According to my first therapist (the one who helped diagnose my PTSD) that was exactly what happened to me. After my escape from an abusive marraige, I immersed myself into my job, then I lost my job and went back to school for my masters, so I was immersed in it and my daughter's last year in high school, my son's wedding, moving, etc. Once I had moved and the only thing I had to focus on was school, and I was looking at a summer that was less intense in the form of book work, that is when everything came crashing in - it was when I had my first flashbacks and then I was diagnosed with PTSD.

Changes in life causing our priorities to shift are a normal part of life. Marraige and children especially. THen, when one or both go away, leaving us with the "empty nest," there is another shift in priorities, usually back to ourselves. When these priority shifts happen, it would be a ripe time for PTSD symptoms to surface.

This is EXACTLY what is happening with me. I used to work in the Silicon Valley. My worklife consumed me. Prior to that I'd worked in politics, also all consuming. Prior to that I was in college, with a full time job to pay for it. I was lucky if I had time to sleep.

I was burning out, so I left the pressure behind. I moved away from the Silicon Valley and took a job that is less demanding ... if not downright easy. At first it was nice. I had free time. Then it all started.

The sleepless nights, sadness, memories.

It sucks.

I was an overachiever, a lot of abuse survivors are. I used work and achievement to run from my past and cover up my low self-esteem. Eventually I hit a wall and couldn't perform up to par anymore. That's when my fragile house of cards feel apart. And all the king's horses and all the king's men haven't been able to put the pieces of my soul back together again.

I haven't had this experience.... I've had flashbacks at least a few times a year every year no matter what. However, I *can* use work to avoid them, in that if I feel something coming on while I'm working, there's lots there to distract myself.

This is very interesting and enlightening...what a statement for Delayed-Onset PTSD!!

DD...Like your Humpty Dumpty rewrite ;)

I did not work outside the home, but i was a busy mum with 5 kids, i threw myself into that and worked very hard raising them, when i left my husband(now ex) 2 years ago, the PTSD raised it's ugly head, my counsellor said it was because i was fixed on raising the kids that it lay dormant, when i left it was time to face my demons.

It's about getting out of "survival" mode. When that stops, BAM!

Of course, who wants to live in that either? [sigh]