Recent content by Ted Moen

Deep inside we have this ball of intense feelings, all the feelings related to all the traumas we have experienced, all interwoven and knotted and tangled and ready to explode into our current situation when triggered. The intense feeling in most noticed when it is experienced as anger because...

There are medications that can immediately prevent you from hurting yourself and others, if the situation calls for those. Those medications generally inhibit you from doing much of anything. Then there are medications which can help by addressing chemical imbalances in our system. Many of...

Major depression involves chemical imbalances in our brains that alter our perceptions so that everything seems to feed the intense feeling of hopelessness, spiraling us deeper and deeper into the mood. The mood is not about the other person or the perceived hopeless situation. If the other...

Complex PTSD is experienced as so personal, with so much guilt and hopelessness that suidide seems the only option. It is not the only option. The healthy option is to participate in therapy with a qualified support team, a clinical psychologist to guide you through cognitive therapy and help...

I found trazadone helped me learn to sleep, within the context of participating daily in a very active exercise program. After a couple of years I was able to taper off the medication and sleep very well as long as I maintained my exercise program.

I was denied, called 1-800-Call-Sam, was referred to a firm that specialized in SSD, and won the appeal. The amount they charged was reasonable, set by SSA, not a percentage of the total settlement. Good luck. Ted

Well PerfectlyFlawed, I like your title. I believed I was defective for a very long time, that I somehow was responsible for all this stuff that seemed to happen to me, around me. Perfectly flawed. Defective in some way. Later I learned PTSD develops when a normal person (adult or child) is...

((((((((((Junebug)))))))))) Happy Birthday! Ted

I was medically retired at 19 1/2 years for PTSD in 2001. Once I was medically retired I updated my VA claim and (after a reasonably brief process) and was increased to 100% for PTSD, then I filed SSD and (after a lengthy process, including initial rejection and appeal) was awarded SSD. The...

Welcome, Shamrocks. I came home from Vietnam in 68 (one of "those" Vietnam Vets). It took me until 95 to begin to participate in my own therapy and until 2001 to fully participate. Prior to 95 I lived out my set of symptoms (labels are for the Docs, what we have is a set of symptoms), just...

You did we'll, Ayasha. Keep trying, but always have an exit plan and share it with the people around you, and give yourself permission to use it. Two things will likely develop. First the fact that you have an exit plan that you have shared will reduce some of the anxiety and panic. And...

I think joy and happiness come from participation in an integrated set of relationships and activities that are appropriate to our current situation. Untreated PTSD leaves us able to do an activity, but unable to participate in it, and relationships are just too scary to consider. If we do an...

For the first 25 years following Vietnam, I worked full-time usually lasting at any one job or position for six months to three years, usually finding some "reason" to leave that job or position without any consideration of what I might do next, usually taking some time off (a month or two up to...

Hey 1016, no doubt you will do well deployed because that's what you do, as my wife put it years ago. It's coming home and learning to live with the intrusive thoughts and feelings in a civilian environment that's the challenge. I deployed to Desert Storm already diagnosed with PTSD...

I received SSD for 10 year for not being able to work due to PTSD until I turned 65, when it turned into regular social security. You need a lawyer that specializes in SSD. The lawyer will evaluate your situation, and the fee is set by statue and paid by SS as part of your settlement. At...