Ptsd ... "it's Not About What's Wrong With Me, It's About What Happened To Me"!!

[Me Myself and I]

Since i've been diagnosed with PTSD my life radically changed ...

I've started avoiding people, stopped going out, I feel depressed and sad most of the times and I keep on having this constant nightmare of having a seizure in public!!

But then once I was reading about PTSD and saw this quote " PTSD is not about what's wrong with me, it's about what happened to me" and somewhat my thinking changed!!

It's true, it's not something to be ashamed of after all!! It's not my fault!! I've been through a lot and that's just a reaction of my body and mind to what happens, and happened to me!!

I just arrived to the conclusion that I really can't let this situation or "problem" if you like, take over me!!

Because I do need help true, but I can't accept help from others if I don't try to help myself first!!

 

[Loveneverfails]

I clicked on this thread because of the title. It is so true. Your brain is working the way it should, and it's a beautiful, intricate organ that makes surviving the things we've seen and experienced possible. We have hope to recover because of this condition. I know we'll never be 'cured' but there is still hope for life. Hope to build something for ourselves. That, for me, is better than the alternative. I am glad I survived, PTSD in all. I'm tired, but I know I'm going to be happy. I know I have a chance for something better.

 

[Me Myself and I]

I totally agree with you, it's not easy true, yet we have to learn to cope with it and live our lives as any other person around!!

After all it's not being disabled! It's just a reaction that varies from one person to another!!

So we just have to be strong enough and have faith!! Cause everything happens for a reason!!

I really wish you all the best!!

Thanks for your reply :)

 

[timid_flower]

I agree. I think PTSD usually comes with a lot of guilt because you feel there is something deeply wrong with you that got you to this point. You feel completely damaged and broken.

In reality it's about what we've been through and finding a way to recover from those events. In a strange way, as bad as it can be, it's our mind's way to deal and recover from the trauma.

 

[Thinkingman85]

I can relate. I don't hang out with many people. I was getting a 4.0 in college, now it's a challenge for me to find my mental stability again. Sometimes it takes time to understand what has happened. However, we will get a clearer understanding and more insight than before. I think it's normal to want to get back into how things were. However, the issues have to be confronted. Even if we don't confront them, they will show up anyway either through displacement or sublimation. The reason I am focused on resolving my issues is because every attempt I made was a dead end street. It was like I was getting nowhere. My brain is telling me that there are things that have to be confronted and processed. I don't know why it has taken six years for me to focus on this, but now that I am, I am getting a sense that I will be able to feel normal again. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It feels good when you are noticing that you are improving. That is what I follow.

 

[Me Myself and I]

This is so true ... I just hope that one day we can all recover with the help of no one but ourselves!!

And understand that there is nothing wrong with us, ... it's just a wound that needs it's time to heal!!

Nothing more than that!!

 

[timid_flower]

However, the issues have to be confronted. Even if we don't confront them, they will show up anyway either through displacement or sublimation.

Very true.

My therapist would tell me that emotional pain is a lot like physical pain. If we have a cut, we have no control of how much it will hurt. We can't decide if it will hurt or not, it just does. We need to tend to it, which sometimes means getting medical help for stitches or something. If we just ignore it, it can get get infected and make matters worse.

The same thing happens with emotional pain, she'd say. We need to tend to it. We can't control how much pain an event will cause, it just does. Sometimes we need professional help and if we don't get it, it can get worse. Which is when PTSD comes in. Your brain is saying, you have this pain you never took care of, and it is now time to do it.

I thought I'd share because hearing that would actually make me feel better. It would help me see that like Nabii nabzz said, it's not about what's wrong with me, it's about what happened to me.

I've definitely been needing that reminder lately.

 

[Me Myself and I]

Thank you so much for sharing it with us!!
That was one good example!!

 

[maddog]

This is a very powerful sentiment to hold onto, and I too was drawn by the title of this thread. This exact statement is actually at the heart of guidelines being developed in Australia (currently having been presented to the Federal Government) around the treatment of complex trauma, but the same applies to PTSD generally.

As others have said, the condition often carries so much guilt and shame, often associated with deep injurious damage done during childhood or other random unforeseen acts of violence, abuse or suffering which deeply erode a person's self belief, self confidence and sense of identity. For this reason, it is so easy to internalise the sense that something is inherently wrong or broken.

Truly accepting that PTSD results from external happenings, in asense from normal responses to abnormal events, is actually a seemingly subtle but very critical step towards taking control of recovery and believing in the way forward.

It's very timely for me to reflect on this now and to remind myself that PTSD does not define me nor dictate my future, in spite of how it may currently feel.

Maddog

 

[Me Myself and I]

Maddog (It's very timely for me to reflect on this now and to remind myself that PTSD does not define me nor dictate my future, in spite of how it may currently feel).


Exactly!! PTSD is not what we are, it's just a temporary state of mind and body!!

 

[Thinkingman85]

I just want to add that I got to a point where I had to confront my issues. What happened in my life just didn't add up. It felt like I achieved and experienced much less than what I should have. After the traumas, I've always had this feeling that my life isn't turning out the right way. This is probably because of an emotional "infection". Medication, therapy, getting involved, and learning are helping me heal this infection.

 

[Me Myself and I]

Wishing you all the best ...