Who Have You Told About Your Ptsd?

[Rosie04]

Who have you told about your PTSD? Do you find it changes how people see you? I told another tutor at uni today about it because I was missing yet another day and it got me thinking about how many people I have told and if they've told people and what people think. My classmates will obviously notice that I'm having time off again.

 

[mary1979]

I dont really tell anyone that it wont affect directly.

When I was initially diagnosed, nobody except my therapists and kids Dad knew.

This round, not much more than that.
My kids are old enough now to discuss it with.
My sister.
My Mum.

Thats it.
I feel no need to share myself with anyone who will not be personally affected, and truthfully my husband was the only one who really had to deal with the mess that is ptsd this time round.

I considered telling my boss, just because of a small trigger that came up at work.
Couldn't bear the thought of the details id need to go over, so had a cup of cement and went with 'exposure self therapy' til I number the trigger out.

Oversharing makes me awkward as hell.

 

[Virtues]

- my wife
- my best friend
- my wife's aunt & uncle
- just recently my parents
- a handful of other sufferers that I try to be supportive of
- and of course doctors and therapists

My list is very short, it doesn't even include my own children, but that's because I don't want people treating me differently. I always told myself that I wouldn't let this thing become my identity or worse a crutch to lean on, so the easiest way to keep myself in check is to keep it from the world. I'm not saying my way is the right way, only that my way is my way and it works for me.

 

[BlueDream]

I have told a lot of ppl. I think it has to do with hiding my abuse, I don't want to hide any more.
However with that being said, it has been thrown back in my face a few times, as to why I am acting a certain way.
Especially from my mother & husband.

 

[Changing4Best]

All my Dr.s, my family and a couple of close friends. That is it. I do not tell aquaintnances or more distant friends. I did tell my pastor, out of necessity, I was in the hospital at the time, and she needed to know.

 

[Crow]

I told a couple of friends but they didn't get it and assumed my diagnosis was like combat ptsd. So now I just say I have a brain injury....which in effect is true since complex trauma prohibits some brain centers from properly forming. A lot less confusion and more compassion on the part of the people I tell.

 

[Virtues]

I told a couple of friends but they didn't get it and assumed my diagnosis was like combat ptsd. So...

I also have a TBI (which I am more apt to tell people about). I don't know if I get more understanding or not for my TBI than I do my PTSD, but a TBI is something more tangible and seems like people can understand it better, so I know what you mean.

 

[theshadowoftheliving]

Three friends. Plus therapists and doctors. Definitley not my family.

I tell people about my depression all the time, but that seems easier for people to grasp and they know how to respond to that - there is a social roadmap already in place. PTSD, not so much.

Plus, I keep it out of my professional life, which is pretty much my entire life.

 

[Friday]

These days? Since getting symptomatic again, I don't tell anyone. Not family, not friends, not doctors, no one outside of these forums, & the occasional specialist I keep at several arms distance from my daily life.

I tend to be pretty glib about things after the fact, but admitting any kind of weakness in the midst of it? Goes against every instinct.