Poll Do You Believe That Ptsd Effects The Way You Operate In Society?

[Rodek]

It affects me daily. I often don't see things that others see me doing.

 

[Lionheart]

I prefer one-on-one interactions. I can handle short interactions with one or two people, but if it is a new situation, or new place, with new people, I freak. If there are more than two people, I feel outnumbered, trapped and want to escape.

If the person I am meeting is male, I am totally hypervigilant and will keep an eye out for escape routes such as doors, windows etc. (I will also keep a weapon around, such as a baseball bat in the car, knife in my pocket etc.).

If I'm in a big crowd, I will shut down emotionally and run on "auto-pilot," my anger comes to the foreground, and I walk with my hands clenched in a fist. I get paranoid and will check behind my back often. Even if there is nothing behind me, I still get a sense of impending doom.

If I meet a woman that I find attractive, I freak out a bit and will keep my feelings to myself as I don't tolerate rejection very well and I have come to expect my weaknesses, (if discovered), to be used against me.

Simply put, I do not trust other people not to use or abuse me and so I suppose all aspects of socializing are negatively affected, (with the exception of one-to-one interactions for which I feel more equally matched).

 

[Oasis616]

. I miss being optimistic. People could count on me for it. I'm ashamed I'm not anymore. Being so, helped me and others such as at my job. I was the one people said, "Gee, I always feel better after talking to you", because I was a listener not a talker.

kkoehler, I almost felt like I was reading my own thoughts when reading your post. Particularly the optimistic part; before my symptoms started manifesting I was known as an "insufferable optimistic" because of my outlook on life and my ability to just bounce back. I was a listener and had a plethora of energy most people couldn't keep up with. The shame for me sometimes associated with that can get get overwhelming. But the worst "social impact" of my PTSD is part of my hypervigiliance is emotionally driven, I have become extremely hyper-sensitive and people's comments can throw me into a tailspin. I've had to cut ties with the relationships in my life which contained a great of sarcasm as a way to interact because it always left me feeling brutalized and exhausted.

For me things are slowly coming back; granted, not to the level once were but slowly I feel like I have more control over my thoughts and actions, and I actually attribute that a great deal to my decision to become a teacher. Losing myself in education was my sanctuary, a way to shut off my brain to everything and focus on something I believed worthy (I'm in my 20s and working on doctorate lol). Somewhere in there, I discovered as influential as my fears were when I was teaching someone something, I had a calm that swept over me, plus I found I had a unique ability to take abstract concepts and make them understandable. PTSD has affected so much of my social ability and yes, has a heavy influence on what I capable and not capable of doing, but for me, finding the things which were greater than myself and worthy in my mind helps me function better. Thanks again!

 

[PinkLady]

I think it has really affected every area of my life to an extent, but some examples that spring to mind are:

- I just don't care about my friends as much as I used to. I don't feel bad about my apathy, but I feel like I should. It's hard for me to make an effort to call, text, attend social gatherings. I don't want to talk about what happened, I don't want people to bring it up or ask how the recovery is going
- I have a hard time dealing with too much stimulation (ie: more than one person talking with music playing and such)
- I don't like crowds in a way: I'm afraid to be hurt. But I like to feel like I'm invisible, rather than being watched or focused on, which is easy in a crowd
- I don't like to be touched (and feel like I overreact, especially when people touch my injured limb), this includes sex... which I am totally uninterested in
- I prefer to stay in, I am afraid of going to the store and seeing people I know mostly or getting hurt (mostly falling on stairs or escalators, getting hit by a car, in a car accident, trapped in an elevator, etc)
- I want to move away to somewhere I don't know people and can just live my life in privacy
- I am extremely wary of new people/strangers, which is new for me, I used to be fairly outgoing

 

[Invisible-Guy]

I used to be the one to get my wife to go places. Now, I almost never leave the house and I'm generally miserable when I do. Even family events. I tried to go back to school, back when I get startled, I do bizarre things grabbing people by the throat while coming out of the bathroom. I can't set foot in a mall or other
large crowd without having a panic attack. If i do go somewhere, my back has to be against a wall. I feel like a freak and that people know how screwed up I am. Sometime I can almost be normal while talking to a single person for a few minutes, but I can't keep it up for long. Overreaction is an understatement, but I haven't seriously hurt anybody in about four years. When I first started to break down, I got in for fights in public in a two year period. It took me that long to acknowledge that I needed mental help. I really hated who I was turning into, and I often still do. Trying to do some studying online until I can handle school again. Even then, it's hard to concentrate. Learning is so much harder now. This thing can literally cripple you.

