I have found this website to be awesome in helping me understand myself. I certainly have emotional flashbacks and fit what Pete Walker describes. Hope you can find some answers.

My take?
If your therapist/doc/p-doc aren't telilng hou what your subtype is or that it's important for your treatment plan? Eff it.

I got all worked up about my epilepsy like that back in 1989 when I was dx'd and after a year or so.... I realized, "All I need to know is what affects me for lifestyle, treatment, and management. Let the experts worry about the labels, tell me my basics, and ask if that kind of thing is relevant."

I still do. My p-doc recently told me that subtyping PTSD for me would not be helpful b/c I have complex (from childhood) AND from a 2011 accident and the medical he** afterwards..... I have different issues stemming from A than I do from B, so.... All I'd do is get more ocnfused, for me, is what we agreed. Focus on what I can...

Or, as Arfie would indeed say: Small bytes, long chews!

Hello,
I have been diagnosed with this as part of my PTSD. I have also done a lot of research. I hope that my research below in this area helps.

Under the DSM-5 it stated that an individual with dissociative symptoms must meet all criteria for PTSD and also have a response to the stressor where the experiences are persistent or has recurrent symptoms of either feelings detached from (as if one were outside of the body or feeling as though one is in a dream state or feeling a sense of time moving slowly.

It defines derealization as a persistent or recurrent experiences of unreality of surroundings (e.g., the world around the individual
is experienced as unreal, dreamlike, distant, or distorted).

It also specifies that the dissociative symptoms must not be related to other medical conditions and or medications etc

In my particular case, I feel like Im in a dream like state a lot with good and bad situations. When this happens I have a lot of recurring symptoms of emotions related to my traumatic event and experiences.

In the research that I have done I found that this is a common subtype with the PTSD diagnosis. So to answer your question this subtype is "normal" with the disorder, a lot of people diagnosed with PTSD have it but not all people who are diagnosed with PTSD have it.

The therapists/doctors will work this subtype into the treatment plan even if the diagnosis was done using the DSM-IV.

I hope that this information that I found with my research helps to answer some questions that you have.

Best regards :)
PadiDive2

Thanks for all the great information, everyone. I didn't know really what was going on right away, except I felt all wrong and I knew it wasn't right. I talked to a counselor I had in a partial program (his cell number is his work number, so I texted him and got an appt over break) and he didn't know about my trauma (I didn't want it to be reported as a minor), and asked what trauma I had been through, and told me what it was.
I have a lot of times when I feel like I'm watching my life as a movie. Or I am in disbelief of things. Or I genuinely feel like nothing matters because it isn't happening. It's a really odd feeling. I tend to lose chunks of time, too, and that's extremely bothersome because of classes. And really awkward when I remeet peoplema school because I forget I met them.

The Pete Walker site Lilly mentioned is one I learned of after I came here. I find it to be a really great place to get information enough to work on getting better, without getting lost in too many fine labels and their distinctions. Hope it helps.

I have it, never told a doctor about it lately. I just deal. It doesn't happen very often, just when things are as horrible when they were as a child. It was 30 years before I experienced it again. It's where we learned to dissociate when things get too much to take. I guess I go there still, at time of stress more than a person can take.

ty padicive.. someone was just talking about that last week to me. I didn't realize that dissociation is such an integral part of PTSD, and I thought only some people do that, but I was told that it is an important part of the diagnosis. Well, I do do that but just didn't know that was such a big part of my dx.