Do People Fake PTSD?

[growingpains]

I smiled at your post Jimmy66--when I am triggered I try to really hide the symptoms as much as I can in public and when someone asks,"hey you seem a bit distant/out of it, are you okay?" I tend to respond, "Oh yeah, I am okay, just a little PTSD." It is a way for me to be honest but yet not feel uncomfortable. Though of course I am very uncomfortable on the inside thinking I must seem odd when the symptoms do come up.

 

[Lavender]

Hi Jimmy,

Thank you for your comments. It made me smile, and after being anxiety ridden for at least the last week I really needed that. :)

I wrote out a very long reply on forgiveness but deleted it. I re-read it and it was depressing. I don't think any of us needs help to feel depressed.

What I've learned about forgiveness in this last several days is to stop pushing myself so hard, and to not watch documentaries on how Holocaust survivors have learned to forgive. They showed footage of "the camps" and the victims, so I was triggered hard. I just wanted to learn from people I feel are experts at forgiveness, but I shouldn't have exposed myself to that. Besides, there are understandably very, very few that have managed it.

So there's what not to do. rofl

I've been learning to pray for the most harmful person from my past, and at first I couldn't do it. I learned this in A.A. 16 years ago and I'm just now able to even try it in regards to this person. I finally managed to ask for the Universe's perfect will for him, period. I have to keep doing this every day until I mean it and my heart softens. I'm wondering just how long it's going to take. I don't want to pray for him, but I need and deserve to be free, so it's worth the effort, and it is a *huge* effort right now. I was taught that we do this because any person that intentionally causes grievous harm is spiritually sick. I say they're flaming sociopaths, but that still means sick, and illness merits compassion. I suppose the issue for me is learning the ultimate in compassion. It's a good thing I don't believe in hell. lol

I do want to mention that people forced to do things in war that they would never do in a normal living situation are not flaming sociopaths or spiritually sick. I understand that's a completely different thing altogether. I just wanted to be clear about that.

I like how a guy shared in a meeting one time, "I don't so much surrender as collapse from exhaustion." That's about where I'm at. lol

 

[Jimmy]

Anthony reminded me of something today that I keep forgetting (thanks mate) . He said when he is feeling down he just thinks of people worse off. Like people in wheelchairs.
When you think about it, the majority of people with extreme disabilities are pretty happy people.

I know I am guilty of taking pity on myself.

I also have a mate that blames everything on PTSD. He uses it as an excuse for drinking, arguing with his wife, and just about everything else.

This site has given me so much. I know i am not alone, and if I want someone to comment on how I am feeling I can just write a post without having any confrontation.

Thanks for all your encouraging comments guys and gals

 

[blueangel371115]

Well to hear my family tell it. I am faking it. But I've had two therapists and a doctor diagnose me. I now have a name for the nightmares, the anxiety and the fear. Yes unfortunately people will fake PTSD, for whatever reason.

 

[Jade-]

I know 2 people who fake ptsd and they laugh about it and tell others how to get disability. It's a big joke to them. This is why I haven't told anyone other than my hubby or my sister that I have been diagnosed with it.

Reading this thread actually made me cry. I definitely don't like having this, I wish the ones that fake it really knew what it's like. Let them feel the way I do, let them have nightmares, let them feel like they're worthless shit, let them freak out if someone gets too close, let them sleep with a baseball bat and a golf club or not be able to do simple ****ing things that other people do, like wear pink clothing or soak in a tub or be in a closed room or........

 

[externalsmile]

Being a mental health nurse I see many a person faking having a mental illness or a physical illness. From what I see they usually want someone to "save" them and to be looked after.

As for the ones that do it for financial gain....they disgust me.

As for now, I'm in the same boat as Jimmy. I'm going to pretend I don't have it even though that isn't successful!

I would much rather be healthy and not have to take medication, visit doctors and counsellors just to be able to deal with everyday stressors. I would love to be able to head out and just pay a bill without it being a huge ordeal because it involves me being in a crowd and interacting with a stranger who now holds a slip of paper with my address on it.

