How Much Do You Tell Work About Your Ptsd?

[atthree]

Even spelling it out to the manager or HP "Seeing you/her stressed makes me more so." I feel for ya @Notsohowild, we work harder not bring attention to ourselves and outside elements bring it anyway.

I went through a lot of jobs, but same occupation

 

[Notsowild]

A big Thank you to everyone for your thoughtful comments.
@StrongerNow

Post when you're not feeling better, not just when you're better. That's what a support forum is for--either way.

That's so true! I was just feeling boggled by all the thoughts ( good and bad) running through my head. You made me cry when I read your post because this is the only place where everyone understands what I'm going through. You are so sweet:)

 

[Notsowild]

@Storm-ridden

it sounds like she's turning it into a bit of a hostile work environment

Most definetly - she is that way with everyone. It's just worse for me because of my PTSD.

@Meghan87

some people will believe that what you are going through is just something you are making up or pretending to do to get out of working

I feel that way with her. She doesn't know me. I've always been a great, reliable and hard-working employee. I rarely took sick days etc. But now I'm fighting this disorder that is messing up her dictatorship. Hey great word to describe our workplace.

 

[Notsowild]

@atthree

we work harder not bring attention to ourselves and outside elements bring it anyway

This is me at work, only my friend knows about it. I've been trying my hardest to just be "normal" BUT...you know the rest

Not to many people can honestly understand PTSD, so everybody else,"I'm getting old."

I say this too :hug:

 

[Ladyghosthunter]

You know, this subject is something that hits a nerve with me. My PTSD has somehow passed around the office and now everyone thinks I'm some kind of nut. This started when I was forced to go to a workplace violence seminar where I was not agreeing with anything the officer said because I've been through it. Then I was told I was "disruptive" and I insulted the upper management for not doing their job and my work being inadequate. Before this, my office manager threw my cell phone charger at me hitting me in the chest yelling at me and I was just astounded that she got promoted and I got a "demotion" of sorts. So instead of going to the Ombudsman, who did absolutely NOTHING about the situation, I went to the EEOC and now there is a huge huge case against where I work where harassment is going on, and trust is gone and where no one talks to me hardly at all.

Then one of the management said, "Why didn't you tell someone you went through something so terrible?" as if to blame me for the incident and I told him, "Why should I have to announce why my friends were shot and killed in front of everyone and bring back the horrible memories of watching my friend on TV getting shot in the head by a 9 mm?" He said, "You should've said something."

No I should NOT have!!!! I don't trust a lot of people because in my EEOC report, I busted a WHOLE lot of people who wronged the whole department and whose friendships have done a whole lot of damage, etc., along with me being with PTSD and not being promoted because of my age. I mean, this is one big whole mess. I was told to go to this meeting-and it triggered all the Hell I went through with the Joe Ferguson incident in Sacramento, CA.

So, to make a long story short, a whole lot of people are in deep poop due to my PTSD at work because of their own actions against me, not me personally.

 

[Bonsiren]

@Notsowild It depends on the person and the position.

I work a lot with my district manager. He knows I'm a little stressed out, but he doesn't know about my PTSD or anything I've suffered through. No one else really knows that I'm stressed out. Since I meet with them only a few times a month, it's nothing that flares up often. So they don't need to know.

At my very first job, I told my supervisor (while I was still a temp) that I had PTSD. I worked in a warehouse, so only the loud, sudden noises were an issue, and I was working on that. One day I came in late from a break because of an asthma attack (an actual asthma attack, not an anxiety attack). She came down hard on me. It was a little stressful, and I told her so. She told me I needed to be on antidepressants. (Again, I couldn't breathe and needed my inhaler, where do these pills come in?) I declined. So she sent me home and told me I wasn't fit to work.

While I was in college, I took a grief/loss/transition class. My teacher had just lost a dear friend to a shooting in Arizona and was still grieving over it. She told us all about her grief, her trauma, and the ways she was attempting to handle it. Everyone supported her. It was a really safe environment, and she eventually began to tell us little tidbits about her life: the life she was building with her girlfriend, how she was dealing with her friend's death, some of the leftover feelings from her dad's death a few years ago.

When it comes to management, you really have to be careful about how PTSD is dealt with. There's a lot of suspicion and misunderstanding when it comes to PTSD. No, you should never lose your job because of PTSD, but if they don't know about it, how can they work with it? So you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Working is considerably easier when management is supportive and that much harder when they're not.

It sounds like HR is on your side and your boss is unresponsive. A hostile manager like her shouldn't be working that position, so if she's failing at her job duties, HR should know. Given your situation, I would go to my T for a letter and have HR sit with me while everything is explained. You are not required to tell them where the PTSD came from, how long you've had it, or anything deeply personal. The conversation can be about symptoms and triggers that are related to a work environment and nothing more. How much you tell them is completely up to you.

Anyone else doesn't need to know unless you want them to know. I will only tell management if I think my PTSD will cause a bit of trouble, and I've only told co-workers that I consider friends.