. They are both trying to finish school but with no means of support she turned to being an independent escort, placing ads on BackPage.

About 3 months ago one of her "clients" tazed her 5 times and then raped her. He was caught and is serving a life sentence but she was severely traumatized as you can imagine. And with no other means of support she has continued as an escort but is now having panic attacks while at school and nightmares almost every night. Classic PTSD and combined with her childhood I think probably C-PTSD.

She is seeing a therapist and they've tried several anti-depressant drugs but none seem to be working. The therapist suggested she move to another apartment (the apartment she was tazed and raped in) and today suggested electroshock therapy. When she told me this I did some research and it looks like ECT should be the very last resort when nothing else works, but TMS sounds less invasive and safer.

My question is have any of you gone through electroshock therapy, either ECT or TMS for your C-PTSD and did you find it helped or did more harm than good? I also just read about EMDR but have no idea how effective that is as it's relatively new.

I'm trying to support her financially until she's more or less back on her feet but can't support both her and her brother for more than a few more weeks while she takes time off to try and recoup.

I'm very new to this whole thing and just trying to help her in any way I can, so turned to this forum to get some insights I'm sure I'm missing that might help her recover faster. Any help/suggestions would be very welcome. TIA!

Edit: I just told her I posted here and found out her father abused her sexually, both parents are heavy into drugs and her mother sold her for drugs when she was a kid. It's a wonder she's as responsible as she is and trying to get through college. She was also beaten as a kid and put up into a foster home where she got raped again. Her therapist diagnosed her as having PTSD but with her history I'm thinking C-PTSD.

Posted Nov 12, 2015, 1:31 AM UTC · edited

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bodacious_cowboy•

Please tell your friend to get a new therapist as soon as possible. PM me if you'd like to talk more; I'd be happy to share my experience.

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