High functioning with ptsd/cptsd

[intothelight]

The reality, it is my third marriage, I have 4 estranged children, I don't sleep, I'm always tense and ready to react. I'm depressed and fear what coming, when nothing is coming.

Then focusing on dealing with the internal turmoil would be an area that you would want to address. Remember we all may have more success in one area over another, but the goal is to heal to the point where life is fulfilling and PTSD/CPTSD is minimally disruptive in day to day functioning.

 

[Tinyflame]

how often I've been told I have a "bad attitude" because I asked what was, to me, a legitimate question

I'm so sorry @scout86 that is abominable. :(

On that vein I would say, understanding, support, tolerance, communication. Help with accomodations with that which is difficult. Patience. Occupationally or personally.

Then perhaps we can work with the ptsd vs trying to simply always hide it.

 

[intothelight]

Then perhaps we can work with the ptsd vs trying to simply always hide it.

Junebug, that is it exactly as hiding it and stuffing the reactions isn't healthy and it makes a person absolutely miserable inside. I don't care how well we think we are "hiding" it eventually comes out. The thing is to get to a point where living with PTSD doesn't define who we are and what we can and cannot do, but is just something we have that is doesn't keep us from living the most fulfilling life possible.

 

[Deanna]

And this is where it's ok to step in and say that we all suffer differently!!!!

Ok, there, I sai...

Who the hell was I hammering?

I just hate the PC mantra around here that we all suffer the same....

You weren't hammering..someone else was going on ( an on) along the lines of perfection- I can smell AA about 300 million miles wawy. ( Sorry I responded to you) SHEESH! ( lol) :hug:

 

[Sideways]

Amazing!

Seems to me there's more than a few people who seem to be interpreting "high functioning" as "suffering less". Caw!

Having been high funtioning, and low functioning (required regular hospitalisation to keep me alive, couldn't feed myself adequately etc), certainly there's a lot of value to me in asking the question "what's gonna improve my function?" Which is entirely different from "what's gonna cure my ptsd?"

My function improved dramatically when I got my dog. My suffering also decreased. But in terms of pure function, he made it possible to shop for adequate food, and he made it possible to get out of my apartment without being too symptomatic to achieve anything.

There's symptom-reducing stuff that has definitely helped. But easily the aingle biggest factor in getting me functional was getting a dog. No question.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

Four years ago I was not even a high functioning caregiver for my husband because it took everything I had to take care of him, then he died and a part of me died as well. I had not met my needs or did adequate self care and I was in a limbo of sorts.

Now four years later, a part of me is actually coming back to life being creative and beginning to thrive and I actually have moments in my life where I feel real joy and pleasure in things I had completely stopped doing.

So although I would not call myself high functioning, yet. I will say that living life is suddenly new and fresh for me on my good days. Been under far too much personal stress for half a year and am slowly resolving those issues freeing me up to live my life as a higher functioning person than I have been.

This is a really good thread and hope to see areas in my life improve as time passes.

 

[Fiadh]

I would consider myself 'high functioning' at work only in that at the moment I'm able to drag my arse into work every week- and they are reallly good at helping me if I'm not doing so well. I have an extremely supportive team of people I work with so I'm lucky there. Other than that I think I pretty much suck in every other area of life at the moment. But I've given up beating myself up about it.. it is what it is..

 

[LoveTea]

I don't think There was a point of "high functioning", but I think for the most part, I can function, sometimes even well. I have one really close friend now, and it is probably the healthiest and strongest relationship I've ever had. I still have a really hard time with other friendships, and not that I would ever reach out, but I think there are a couple people who would be there if I really needed. School work and classes can be really hard to deal with sometimes, but I get my work done and I get good grades, so that's a plus on the funtioning. I actually love going to work, so I have no trouble motivating to go there and get stuff done.

I do wish I could go through my daily life a little more "normally". To an extent I do, none of my professors or classmates are aware of my PTSD. Only one friend knows definitively, but a handful of people at work are aware of my symptoms and how to react to them. They probably know amd are too afraid to ask, and I can't even say it out loud yet, even when I try.

 

[intothelight]

I see a lot of individuals equate functioning with "normal" and I struggle with the concept of "normal" because it is more of an ideal and not a reality. Normal is basically a range and something that causes a person extreme distress; extreme social impairment or is harmful to themselves and/or others falls outside the range of "normal". Anything else that fall within that range is normal or most importantly that person's normal. Social impairment has to be extreme, such as agoraphobia, as being a loaner, shy, introverted, etc. is perfectly normal.

Perhaps having been diagnosed with PTSD/CPTSD makes each person overanalyze themselves or set them up for being hypercritical and holding themselves to unrealistic standards?

 

[The Albatross]

I kinda like Dr. Martin Seligman's model of functionality: PERMA - an acronym for this:

• Positive Emotions: experiences a wide range of them frequently
• Engagement: is engaged and present with work, people and in their spare time (as opposed to doing everything half-heartedly and being constantly distracted)
• Relationships: has good relationships with people who care
• Meaning: engages in activities that are perceived as meaningful (for example helping others, overcoming difficult challenges, building deep relationships)
• Achievement: succeeds in those areas in life they deeply care about (as opposed to succeeding at hollow things others expect from us or not progressing at all)

(Article link about what PERMA is here: What is PERMA by Martin Seligman | GoStrengths! ) Some researchers have successfully argued that the V for Vitality should be added as well: Vitality: feels energetic and driven while also ensuring self-care (eg. enough sleep)

University of Pennsylvania has a resiliency program and they use PERMA program. They actually have resiliency skill sets that I think are what I would consider necessary for "high functioning". I actually had a friend, Girl from Gainesville, who had participated in some U Penn stuff and at one point I went through a whole battery of resilience tests that were available. The link and that is buried in my diary somewhere (but the links are likely dead even if I could find them) Some of these are:

• Self Awareness
• Self Regulation
• Mental Agility
• Strengths of Character
• Connection
• Optimism

(link cuz there's a brief explanation of the above on an image on the site page:
Resilience Skill Set | Positive Psychology Center )

 

[intothelight]

When I work with the disabled, having a job, being able to clean, being able to cook and be around others is considered high functioning. We're not talking about super successful. I think it's better to just call it functioning or non cause high makes pple think we're talking about hugely "successful."

Went back and did some research and the criteria are more clinical indicators in relation to disability and level of functioning, so you were spot on. For myself, I don't want to get hung up on the semantics as my own goal is to be a highly functioning as I possibly can and it gave me a bit of a measuring stick.

 

[intothelight]

I kinda like Dr. Martin Seligman's model of functionality: PERMA - an acronym for this:

Nice set of goals for evaluating internal growth.