Do You Find Using This Forum Regularly Helps Or Hinders Your Ptsd Effects?

[Upside Down Eagle]

Yeah for me it also makes them better & worse. It depends.
Some days it helps me more to look for positive writings by people on this forum. Like they made a small improvement. Or are proud of something. Or achieved a goal. It helps me feel brighter.

Others days I feel strong and I can help people around here, which in turn is helpful for me because I often have similar issues.
But I also had huge periods of time where I wasn't very active at all, because my mind needed to be focused on myself first.

 

[Over the rainbow]

For me it really helps, I hated being alone in this hell.
What helps me is if I post something I try and make sure I read other peoples things as well and try to help at least one a day.
Being alone is the worst thing to do, even though it's safer in my solitude.

 

[myheart]

Helps...Definitely!

 

[Queen Boudica]

Yes it can certainly send into a downward spiral. But that is the nature of PTSD and that happens everywhere, I switch on the News or watch a movie there are triggers.

Here is support from others who get it. Plus it is exposure but more controlled I find than out in the real World. And I think you have to be exposed and then go through the pain to almost normalise yourself and see where it all fits in and see it is a huge struggle but you can still move forward and lead a life, and there are examples of people on here who are doing that. They are not stuck, they have the pain and the suffering but they achieve so much. One day at a time. Step by step. We get overwhelmed but we get through it.

Comparing traumas isn't helpful. Feeling unworthy just pulls you back.

Certainly with the DV when I first came on here I was stuck in that view that I was to blame and I was so scared. Seeing others stories and the encouragement I had helped me get through.

And the diary helps me work through all the confusion in my head. And nice to have guidance and support.

 

[joeylittle]

my c-trauma seems like nothing when I read some of the posts here, even though I know it wasnt nothing.

For me, this very thing is part of the point. I don't think what happened to me was that bad. And, I know that it doesn't matter what degree of bad it was, it's created a big problem for me, now. So every time I read something from someone and think, oh my goodness, that is so much worse than anything I went through - I have a chance to remind myself that I'm minimizing my trauma and I don't need to do that.

I guess what I'm saying is, everything is useful if you just find the right frame.

 

[Ronin]

Helps, definitely. It's not about how bad what was or is for me, but seeing people with both similar and dissimilar experiences tackle their issues, that's motivating to look for my own medicine and not stop looking.

Plus I like it's the internet and text based; I don't have to worry about all of the facial expressions I did in RL therapy. (In which blank is just fine for a default, tightly controled doesn't bring a seam of questions, and my happy doesn't have to look like the happy other people are familiar with? Bingo!)

 

[jaccat]

Helps. Being able to discuss things with people who get it.

Yes, sometimes I see responses from people and I disagree with them. Sometimes I think they are replying from the wrong place. But that's going to happen. We wouldn't be genuine otherwise.

Some threads I avoid. Can't tell you why, just I know they won't be good for me. And it's got nothing to do with the level of trauma others have faced, it just is. But it's my choice not to read those.

I think I've been spending too much time on this forum since I found it, and I need to get a better balance in my life, but that's got nothing to do with my symptoms, and more to do with my irritating habit of procrastination :whistling:.

 

[Ellabella44]

For me it helps to be here. Even if i dont post for a while or chat for a while, I can still look up things that others have posted that have helped with certain symptoms and use that information to not only see an alternative way at looking at the situation, but also that it can be dealt with.

I have friends who i talked to about things that happened when i had my breakdown, and they said wow how did you deal with all of that? And well no matter what it was , ive always hung on to , well theres worse things. and shrug. But with everything im experiencing now , I cant do that anymore.

In a way it helps to see others struggle with certain issues, because it means im not alone struggling with them. And that if someone has found something that worked for them with it, theres hope that when i find what works for me with it, things can possibly get better even for a short length of time.

It also helps to read about someone in thier worst hole, knowing that anyone who responds has been in thier worst hole themselves, and has eventually gotten out of it for a while. It helps to have someone toss you a rope and not just say hey get over it.

I do take a few days off from reading as well.

 

[Tanishq]

Regular forum visit, yes it helps me.

 

[Freedomfighter]

I can only stay in these forums for a little while, because yes, just reading about other people's symptoms can trigger me very much.

 

[Ladyghosthunter]

Being a member in this forum helps me not only help myself but use my calling of charity work to help those who have suffered damage beyond damage. Everyone's suffering. Everyone has different degrees of suffering that can't be compared to others' sufferings. We are all suffering-end of line.

By going outside of myself, I help others which in turn helps me. It's the Circle of Charity, as I call it.

 

[Mercy]

Being here really helps me, sometimes I can understand better what is going on with me. Sometimes, I can help someone else out. The way I figure it, if someone else's stuff triggers me then I have learned something new about my own Ptsd to have reacted to it. It's all good. I am very grateful for all the years I have been here even with taking occasional breaks.