I don't know what this was?

[Isuc]

My response (as Uwe) was addressed to @Cowa's comment that they thought someone could get PTSD from a mental picture, w...

I don't think that's what they were saying. They were saying that the image can be stuck I your head. Which can be true. It's also not supportive to come and post rubbish and invalidating stuff about other people's trauma. This topic is really hard for me and last thing I need is unsupportive people coming making insenstive comments. Feel free to open your own thread to discuss what you think is "enough" to be called trauma.

 

[Pako]

How have I invalidated your trauma?

 

[Eso]

Uhm OP, maybe you should read what Cowa said.....

“I hate mental pictures! They do seem to last so much longer! And I can see where one could develop ptsd from it.”

This is what was reacted to, NOT you. I was confused at first, but upon a re-read, I can see why there was a reaction to Cowa’s reply. No, you can’t get PTSD from simply seeing a penis. That’s like saying you got PTSD from looking at someone’s elbow. There has to be some kind of action as well, like an assault or forced sexual/physical violation.

OP, nobody is minimizing your experience.

 

[Edu]

Wow this is really not supportive.
I don't think this caused me PTSD, but it was I believe traumatic. And it had nothing...

Yes, this is very disturbing, and the seriousness of it is indicated in the fact that there are laws against that kind of behavior. I'm sorry it happened to you. I can't imagine how confused and frightened you were at the time. It wasn't right, and it was a dangerous situation.
May I make a suggestion? Is there a way that you can view the memory of this as a way to keep you and yours from future harm since you now know how serious this was? You're stuck with the disgusting vision so you may as well get some use out of it...

 

[Juzij]

Are you seeing a therapist? That would help with your feelings. Creep. My uncle once stuck his tongue in my mouth when he kissed me hello, which should have been on the cheek. He grabbed my ass and ground himself into me. I told my mom and she said, "yes, he's a creep". I was 14! She basically told me I would have to take it. So, getting back to you, therapy really helps with those disgusting, nauseating memories.

 

[Isuc]

Yes, this is very disturbing, and the seriousness of it is indicated in the fact that there are laws against that kind of...

This is such a kind response thank you!
Honestly, in past I have thought I was over this completely but a lot of the fears I have now about trusting etc go back to this incident, so I guess I am not over it yet.

 

[Isuc]

Are you seeing a therapist? That would help with your feelings. Creep. My uncle once stuck his tongue in my mouth when h...

I am sorry for what happened to you and your moms response. It's true that a bad response after is almost worse than the act itself.
I am in therapy but I have managed to talk about this only once in the last two years and a half. I feel so ashamed and that I am exaggerating and making up stuff. It's hard because the rest of my memories from when I was little were repressed for a long time, so I am left with all the symptoms but nothing I can say "was bad enough".

 

[Moved]

You should not have experienced this at all and I am so sorry that you are left alone to face and deal with this. You are innocent and did nothing wrong to deserve this. I was driving one day and a man drove next to me that was masturbating. Now so many years later I am still stuck with that awful experience and memory. It was very sick and twisted what he did to you. People can get arrested for things like that if they get caught by law enforcement. I hope you get alot of help and healing in therapy and some real good comes out of all of this.:hug:

 

[Ivib]

I used to downplay everything too. It's a symptom of PTSD. It is hard to get these things out in therapy. Sometimes you don't even realize how bad something is until you see the reaction from someone who hasn't been traumatized.

 

[Vole]

the seriousness of it is indicated in the fact that there are laws against that kind of behavior

There are laws against speeding, also.

Something can be bad enough in and of itself, without having to be minimized by attempting to make speeding the same as being in a fatal car accident; or working for a pervert the same as being raped. Which is what overblown sympathy does, it says the thing isn't bad enough in and of itself, it isn't enough that it's a f*cked up situation in and of itself, nope! It's actually just like this completely different thing.

It's not.

It's often a lot scarier to be in a situation that nothing big-bad has happened... yet. Whether it's someone diving in and out of traffic refusing to slow down or to let you out of the car; or caring for a perverted family members kids as a kid yourself, there are so many different possibilities of things going terribly wrong.

It's often a lot more confusing. Afterall, "nothing" has happened... Yet. Or, perhaps then nothing did happen. Does that make it okay? Does being better than it could have been wipe the slate clean? What's the right thing to do when something -almost- happens? And a thousand more questions. And other people's responses. And where one's responsibility lies. And boundaries being moved -or not- and a whole f*ckload of other things. That are unique to the situation itself. That get steamrolled over by trying to say it's this completely different thing. It's one of the most INvalidating things I can think of, to be honest. In both directions; the OP has been raped, they clearly know the difference in effect between rape & rubbing elbows with a perv. Their rapes deserve being dealt with as rapes, their perverted family member / boss & that environment / situation? Deserves equally to be dealt with for what it was. Try to class it with the rapes? It gets lost.

There are a whole lot of seriously f*cked up parts of life, that in no way even begin to meet the qualifications for PTSD, that are bad enough in and of themselves. That are often life changing events. Or that subtly shade the contours of our lives in ways we might not even realize. PTSD isn't this be all end all grading scale. It's not a pain scale. It's just a disorder. You can't get PTSD from seeing a penis. Even one attached to a pervert. Not unless someone is in the middle of cutting it off, or it's raping you or someone else, or on fire or something. That doesn't mean that working for a pervert is sunshine & rainbows. It's f*cked. But it's its own special shade of f*cked.

 

[Imaro]

I remembered a situation where I was kidnapped, carried into an apartment, thrown onto a mattress and the guy got on top of me and I said, "if you do this, I will hunt you down and kill you" The next thing I remember was being in my car and driving home. Nothing happened.

 

[Nijap]

Nothing happened.

Except for the abduction, assault, & attempted rape.