Childhood Abuse & PTSD Test

[Aquila King]

I found this questionnaire online a while back and figured I'd share it here. 

 

Answer these questions while thinking over the course of your lifetime, not just in the present. The answer choices are yes, no, and maybe. Think of a maybe as being a half yes.

 

1) Growing up, one or both of my parents were rageful, volatile, dominating, depressed, unavailable, or neurotic.

2) Growing up, one or both of my parents were greatly dissatisfied / negative with one another.

3) Growing up, the adult's needs and feelings came first.

4) Growing up, things were not talked about (emotions, situations, elephants in the room, etc).

5) Rejection puts me in a very bad place.

6) I've consistently felt that there is something wrong with me and I feel defective.

7) I can be addicted to things (alcohol, food, drugs, sex, media, caffeine, etc).

8) I have relationship and intimacy problems.

9) I can isolate.

10) I tend to get through things rather than fully experience and enjoy them (vacations, holidays, projects, shopping, gatherings, etc).

11) I struggle with depression and / or anxiety.

12) I can have trouble feeling joy and / or spontaneity.

13) I can space out, disassociate, numb out, and / or feel empty.

14) Being wrong or right means too much to me.

15) I struggle with ambiguity - loose ends, things left up in the air, people not getting back to me.

16) When things are going well, I don't trust it.

17) I can set myself up by being too optimistic and / or can miss red flags.

18) I have food, sleep, or energy issues (exhaustion and lethargy, and / or busy energy)

19) My libido is underactive or overactive.

20) Small talk can make me disinterested, irritated, or uncomfortable.

21) I have difficulty tapping into anger or possibly have too much of it.

22) I can be overly focused on fairness.

23) I can get upset when others don't "read" what is going on with me.

24) I can overpower or shut down during conflict.

25) I can have fights or arguments with people in my head.

26) I've been told I'm tense (too serious), or disengaged (too aloof).

27) After an intense conversation or situation, my feelings or thoughts catch up with me after a delay. Ex: "I should have said that!"

28) I can be greatly affected by other people's moods (responsible for them or threatened & defensive).

29) I can be reactive or deeply affected by criticism.

30) My emotions and reactions can get in the way of my functioning or prevent me from being who I want to be.

 

How to score:

Add up your yeses, then add up your maybes and add them to your yeses for a second score. Any more than 5 yeses to the first score or 8 yeses to the second score points to it being worthwhile for you to explore your childhood with a childhood PTSD therapist.

[Piney]

25-30 Yes's 

[darkmoonlady]

The test is skewed right off the bat referring to one or both parents. Abusive behavior can be from foster parents, other family, neighbors, kids you played with, hell even strangers. My Mom wasn't abusive, her boyfriends were, my grandparents were, and my older sibling was. 

[Habitat]

4 hours ago, Piney said:

25-30 Yes's 

I think many would score well into the teens, at least, being honest. It is more a matter of degree, that yes/no. Many of those things are common to just about anyone, but without grading it, meaningless.

[+and-then]

This test seems far too subjective to pull any hard, factual conclusions from.  Too many ways to interpret gray areas.  JMO.

[Piney]

2 minutes ago, and then said:

This test seems far too subjective to pull any hard, factual conclusions from.  Too many ways to interpret gray areas.  JMO.

A lot of them are symptoms of autism. I'd like to get @spartan max2 opinion on it. 

[+Desertrat56]

13 hours ago, Aquila King said:

I found this questionnaire online a while back and figured I'd share it here. 

 

Answer these questions while thinking over the course of your lifetime, not just in the present. The answer choices are yes, no, and maybe. Think of a maybe as being a half yes.

 

1) Growing up, one or both of my parents were rageful, volatile, dominating, depressed, unavailable, or neurotic.

2) Growing up, one or both of my parents were greatly dissatisfied / negative with one another.

3) Growing up, the adult's needs and feelings came first.

4) Growing up, things were not talked about (emotions, situations, elephants in the room, etc).

5) Rejection puts me in a very bad place.

6) I've consistently felt that there is something wrong with me and I feel defective.

7) I can be addicted to things (alcohol, food, drugs, sex, media, caffeine, etc).

