Sweetpea76
Moderator
Exactly... PTSD makes her symptomatic. How she copes or reacts to those symptoms is a different story. It’s not a license to lash out or spread the misery around.
A common question here in the supporter section is “PTSD or Ass”? People want to know if their partner’s PTSD is making them mean or abusive, or if it makes them promiscuous/cheat, lie, abuse substances, etc. The simple answer is no. PTSD may make somebody feel self destructive or worthless, or give them flight/fight/fawn, triggers and stress, and so forth. The behaviors people are asking about, however, are bad coping mechanisms or reactions to those symptoms and not symptoms themselves. For example, PTSD isn’t going to make somebody violent if they weren’t violent in the first place. It may make them feel rage, but somebody can feel rage and not resort to violence.
So PTSD or ass? Sometimes asses get PTSD. Sometimes otherwise good people need to realize they’re being asses and work on that. The real asses don’t care. There is still personal accountability for behavior.
A common question here in the supporter section is “PTSD or Ass”? People want to know if their partner’s PTSD is making them mean or abusive, or if it makes them promiscuous/cheat, lie, abuse substances, etc. The simple answer is no. PTSD may make somebody feel self destructive or worthless, or give them flight/fight/fawn, triggers and stress, and so forth. The behaviors people are asking about, however, are bad coping mechanisms or reactions to those symptoms and not symptoms themselves. For example, PTSD isn’t going to make somebody violent if they weren’t violent in the first place. It may make them feel rage, but somebody can feel rage and not resort to violence.
So PTSD or ass? Sometimes asses get PTSD. Sometimes otherwise good people need to realize they’re being asses and work on that. The real asses don’t care. There is still personal accountability for behavior.