caligirl03
Silver Member
Need to vent but not about my sufferer this time. I don't know about any of you, but I've heard multiple people flippantly throw out the term "PTSD" and laughingly lament about how they now "have it" from a stressful move or job, and it literally makes me bristle every time.
This time it was said by my sister, who knows full well about my sufferer's situation, and who is a licensed psychologist no less! I tried to let her know with as much love as possible that wrongly assigning a term to situations that are no doubt stressful yet do NOT qualify as PTSD makes me cringe and feel like it hugely diminishes so many people's legitimate pain and suffering.
She then proceeded to school me on how many people aside from veterans can have PTSD, to which I respond of course, but there's still a general diagnostic criteria that needs to be met across the board, and when people self-diagnosis (and highly inaccurately so), it can be harmful in many ways. But of course, SHE has the degree and I don't so apparently I know nothing...
She then went on to mention that my parents got a new neighbor who is a combat vet and has already displayed some signs of PSTD and said something along the lines of how everyone is going to think all vets are huge assholes. Then she said something about how some people don't even think PTSD is even a real thing. THEN she asked me at a table full of people about how Mike's PTSD is doing...what?! Luckily, he wasn't there, but this isn't the first time she's done that. She asked him directly at Thanksgiving dinner a few years back, again in front of a table full of people, in the same way you might ask someone about their allergies...the look of absolute shame on his face...I'll never forget it.
The insensitivity of it all just kills me. I'd expect even just the tiniest bit more from her.
This time it was said by my sister, who knows full well about my sufferer's situation, and who is a licensed psychologist no less! I tried to let her know with as much love as possible that wrongly assigning a term to situations that are no doubt stressful yet do NOT qualify as PTSD makes me cringe and feel like it hugely diminishes so many people's legitimate pain and suffering.
She then proceeded to school me on how many people aside from veterans can have PTSD, to which I respond of course, but there's still a general diagnostic criteria that needs to be met across the board, and when people self-diagnosis (and highly inaccurately so), it can be harmful in many ways. But of course, SHE has the degree and I don't so apparently I know nothing...
She then went on to mention that my parents got a new neighbor who is a combat vet and has already displayed some signs of PSTD and said something along the lines of how everyone is going to think all vets are huge assholes. Then she said something about how some people don't even think PTSD is even a real thing. THEN she asked me at a table full of people about how Mike's PTSD is doing...what?! Luckily, he wasn't there, but this isn't the first time she's done that. She asked him directly at Thanksgiving dinner a few years back, again in front of a table full of people, in the same way you might ask someone about their allergies...the look of absolute shame on his face...I'll never forget it.
The insensitivity of it all just kills me. I'd expect even just the tiniest bit more from her.