8) I have relationship and intimacy problems.

9) I can isolate.

10) I tend to get through things rather than fully experience and enjoy them (vacations, holidays, projects, shopping, gatherings, etc).

11) I struggle with depression and / or anxiety.

12) I can have trouble feeling joy and / or spontaneity.

13) I can space out, disassociate, numb out, and / or feel empty.

14) Being wrong or right means too much to me.

15) I struggle with ambiguity - loose ends, things left up in the air, people not getting back to me.

16) When things are going well, I don't trust it.

17) I can set myself up by being too optimistic and / or can miss red flags.

18) I have food, sleep, or energy issues (exhaustion and lethargy, and / or busy energy)

19) My libido is underactive or overactive.

20) Small talk can make me disinterested, irritated, or uncomfortable.

21) I have difficulty tapping into anger or possibly have too much of it.

22) I can be overly focused on fairness.

23) I can get upset when others don't "read" what is going on with me.

24) I can overpower or shut down during conflict.

25) I can have fights or arguments with people in my head.

26) I've been told I'm tense (too serious), or disengaged (too aloof).

27) After an intense conversation or situation, my feelings or thoughts catch up with me after a delay. Ex: "I should have said that!"

28) I can be greatly affected by other people's moods (responsible for them or threatened & defensive).

29) I can be reactive or deeply affected by criticism.

30) My emotions and reactions can get in the way of my functioning or prevent me from being who I want to be.

 

How to score:

Add up your yeses, then add up your maybes and add them to your yeses for a second score. Any more than 5 yeses to the first score or 8 yeses to the second score points to it being worthwhile for you to explore your childhood with a childhood PTSD therapist.

Thanks for this.  I have been working on this for a couple of decades and I still only had 4 No's in the list.  I think a lot of people my age never think about this, just go about their lives thinking they are normal and never consider that some things they go through could be calssified as PTSD.  Parents were allowed a lot in the 60's and a lot was considered normal that is not allowed nowdays.  It still happens, just not in the grocery store.  Even so, we were taught that you don't talk about family business to anyone, not even your cousins.

[spartan max2]

1 hour ago, Piney said:

A lot of them are symptoms of autism. I'd like to get @spartan max2 opinion on it. 

I have been summoned by the one at the top of the leaderboard   lol.

I agree alot of those symptoms are symptoms of autism. A lot of the questions in the questionnaire could apply to many disorders.

I personally don't really think the questionnaire is great at capturing the essence of PTSD specifically. 

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by spartan max2

[Piney]

15 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

I personally don't really think the questionnaire is great at capturing the essence of PTSD specifically. 

 My first stepfather (biologically my uncle) and his fellow Nam vet buddies didn't really believe it. His one friend from the 82nd Airborne once said that the guys who came out screwed up, went in screwed up. They blamed PTSD on this former Marine in the next town over for going postal. But he was a screwball when we were in grade school and on perks before he enlisted.  

 

[spartan max2]

37 minutes ago, Piney said:

 My first stepfather (biologically my uncle) and his fellow Nam vet buddies didn't really believe it. His one friend from the 82nd Airborne once said that the guys who came out screwed up, went in screwed up. They blamed PTSD on this former Marine in the next town over for going postal. But he was a screwball when we were in grade school and on perks before he enlisted.  

 

Oh lol. I have to disagree with them 

I have always found the best way to look at PTSD is that it's your brain adapting to avoid the same horrible thing from happening again at all cost.

Most people with PTSD are actually rape victims. 

Examples are vets swerving rapidly on the road to avoid a paperbag because their brain panic and felt it might be and IUD. The WW1 shell shock is a classic one. The body being super jumpy because it expects another bomb to drop from the sky any moment.

Or a vet jumping and panicking from fireworks. 

Or a women being terrified to be alone in an elevator with a man.

The brain's adaptions to avoid the same situation of powerlessness can come out in less obivious ways too. Like someone being hyper-vigilant always on edge scanning their environment for threats. Avoiding all situations that might even remotely be similar to the trauma. Nightmares, etc.

