Search results

You call yourself DharmaGirl but empath sounds too new age? :D I do know what you mean though. I prefer the terms observant and perceptive over empath.

I understand completely what your T is saying here. Early in my life I was a medic. I never learned the skill of keeping some emotional distance from my patients. I burned out because their pain was my pain. I had to change trades. Therapists need to be able to keep some detachment the same way...

It'll take that long and longer if you don't do it.

Well I thought that as a layman I was pretty good at reading these studies. This one goes way over my head.

Well you're not alone. I did an 8 week, two hour twice a week program designed for aid workers. It only scraped the surface and left me thinking my problems were mostly with my military service. I did an intensive live in veteran's group program that left me thinking most of my problems were...

Welcome @ZiggyBlvd I can't really help with the eating disorder side of things but I'm sure there are others who can. I just didn't want you to get discouraged if it takes a while for them to reply. There's a small eating disorder treatment center not far down the road from me. I have a sudden...

Wow. Thats a long list of questions :) Are you suggesting that you have failed therapy because you are unwilling or unable to engage with the process?

We all dream. We all have nightmares. Most people forget them even before they wake. Nightmares are not a bad thing. They are usually the brain's way of trying to make sense of past difficult events or 'practicing' for future bad situations. Unless they are interfering with your life I...

Back when I taught personal security to people working in dangerous places I would talk a lot about intuition and fear. Fear drives a lot of our 'intuitions'. Thats not a bad thing. Fear is a functional protective emotion. Imagine you are standing in a park with a couple of friends. A stranger...

I encourage you to join as well. There are many people here who understand.

Welcome @alilkatiekatt . I'm glad to hear you are getting a little better. This site has helped me alot. I hope it does the same for you.

Yeah it was the same for me for the last five years. Things have been getting better since about Feb. I can now read a chapter at a time without intrusive memories creeping in.

@eloc I was there after the earthquake. We worked in Bana Alai. Went back a while later and worked in ISB and Pesh. I was fully in the throes of PTSD by then. So was one of my national staff guys. I don't think my organization did anything for him. I know they didn't for me.

This is the first time in a long time that I have been able to watch more than a minute or two of news coverage of a terrorist attack. I was worried that it might cause my PTSD cup to overflow. Instead I find myself feeling more positive about my fellow humans. So much of the coverage here has...

Very well said.

No worries. I DID leave it off the original list. Self care is very important. Its just the thing that I forget about first when things get stressful.

Naturally I would forget that part. It is something that should be a top priority. You can't look after someone else if you are burnt out.

I think your doc is right. I have my suspicion that we PTSD sufferers spend so much time deliberately trying to forget things that it spills over and we start forgetting things that are easier to forget. Like whether we ate breakfast or where we left the car.

I keep thinking about your post and I have a great deal of empathy for both of you. My father died from the long term effects of alcohol abuse. Towards the end he thought the same things about my mother and I. It wasn't true of course, but that made things even more difficult. I remember feeling...

It strikes me that you can't manage this together when you have separate concerns/needs/issues. You hint at it here - How can you manage this together when you feel like you are expected to deal with it alone?

I've had the same problem. It does seem to be getting a little better. I'm able to read again, something I couldn't do for more than a paragraph at a time. I have the same fear. My doc assures me it is unfounded. I don't have experience beyond being someone with PTSD who is trying his best to...

I agree. There is help out there but there seems to be far more demand than resources to meet the need.

Way to go! I admire your moral courage. I found much this same. As soon as I opened up about my PTSD I felt the shame and concern for what other's thought fade.

Reading that is so familiar. I know soldiers with PTSD who have had said almost exactly the same sort of things. I always say there is no such thing as a small war when you are in it. I'll add that there is no such thing as a small terror attack when you are in it. Oh and BTW the guilt is a lie.

No. No you don't.