What Is The One Thing You Wish People Knew/ Understood About Ptsd Or Trauma?

[Smallhold]

I wish that people would accept that PTSD is real and not some fashionable designer chique affliction. Apparently some people still think it does not really exist and I may have had a rotten time but need to toughen up and get over it.
I wish they could feel for 1 minute, no longer, what I feel and what it is inside my head and body.
I wish they could understand it's like getting a life sentence without having committed a crime.

 

[melody]

I wish they could understand it's like getting a life sentence without having committed a crime.

This is so true Smallhold! I definitely feel like I'm the one being punished, not my abusers. They are out there roaming around free and clear, like nothing has happened, and I'm a prisoner in my own home. Sure it's getting better, and I'm starting to get out a lot more, but I still feel like I have to lock myself up in order to protect myself.

 

[Grace Hope]

Nemo38,
I think I wrote something that was a bit ambiguous in my post above. Let me try to explain what it was about.

I`d never met David Rathband, I wish I had and been able to shake him by his hand too. I watched parts of his life unfold from the point he got shot by news of him in the media. His courage and the way he fought his way things caught my eye as it were. The fact that someone like this in the public eye was treated so shabbily by the professionals that were suposed to be supporting him through his healing process and his PTSD beggars belief.

Where were they when he needed them. Why are these people so reluctant to get someone the help that they need even if it ment sectioning someone for a while to save their life. For some people with PTSD if something traumatic happens to them they need someone with them most of the time for weeks or months. In the press it said that he and his wife broke up. That is a major issue for anyone to go through. I feel angry and very sadened at this loss of this person from this world. He was very much in the media and he was on our side as he had PTSD and he did so much to try and get PTSD a bit more recognition. So I suppose the fact that his needs were over looked really pisses me off because I don`t think he would have hung himself had he got the proper support. It should never of happened. This is my personal belief.

And besides David Cameron couldn`t give an honest answer about the support and help that David Rathband recieved. I watched this with interest on TV. In the House of Commons when asked by another member when his mode of passing was a topic of questions David Cameron lied about the subject, he said that " the military and the emergency serviced recieved the best care possible " and went on to insist that David Rathband "was not a civilian or just a member of the public" . He may have left the police force and also there are no emergency service only hospitals or clinics and the fact he had to go down the same route to get any sort of treatment as most people with PTSD in the UK which unfortunatley is usually Jack Shit.

This is situation that was in the media for every one to see I think shows one of the reasons why I think that PTSD is a killer. We have untrained, unprofessoinal, uncaring, unvetted, abuse prone individuals who tend to employ other individuals of like minds around vulnerable people and in my mind that is inexcusable.

Nemo38 thank you for what you wrote that was very kind.

God Bless
Clan Destany

 

[712xx]

PTSD is like the weather. It goes from good to bad and back to good -- sometimes the bad weather brings you good things down the line (well, I didn't like that fence anyway - gave me reason to build a better one); sometimes it knocks you down and destroys your life, leaving you to pick up the pieces (if you can).

Just because my life was wild flowers and green grass yesterday, doesn't mean it will be next month. I think when people who know you have ptsd see you doing really well, they think you are cured. It would be fabulous if that were true.

Weather, roller coaster, ocean currents, the nature of entropy (how you need to put energy into all systems to keep it ordered, because all systems degrade into chaos without putting in the work to keep it ordered) ... these are all things I've used to describe ptsd to well meaning therapists (many of them interns) who didn't really understand because it is outside their regular training. PTSD is a specialty that you have to persue as an add on to normal certification. There is a "chapter" on it, so to speak, but no real in depth instruction.

I think PTSD should be part of the normal training and certification even at the clinical level, because poor and rural areas do not attract the higher educated people above the masters level -- unless it is where they are from and don't care about being paid much. Those who are well trained about ptsd are not available to poor people who can't pay for their services, or their insurance doesn't cover anything above clinical level help.

 

[majidah]

What I wish people understood is that while we function (sometimes) in day to day life, no we don't think it's always about us. However, on those days or those times like I'm having right now...it is about us. We can only be as strong as our strongest day so don't expect us to be a bright ray of sunshine because sometimes that sunshine just isn't there.

We live with the results of our trauma. The tears, the fears, all of it is very real. So when we say "sorry can't get myself to leave the house right now," it's not that we don't want to. It's that we can't. Don't say we need anger management because in reality it's not anger management we need..it's trauma management. It's pain management. It's catastrophe management we need. When we say our issues has issues, normally that's just about the jest of it. When we're sarcastic, don't take it personally because there are days we hate everyone equally.

Most importantly..we didn't create our situation. The situation was created for us. We survived. Some of us just survive a little less some days than others.

 

[superman1496]

I wish that people would understand that I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what's already happened, I am afraid of what might happen, and I'm afraid of what is going on now. I'm scared of all of this, and it makes me feel completely alone, which doesn't make things any better. And it's one thing that no one seems to get.

 

[Tinyflame]

That the small things matter a lot.
That I do appreciate what others do, but not good at expressing it in 'words'.
That when others are happy that I feel a 'relief' in general.

 

[Meadowsweet]

I wish people would understand that they don't understand, rather than trying to make comparisons in their own life.

 

[Sana Rabbit]

I wish people wouldn't think we are weak or less of a person for having PTSD. We have survived things alot of people wouldn't and if someone is fortunate enough to have never been tested that way, count their blessings and let compassion be their guide.

Well said Kimba. Just because we have PTSD does not mean we are not strong people, to the contrary...if we weren't strong many of us wouldn't have survived what happened to us to begin with. Forget having to repeat it over and over again. I wish I could challenge some people to survive a day, or even one night, in my brain, seeing what I see. Come to think of it though, I don't know if there is anyone I dislike that much...

 

[Tinyflame]

I wish people would recognize that maybe God has other (Bigger) plans for (all) of us, ptsd-or-not, or anything-else-or-not. Maybe part of our purpose lays in having it, solely because that same principle could apply to anyone with 'anything'. Maybe He can put it to better use than would be the case if we didn't have it.

Wish I could express myself better, lol.

 

[jibber]

I wish that people understood that the PTSD is not my whole life and it's not my whole identity. I had one horrifying episode that caused my PTSD. Yes, much of the past year and a half since then has been a living hell. Yes, it's changed me forever. Yes, I have spent months where I was almost non-functional. Yes, I still do have days where I can barely bring myself to get out of bed to make myself some food, let alone do anything else. But I'm still managing to live my life, go to school, go to work, hang out with friends, and generally go on with the day to day. I'm still capable of having emotions, thoughts, and feelings unrelated to my PTSD. Of course I wish people could understand better how truly debilitating it can be, but I also wish they could realize that through all of it, despite all of it, I still can be happy and lead a normal life.

 

[NarcSis]

I wish people could just accept it, understand how complex the symptoms are, gosh, I'm actually just learning myself how deep the impact of this trauma is on me. I was singly traumatized but I've been told because of the job I did, I was actually mutliply traumatized over the years....never had a problem until that one day. I wish people could understand that when I can't face the day, it's not because I don't want to and no, I can't snap out of it, I wish I could. I say every day, I wish I could just give it all away but the person I give this too, I would really, really have to hate because no one really deserves this. I didn't ask for it, it's just something I'm struggling to deal with.

You don't get it, you can't understand, just accept me, it's not fair that I have to be the one doing all of the accepting in this while others reject me because of symptoms beyond my control.

Thank you to Maddog for the extremely eloquent summary of the effects of trauma, I wish under pressure I could just tell people that.