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Sufferer Another day, another coping method - childhood abuse & neglect, friend’s death, & sexual assault.

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Angelica53

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Hello!

My name is Angelica and I'm a 22 year old living with PTSD. This past November I had my first in-patient hospitalization following multiple dissociative/blackout episodes.

My PTSD comes from a combined: neglect and emotional/verbal abuse growing up, the passing of a close friend at the age of 18, and three sexual assaults.

I wanted to join a forum because I realized today, after being treated like a second-class patient due to my mental health, I need some of "my own people" to talk to about scenarios like that. As someone who is very aware of the stigma mental health has, it is infuriating coming across people that are just completely mind-boggled with how to behave or react around someone with a mental illness.

I'm looking forward to exploring this website and gaining insight and knowledge with
 
Welcome!

The stigma is INSANE! It’s a big part of what has kept me isolated for so long. Now all of my friends either have their own mental illness or they have experience with mental illness. It takes away so much of the pressure. And of course, I don’t have to break in any normies. :hilarious:
 
Thank you, Eve, for the response! Is "normies" the term for people that do not comprehend the compassion needed for mental health issues? The people that I've met in-patient and in my support groups have become such a strong support system for me because there is no expectation for me to act or be a normie. I used to isolate much more than I do now, BUT it's still hard having to grieve your non-normie friends.
 
Hello!

My name is Angelica and I'm a 22 year old living with PTSD. This past November I had my fir...
Welcome aboard, Angelica. I hope you find comfort here. I find comfort in that some doctors now view PTSD as a mental injury, not an illness. Somehow injury seems more "fixable" to me than does illness. Plus, it lessens the stigma of the label "mental illness" for me. One doctor went so far as to suggest it be renamed PTSI for Post Traumatic Stress Injury, in acknowledgement that we didn't get this way by ourselves. We were injured by other people, or by our environment in the case of natural disasters. Interesting concept, don't you think?
 
Hello Victory! Thank you for the warm welcome :) I found a LOT of comfort just reading your response in labelling PTSD as a PTSI. Until reading your post, it has been hard for me to explain that my psyche has been fragmented in as many words. A very interesting concept is the ability to then distinguish between someone that has a Post Traumatic Stress Injury vs. Complex-PTSD. Is it that an injury can occur later in one's lifetime once the psyche has formed and developed and is now fractured? Would C-PTSD then mean that the environment since childhood has been consistently traumatizing, developing neural pathways in the "fight or flight" pathway stronger than through more "mindful" pathways? These are interesting concepts to delve into!

As someone that can pinpoint specific events that can be considered as direct injuries to my psyche, I think the that PTSD is an injury versus an illness is a MUCH better way of looking at this. Injuries can be healed, or at least rehabilitated. Labelling this an illness leads one to believe that nothing can be done about the fact that the illness exists, one can only lessen, or manage, symptoms. At the same time, I used to look at my condition as something I can fix if I try hard enough--and that is not always the case. I fear that I may be in "remission" for several years eventually and worry that a single sound or smell is going to shoot me back in time to flashback mode. I guess that is what the recovery process is all about--building up that confidence in myself that I am stronger than the flashback, and that the present is what I have to fight to hold onto no matter what.
 
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