In children it can come out in even less obivious ways, like they might re-enact events during playtime or with toys. Or a child could be a huge people pleaser ( as a strategy adapted to keep the horrid parent happy) etc.

All that to say that your step father may have some truth in his statement. Having mental disorders before the PTSD event might make you more at risk of getting it. Though I'm not sure if there has been studies look at that or not.

I should probably check lol.

Edited October 14, 2019 by spartan max2

[Piney]

1 minute ago, spartan max2 said:

Oh lol. I have to disagree with them 

I don't exactly agree with them either.

@Not A Rockstar has been telling me I had it for over 20 years. 

But I just deal with it. 

I don't have battlefield nightmares. Or raid nightmares, because some of them went sour. But I do have prison nightmares. I think it's because in a war zone or raid you have some sense of control whereas in a prison you don't.

Injured or dead children get me very upset though. I can't watch a TV show or movie involving it. But I never took that as PTSD. More like I've seen enough because once is too many. 

[+Desertrat56]

52 minutes ago, Piney said:

 My first stepfather (biologically my uncle) and his fellow Nam vet buddies didn't really believe it. His one friend from the 82nd Airborne once said that the guys who came out screwed up, went in screwed up. They blamed PTSD on this former Marine in the next town over for going postal. But he was a screwball when we were in grade school and on perks before he enlisted.  

 

The ones that went in to war screwy were probably already suffering from some kind of PTSD. 

[spartan max2]

11 minutes ago, Piney said:

I don't exactly agree with them either.

@Not A Rockstar has been telling me I had it for over 20 years. 

But I just deal with it. 

I don't have battlefield nightmares. Or raid nightmares, because some of them went sour. But I do have prison nightmares. I think it's because in a war zone or raid you have some sense of control whereas in a prison you don't.

Injured or dead children get me very upset though. I can't watch a TV show or movie involving it. But I never took that as PTSD. More like I've seen enough because once is too many. 

It's hard to say from small tibits of information.

But it's definitely possible Rockstar is right lol

People often get the impression from TV that PTSD is always extreme and debilitating. But alot of people can have symptoms of PTSD without it interfering much with their life. 

As for the bolded part that is spot on. That's why rape victims are the majority of people with PTSD ( in the west at least).

Being completely striped of power and no control over the bad things happening has the highest chances of leading to PTSD.

Edited October 14, 2019 by spartan max2

[+Not A Rockstar]

Ah, I have been summoned, and so stir from my inner sanctum to respond to @Piney LOL

PTSD can be caused by many types of trauma, not just combat, though combat is the area better known now days, I think. It is pretty horrible to work through, as well, but, it is possible  

[Piney]

1 minute ago, Not A Rockstar said:

Ah, I have been summoned, and so stir from my inner sanctum to respond to @Piney LOL

Jen said "hi".....Then she said she already said "hi"......But I still have to carry the message. 

[+Not A Rockstar]

1 hour ago, Piney said:

Jen said "hi".....Then she said she already said "hi"......But I still have to carry the message. 

Yeah she emailed  

I guess that would make you the Piney Express now....

*walks off insanely pleased with the pun*

[TigerBright19]

19 yeses and 1 maybe.  I was shy and sensitive in my childhood.  I wasn't abused, but I did feel neglected.  I rarely spoke to my father because he worked long hours and he had (still has) a very violent temper.  Always remember my mother telling me to "stay clear of your father."  Looking back I realize my parents taught me almost nothing.  No real advice regarding anything, except I remember my father telling me - "don't get married."  There was just no bond at all.  My elder brother and sister left the country and both came out gay.  Don't know if their childhood played a roll in it.  I assumed my childhood was just like everyone else's so there was no reason to think about it at the time.  I still have fond memories of playing with toys before my father told me to repackage them and then he returned them to the lost and found section at his work place.  Remember during art class the teacher told us to draw our parents and I couldn't even remember what my father looked like, despite the fact I saw him for a few minutes almost every day.  Parents later divorced and both still behave exactly in the same way as before.  I have no desire to get married, because of their experience together.  Although, he only punched me once in the face (I wanted to bring the dog into the kitchen because it was raining.  I just asked him if I could, and soon regretted it).

 

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by Aaron2016