Ha! Beachmama,
I reread the posts just now from you and Fragile, and they've really underlined that even though everyone does tend to be different, there are an awful lot of similarities with this dam thing. You sometimes describe this concept that sounds so vague you don't think anyone could possible understand what the heck you're getting at ( because it's SO conceptual and not 'concrete') only to find it's pretty common. I'm not a professional, so can't coherently list all the reasons why a forum structured like this one 'works' but boy, I'd have to think that the validation of knowing we've gotten to someplace on a healing/coping track all by ourselves is one of them! Sharing things, genuinely, would be another, but of course that's only an opinion.
Funny how your head can figure out sometimes how to deal with this dreck even if we're not quite aware we've 'done' it. :)
Fragile, you seem to be verbalizing very nicely at the moment. Maybe it isn't always possible, but when it is for you, like when you've been able to post here, you're very clear. It's easy to say this from an internet inspired distance of course, but you seem like a nice person to me! God knows this PTSD thing is not at all helpfull when it comes to being reactive ( to say the least ), but maybe there are folks out there who are just plain unlikable and nothing to do with your personality or social adeptness. :) However you're feeling, there are a ton of awfully pleasant people tooling around this particular forum so hopefully you might be able to relax a little while logged in here.