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Poll Does PTSD Influence Your Verbal Communication?

Does PTSD Influence Your Verbal Communication?

  • Yes - Only when symptomatic

    Votes: 250 89.6%
  • Yes - But not enough to effect me

    Votes: 21 7.5%
  • No

    Votes: 1 0.4%
  • Never really noticed

    Votes: 7 2.5%

  • Total voters
    279
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I am new here. Been suffering from complex PTSD since ... not sure when it became complex! 2005 as near as I can figure.

I am a Trauma Nurse and worked at our inner city Emergency Department. While there I became the Resourse Nurse/charge nurse and directed the flow of patient services, including directing the physicians. I received 2 clinical excellence awards both for my communication skills, and now I only speak to my gr 3-6 children and infrequently my husband. My throat feels choked most of the time and I am so afraid to speak now. Even being asked by the teller - how are you - almost makes me cry. I am so lonely to speak. Because I have years of pent up sh*t.

Before I left work I cried every time I sat down to have coffee with anyone. I was spending my lunches and traveling to meeting time down in the tunnels, so I wouldn't meet anyone and embarrass myself.

I want to be well and maybe this is a start, to know that what I am going through is not 'in my head' - although it is in my head!
 
Yes. When I get triggered, my verbal abilities shut down.

You'd think that a well known trauma hospital would know about this relationship, but no!! I was "punished" for my inability to speak by being removed from all groups and forced to be alone. Of course, this extended my stay, but those extra days were such a waste.
 
Thankyou for this thread, didn't realize it was because of PTSD.

my speech goes all cadywampus.
Safenow I love this word, but try saying it when symptomatic!:laugh:

I find I sometimes repeat myself, only know I've done it when family point it out to me. I also zone out mid sentence - disocciate - then struggle to remember what I was talking about. The most embarrasing one is when my speech goes slurred, the lower half of my face goes slightly numb & feels a bit like having an injection at the dentist. I sound like I'm drunk, so avoid all social situations when it is this bad.:x3:
 
I said yes-but only when symptomatic. But the actual answer is Yes- All the time. @cavy I think I could have written that post. What you said about the lower half of the face is how it feels to talk in front of more than one other person. I hate speaking in a crowd, even if it is all people I know. When it is a group of people I don't know it is even worse.
 
Sure wish you had included an unconditional yes. I was mute as a child. My confidence in verbal communications remains nearly non-existent, despite the over-compensation of grammar that can make teachers feel inferior and learning multiple languages. I am still searching for the language in which humankind makes sense.
 
Looking back on this old thread has been so helpful to me right now. It is helpful because I can actually see how far I really have come in that I no longer seem to be so affected and can speak much more fluently, and without fear of getting the words mixed up. Words don't seem to come out wrong for me that much anymore. I talk all the time now...I mean, sometimes I actually feel like I talk too much, and I'm annoying?

Just about 2 years ago I was making really really silly mistakes at my old job, and the scientists I worked under must have thought I was a real moron or something. I thought I was seriously going insane with the mistakes I was making constantly, and seemingly not learning from. It was the worst period of my life with PTSD, and I am so glad and so RELIEVED that I no longer seem to be experiencing these symptoms.

My life really has improved so much, which can be attributed to this forum, and all the amazing people who are integral to it, and I sometimes feel like I no longer have ptsd. I don't know if that is the truth or not, as I know it can seem to go away and them comes back with avengeance, but for now I am just gonna roll with it, because my life is really good again.

I still have a lot of loss and sadness and grief to process and work through, but at least I no longer walk around never talking to anyone, like I did for about 2 years in a row...and I do mean literally not talking more than a few sentences apart from speaking when absolutely necessary. I told myself it was all part of my zen buddhism phase, and that I had romanticized taking a vow of silence and making it a good thing. I did also genuinely like to listen and not talk, so it was my introversion as well at work.
 
I have a very difficult time with speaking to men who are slim, not too tall, with dark hair - especially if it's slicked back. My mind just disconnects from my mouth and I start shaking. I'm sure I come off as a future motivational speaker.
 
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