 

[Loner]

It pretty much defines it.

 

[Philippa]

Sometimes I can't believe I actually enrolled in a year long course, which pretty much means i'm stuck in a room with the same people for 3 days a week. I was extremely quiet when I first started, and have done my best to avoid getting close to everyone there, although they all claim to feel close to each other now. For me, I feel like i am faking it just to survive in there, although I do at times find that I can be vocal in discussions and outspoken, like I can be online, where it feels safer to type out my opinions and thoughts.

Some of the more outspoken, stronger women there see me as one of them I think, even though I don't have piercings or tatts etc. and I do have a lot to say as art therapy is kind of my thing, and i've been doing my own therapy since I was 17. It is a good group though, and people there are engaged and interesting...though I have trouble with one guy who keeps taking his shit out on me, and others there...and it's become a bit of a problem.

But I'm the same as far as not liking people walking behind me...even if it is a fair distance away. I will stop and pretend to read a bus timetable and let them pass. I prefer to walk behind people, and still like to hole up in my place, with just my kitty. But I am getting pretty sick of being alone, that's for sure.

I do push myself to go to parties, when I am invited...and have surprised myself at times, as I often end up being the last one standing, even though I didn't really want to go in the first place. It feels like my fear of people is not as intense as it used to be, and I was a lot more anti social than I am today, though it does feel like I have pushed myself when I didn't really want to go outside at times.

I have cut off from my parents and brothers as they are just too damaging to be around, and I walked around for ages feeling like that physical boundary, that armor I once had was completely missing, and I not only had thin skin, but it was as though I'd been flayed alive. I had NO skin at all and was one big walking open wound.

I seem to be a lot more resilient than how I used to be, but I do know that I bury a lot of upsetting emotions when stuff happens, like getting attacked and maliciously gossiped about by my ex manager. I have hardly left my house except to buy food and go to school since that happened. I don't like very noisy windy nights, when I hear every little thing happening outside and think it is someone trying to get into my place, when it's just a twig falling on the roof, or a door getting blown by the wind. I don't sleep on nights like that.

But yeah, I've convinced myself that PTSD has faded from my life, but there are some things that definitely haven't changed. I have improved in some areas though, and that needs to be acknowledged. School can be triggering, and I still feel like I am the odd one out there, and don't have any particular 'clique', but then again, I didn't go there to make friends or be in one...and I'm used to be an outsider.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Who the heck said "no"....?!?!?!?

Are these people undiagnosed? If they are diagnosed, perhaps they need a second opinion because I fail to see how anyone with PTSD could possibly say that it does not in any way, shape, or form affect their social interactions!

ETA I thought the diagnostic criteria said something about significant impairment? How can you have a perfectly normal social life but still meet this criteria for PTSD?

 

[Violet03]

Definitely, PTSD affects the way I function. I basically try to avoid everyone, everywhere.

 

[Britt.f7]

I do not like groups of people, crowds. I have a hard time saying yes when people invite me along to something, whether it is the spur of the moment or ahead of time. I usually say no. I do not like to go to any family gatherings or friend gatherings because, after all, what do you do or say? Truly, my sis and her husband spent the day and evening with our little brother and his girlfriend and I thought, "what do they do all that time?". They would think I'm crazy. That's okay, so do I.

When my son went to his first homecoming dance, I had to drop him off at the young ladies house. Her parents asked if I was going to come in to take pictures. I declined. I know most parents would have done this. If my husband was home, he would have done this. Now I have no pictures.

Between my mental and the physical ailments, my kids don't have anyone over. Only infrequently when little. Only one of them is outgoing.

I rarely take them to any appointments. I try to avoid any appointments, even my own.

I'm afraid to take the dogs on a walk by myself.

I'm afraid to work out at the club.

Way too many social hangups to count. I'd like to know what it would be like to have the confidence to conquer all of this.

 

[LSNP]

Ok, here come some real life examples from myself.

1. I know I have a problem because I have simply stopped doing all of those things.

 

[therapybankrupt]

You are kidding right? If you have true PSTD it effects are with you always!