My Journey with Trauma and Dual Diagnosis

Trauma: An incident and its physiological and psychological effects on victims and/or witnesses to the event. The DSM describes 5 types of PTSD, the label most commonly associated with trauma. I want to talk about comorbid PTSD; a diagnosis given when other diagnoses exist. In my case, Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse Disorder.My first memory is of a staggering, drunken Father calling out my name while a frightened Mother held my 4-year old mouth and my tiny knees dug into the gravel and...