I Just Don't Understand So Many People Thinking They Have Ptsd.

[Jafas]

Psychcentral drives me crazy sometimes (maybe I should stop going there).

Today's case: a bunch of folks trying to validate someone who asked if they could have PTSD from grampa telling them how fat they were and they'd never catch a man. The amount of misinformation they provide is galling. People, why does everything have to be PTSD. Has no one heard of low self esteem and anxiety from emotional abuse. I swear PTSD is in vogue. Ok, rant done.

 

[Ogicup]

There's a lot of misinformation on other forums, and other people just feed right into it. I stopped visiting other forums because to be honest, it felt incredibly invalidating for someone to declare their symptoms and struggles from something very minor were on par with those of us who have actually experienced major trauma.

 

[Afa]

Ogicup here. Ok I couldn't resist! I had to check out psych central. That panda is kind of an idiot! Yes, everyone is getting PTSD from watching the news. Lol. Thank god I'm not a member. I would end up tangling with these morons and getting kicked off the site. Yeah, it's so damn trendy living in hell. I have no idea why everyone wants to move here.

 

[Afa]

Ogicup again. Ugh, I had to leave psych central after reading a thread where a girl got three different meds, two of which were antipsychotics, from three different doctors and started taking them all at almost the same time and everyone replied saying it sounds ok. These people are just giving out bad advice. I don't recommend that anyone frequent psych central.

 

[Ubih]

Hmmm... I think there's something wrong with psych central. I'm a former member there. IMO It isn't well moderated, lots of nonsense there.

So let's move on. Enough trouble on this forum, from people who are misguided or who just want a supportive place. But don't have PTSD.

 

[Afa]

But aren't the established members pretty good at saying "no, it isn't/can't be PTSD" after the intro post? I don't think anybody gets past that point if they don't have PTSD. Well, scratch that. I remember a few people, but they don't stay long. I wonder if they just get mad, leave, and find somewhere else where people will support their misguided notions of PTSD?

I think a lot of people assume that a lot of stress and panic after an event (any event) = PTSD without realizing there's a whole list of diagnostic criteria.

 

[Uziru]

There is NOTHING like PTSD - especially complex PTSD. There is a feeling. You know there is something very very wrong. For me I experienced the violence as a creepy calm and then - just when all was safe I felt like I had been dropped into a horror movie with no door out. I was a totally different person - afraid of my own shadow. I lost everything and couldn't think properly to safe my life.

Personally I don't care what the criterion is for PTSD as like a poster above stated, it may be something lurking in the background that is buried so deep that is the root cause of the problem that can't be gotten to at the time. It is the feeling....the sheer and utter feeling that defined PTSD for me. I just wanted to crawl out of my skin.

I feel like if you read others posts and can resonate with them - really feel their words when they describe the experience of their reactions - well, then I think you just know it is true. No doctor required. This may not be a popular posting - but for me - it was like that.

 

[Ovaji]

Uziru the problem is that people think posts do resonate with them. Reading posts about flashbacks resonates with how they keep recollecting situations with their ex after a bad breakup. Reading about reactions to rape resonates with how they felt when their spouse cheated on them. Or so they think.

If you have PTSD then I agree - you just know it's true. If you don't have PTSD then you can also think you know it's true because you don't know any better. So it isn't a valid test.

 

[Bopire]

I had PTSD all of my life. I didn't know it because nobody told me the circumstances of my pre 2 year old experiences before I was adopted. At 45 (over a breakup that turned into violence to myself and my children and so many other horrible things) I was diagnosed with PTSD. Prior to that I was seemingly high functioning but looking back after 8 years of therapy there were so many clues there if only someone had looked. It is possible to have PTSD without meeting the criteria in my opinion as many traumatic experiences are blocked out and therefore not identifiable on the surface. I was shocked when I realized my whole life I had been affected by PTSD and didn't even know it.

Now I get that it seems that many people use PTSD as a means of not being accountable, of playing up the 'poor me' thing etc, but I have to say that blowing someone off that may well have PTSD on this forum will just exacerbate the problems for them. Those of us who truly have PTSD have very similar experiences in my opinion. We speak the same language as we have had to adjust in so many ways to just try to survive.

I suggest that if a poster doesn't ring true with a true PTSD experience, don't respond to the posting.