 

[TLight]

I had a co-worker make a joke that her ailing mother, who rang a bell in the basement for assistance, gave her PTSD. Right in front of all these other people. They all knew I had it.

To me, these people all belong in the category of insensitive, selfish, basically poor character people that I know I need to keep really distanced from.

I have CPTSD and it is certainly nothing to joke about. It is probably one of the most horrific mental illnesses to deal with because of the amount of stress chemicals running through our bodies pretty much all the time. I don't tell many people at all anymore. In fact, I'm pretty much isolated and like it that way. But if I do try to explain, I say something like, "You know the feeling you get in your body when you have a near miss episode in a car? Well, that adrenaline rush, confusion, horror.....all those things that you experience in those few moments, try living like that your entire life. That is what it is like having PTSD. No picnic and after years like this, death is a better option."

Sometimes they understand, usually they don't.

I stay away from talking about it. My best of friend still doesn't get it.

People who fake it? Bad humans and unfortunately there are a lot of them. That's why I stay away from humans, thank you very much.

 

[anthony]

Yep, there are some serious dip-shits around in this world.

 

[Jimmy]

I suppose I am just sick and tired of trying to explain myself when people ask why I got out of the military. I just say I have a broken back and a broken shoulder. It's only the close people that I try to explain to.
I know of some people who faked symptoms to get out of the military and yet later on in life they actually were diagnosed having it. I have to laugh.

With regards to military personnel, the sad thing is that a lot of people get out thinking they are just sick of the military. They don't enjoy it as they used to. They have family hassles and often drink heavily. They go off on anger rampages. The problem is, that when they are eventually diagnosed with PTSD they have a massive problem claiming through the VA.

Jimmy

 

[dhawkins78412]

I think a lot of people fake PTSD. All one needs to do is read an article of signs and symptoms, then start saying I'm having flashbacks/nighmares etc. I work for the VA and am a vet also. The VA rewards people the sicker you are. There's not much incentive to take better care of ones self. The more illnesses one has the higher the disability rating is and they get access to more services as well as possibly getting higher disability pay.

What really gets me is vets using PTSD as a reason to behave rudely. That's a clue they dont' really have PTSD. I've heard I have PTSD and I have the right to use a gun. (That happens when they don't get what they want.) I have PTSD and I'm gonna go beserk (when they dont' get what they want.)

People who really have PTSD don't talk about it. I've seen many WW2 and Vietnam vets rarely discussing their bad experiences. POW's dont' talk about it either. You usually find out by accident and that's the end of the discussion. Really that can apply to anyone with PTSD. I don't tell people I was raped nor do I advertise it. That's a very personal experience. And I don't go places and act rude/hostile b/c I have PTSD. Why are you going to stand there and advertise to everyone, hey everybody I have PTSD. And it usually means to watch out I'm gonna be rude, hostile, etc.

I feel strongly about this mostly due to my job and the exposure to it. I could say other things but I think its best not to say anymore.

 

[Lucycat]

Wow, this is my first look at this thread. I had never considered that anyone would want to fake it, but having read the previous posts I can understand some of the reasons why.

You are so right. Some of my behaviour in the past has been less than polite. At that time I did not know I had PTSD. Now I know I have acted badly and am very careful to control it. I certainly would not want to advertise my condition. I don't want sympathy or even understanding. I just want acceptance of me as I am. People do not need to know that it includes a diagnosis. Of course my immediate family know but that is enough. I hope one day all this will be ancient history and I will be able to say I USED TO HAVE PTSD!

 

[dhawkins78412]

I'm certainly not an angel. I'm sure there's been times I've behaved strangely or said something rudely and people wondering what's the matter with her. Maybe its me, I'm not sure. I learned to suppress my thoughts and feelings. No one cared what I thought or felt; so I rarely react spontaneously. So I keep a lot inside.

So I don't understand it when people act out.