Poll Do You Have Difficulty Reading with PTSD?

[Lionheart]

I chose sometimes as I cannot read long posts or posts without paragraphs, the letters all seem to run together and I can't seem to focus on them very well, so I avoid them.

 

[benjumaan]

Yes I used to never read anything, teacher would hand me some work, I'd be thinkin' "What the eff are these symbols you call letters?" It's like I'd forgotten how to read. Much better now I can read, although I generally don't read work assigned to me and I certainly wouldn't consider reading a book. So I just read threads which is fairly easy for me so long as there isn't much noise or activity going on around, but I guess I generally avoid those situations in the first place.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

When symptoms increase, reading becomes difficult.

That's why I love those who use "twitter-speak" here on the forums.

More often than not I skip long responses. Short, sweet, and to the point is my motto!!

 

[Debbet]

I was an avid reader, 2-3 books a day, now it is hit and miss. That was when I knew it was time to get help. Sometimes I can read a book, sometimes I am so desperate to read for the comfort and escape it offers but I can't focus on a book which leaves me feeling edgy. I too used to be able to completely focus on a book and shut out the world, now when I study I must have peace and quiet and the right frame of mind or it just doesn't happen.

 

[Estacia]

Very interesting question to pose, I just cannot awnser it. I do not know.

 

[InHell11]

I went with always, but it would be more accurate to say most of the time since sometimes I don't have much trouble with it but most of the time I do. I used to read all the time and had no issue with it, so it was pretty apparent to me that something might be wrong when I went from reading all the time to hardly being able to get through a chapter in a book most of the time.

 

[Definitely..maybe]

Gosh, I wish I could concentrate enough on reading to escape for a while.

 

[Changing4Best]

I read my Bible and some Devotionals every morning and I love to read novels too. As well, everything I do online requires reading, so I am sure glad I can see and I can read!

 

[Philippa]

I voted mostly always at the moment.

I seem to need to re-read over a page in a book about 15 times...and even then I still don't know what the hell I just read. It's like it just falls through my mind, like a sieve and is instantly forgotten as soon as I read it. I've kinda given up on reading as it just doesn't seem to improve. I feel a bit like I may never get the capacity to retain the information I just read back, which kinda sucks and is sad.

I especially have trouble absorbing information on the internet. My eyes start hurting and I just don't manage to finish anything I start reading. I give up and instead attempt to remove the feeling of pressure building up in me when I try and take it in but feel like I fail to. It makes me feel like my IQ is dropping, and I have been making some pretty humiliating mistakes on fb lately, like posting articles without properly checking to see if they are legitimate sources, then having friends point it out to me that they aren't. I then resort to trying to turn it into a humorous situation to alleviate the feeling of humiliation and like I'm a bit of an idiot.

In some ways it is good that they point it out to me, as a reminder to be more careful about checking sources before posting, but then I fall back into the spiral downwards of feeling like I can't take the information is when I do try to read, and get all frantic that I don't know who to trust for a source, and in the process make the very mistakes I am trying to avoid.

 

[jocko]

I have the opposite problem, I use it to hide. I filled myself up with other people's ideas and words, especially the last few years, I gorged myself on information (not usually positive but alot of good stuff learned too). I used to speed read and suck it all in as fast as possible. I used it like a drug to get away but it just stressed me more. I got very delusional, my head was going too fast. It really helped me to see how I've been disassociating all my life by getting so ridiculous I just couldn't ignore it any longer, I'd be sitting talking to someone and my mind would be split in half taking me on some wild fantasy ride of terror/elation. Now I can go slow and actually feel what people are writing and whats behind their words.

 

[Ed Norton]

I have lots of difficulty reading and comprehending what I read now. before my trauma my reading comprehension was excellent.

 

[7Cs]

When I dissociate it can make it hard to understand written or spoken words