Sufferer Filming A Documentary - Inviting Stories

[Luke Renner]

NovemberStar, thanks for sharing that. I identify with much if what you said.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

Welcome to the forum. :)

Us/them language is a red flag for me.

Me too! 'Us/them' just promotes differences and prejudice. As well as a feeling of those 'them' people are less human. There are other ways of expressing differences IMHO.

Good for you.

 

[Ken Haley]

I agree with Solara about misdiagnosed people, but I don't blame them: The therapists are misdiagnosing people. I have been affected for 38 years, as a very happy child with no mental/fear/avoidance issues before an LSD drugging at age 12, but directly afterwards developed symptoms reminiscent of severe WWI Shell Shock. Flashback would have me screaming and crawling under furniture when I was 12. Many cases I read sounds like a wet dream for me and I would trade places with then in an instant. I went to a meeting years ago with PTSD sufferers when almost all diagnosed cases were vets and two took issue with me saying I had it, until after the meeting we talked. After an hour the most aggressive one apologized and told me my story and symptoms made him feel fortunate.

It terms of minimizing symptom and hiding away. I don't necessarily agree. I am very isolated but that is because having this condition beginning as a child has made me different than other people: With each year I am deprived of life I am forced to minimized that loss to make it until tomorrow. As I minimized the deprivation I suffer I become more different still, getting harder and harder. Then I isolate myself because I get frustrated that I cannot connect with people, but equally they shun me. I would not isolate myself if I could socialize with my own kind.

I also do not hide because I know hiding is the best way to NOT find a cure (if one exists). Doctors have told me over and over again that they have never met any sufferer as aggressive and motivated to get well.

 

[intothelight]

Welcome to MyPTSD forum! :)

 

[Deleted member 1860]

When I said we minimize our symptoms and hide away, I meant that we want to appear normal. We don't want this crap! It's only non-PTSD people who want a trendy diagnosis who will flaunt their "symptoms" in an attempt to gain attention and sympathy. Yes, I hide away, but only because I don't want people to see that side of me. I have sought out treatments that many others haven't even heard of before, yet alone tried. So hiding away and seeking out treatment are not mutually exclusive in what I have expressed. I have had more than one therapist remark about how she is amazed at the lengths I'll go to in order to find treatment.

So yes, I keep pushing forward, but I hide in that I don't publicly post my private health issues on Facebook. Incredibly stupid in my opinion as FB is very public and this stuff can follow you for life. Don't get me wrong, I hate the stigma, but the reality of things is that other people finding out about our diagnosis could mean the difference between job and no job, ultimately having a place to live and being homeless. This is why I say I doubt many in FB who claim they have PTSD actually do. Those of us who have it don't want it. Those of us who have it know very well the discrimination that comes with it, and we don't want that either (it would overfill our stress cup----we don't go looking for stress!)

 

[anthony]

For my part, I'm personally cautious of 'us/them' language because I think genuine victims (like us) can become trapped into forming community around an affinity to the disorder, rather than a strong desire to actually move through it. In other words, for some folks PTSD was something horrible that happened to them but ultimately made them unique (special) in some way.

Spot on. Couldn't have said it better. Well stated.