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I've had that thing where I tense up and won't even look at kids cuz there's this fear at the back of my head that people perceive me as a potential predator when in reality I couldn't ever be a predator, I got way too much empathy and compassion.
 
@seabadger - I've been through that too. Do you think it's real, that people are really thinking that? Because I found out that people weren't really thinking that about me. They weren't really thinking about me at all. It might be worth exploring that.

One place, though, where people WERE
wondering about me is at the park where I used to take my son. He'd run off and I would sit on a park bench by myself and a few moms would givee the hairy eyeball. That was useful to me, when I thought about it later, for distinguishing between the times when people DID wonder if I was a threat and the times when people actually didn't.
 
@seabadger - I've been through that too. Do you think it's real, that people are really thinking that? Because I found out that people weren't really thinking that about me. They weren't really thinking about me at all. It might be worth exploring that.
No, most of the time it's not real, its just a paranoia. I observe peoples body language and rarely if ever do they give off signs of being suspicious of me. Actually it does happen when I'm in a low or anxious state and I'd be walking past a mother with their kid and the kid is walking behind, the mother will sometimes stop and wait for the kid to catch up.
 
I read what I wrote, and now I feel like an idiot. With that said....
I have hiked around, dressed, and there are no signs of the lions. None of the normal places they hang out have any tracks. Hmmm.
 
Also not necessarily about you. :)
Just a normal thing to do when walking out with a kid, wait for them and mind how far behind they are... more about them, and minding them, than about Oh my gawd, every man here is a shady sucker. :)

When I was 15 and first started becoming self conscious about this, I would really often notice a little kid walking behind their mother and I'm walking past them in the opposite direction. The mother sees me so I observe to see how she reacts. The mothers never paid any attention to me and keep walking in front of the kid, I used to be a little confused about why they didn't perceive me as a threat in anyway. As an adult, this has changed a bit, I'd say about 1/2 times the mother will, once she sees me, stop and let the kid catch up. I notice these subtle hints. That's really the only situations I ever get those kind of hints though.
 
Hi again, folks. Since groups have bit the dust, I wanted to reopen this thread to give the men of MyPTSD a place to talk to one another.

If you're confused about what this thread is, please go back to page one and read the first entry.

Remember: all male-identifying members are welcome to post here. If you're not male-identifying but you'd like to talk about men's trauma issues, there's a different thread for that.
 
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Starting it off. My own personal trauma, because I was abused by a woman, often makes me assume that people will see me as weak - especially compared with combat trauma. Does anyone else feel this way?
Great thread SRG. I see that it's 2years old but have never seen it before. It's good that it's re-surfaced at the time of the upgrade. In answer to your question 'does anyone else feel this way'? Yes, I do sometimes. Comparing one person's trauma to another is very tricky. As my counsellor would say, 'one man's broken button is another's broken marriage '. It would be easier for me to have therapy for one trauma and try to 'get over it', however I have suffered multiple traumas in my life and the PTSD from all those mangled together really f*cks your head up. Like my counsellor says, 'I have lots of unresolved issues '. I'm going now because I want to carry on reading other people's posts.

Thanks again for starting this thread. ?
 
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