Please Share: What Makes My Ptsd Site So Special To You?

[Recovery4Me]

Being new to this site, I was amazed at the authenticity, transparency of the post, supportive and kind responses being ushered between members/staff as well as the wealth of valuable information for healing. The netiquette, lack of inflammatory barbs, the self reflection offered where the blame game is stopped ...allowed me to face my demons with much more courage. I can delve deeper and feel a stronger me.

Wanting to expand my perspective and use all our tools respectively available...
What has helped you the most within this site? (I am never too old to learn a new technique) Thanks for any time that you might share on your findings.:hug:

 

[Go Hungry]

The community. I had tried another forum before this one, and it was just.. ugly. Not sure how to explain it. I didn't get any support at all really, and the tenor was completely different. This one though.. There's just something different about it.

 

[Ti Vu]

I've only been here for a little over 24 hours, but I agree with @Go Hungry. The supportive community here makes me feel safe and less alone. We're all at different, uh... "stages of healing"? But everyone is so kind, honest, and understanding.

 

[Lionheart]

It is definitely the compassionate and understanding support of my peers that I have benefited from the most. I have found the people here to be kind, insightful, generous, and forgiving above and beyond any expectation of support.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

People here are SO supportive. I've been here on and off for a few years now, but until a more recent upgrade, could not access chat because I was mobile. I think chat is one of my favorite parts of the site because you can get support there, vent there, or just joke around about the most random stuff. The real-time connection with others has been invaluable for me as I can see others as more human than in the forums. (Maybe I'm odd like that.)

 

[Recovery4Me]

I appreciate everyone's input immensely, as your confidence allows me a sense of security with recommending the site with full confidence to others who suffer silently at this time without community.

Also the chat is a great source of outreach for those whom can spell:coldfeet: However, I am very dependent on spell check and will have to work up to that.:chicken:

Thanks everyone for your time and thus far candid positivity!

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I have gotten and given so much support here. Just wish I had it when I first started therapy.

 

[Flossy]

It's a site for grown-ups. Where we are expected to behave as a grownup. The rules and guidelines are made clear.

It can be confronting when you do something 'wrong' and there are consequences, but isn't that the baseline necessity to get to a state of wellness, to follow guidelines?

So many people use forums as a place to vent and they may expect their anonymity to protect them from the consequences of bad behaviours or not following guidelines.

Anthony has a zero tolerance policy for the behaviours, language and expectations that are common in users of other forums. The ideals of My PTSD site are that it is treated with respect and it is a privilege to be allowed to venture into it and take responsibility for our own education by studying the resources within.

It is a valuable education resource in one place, completely apart from any interaction with other sufferers. That is a bonus.

The most valuable lesson I learned here was a very simple one that has spread into all areas of my life. Before you act or react, "ask for clarification." Ask a question, you might have assumed a meaning or intent that was not there.

I find the way the site is run, strictly, has hastened my maturity levels in all areas of my life. Written and verbal communication and personal interactions, even my thinking patterns. For me, this level of strictness, rules and consequences has been a major reason my out-of-control emotions and thoughts have been reined in. After all, if we were allowed to let our typing fingers and our mouths go rampant, how would we ever learn how to control and manage our physical and emotional responses?

It has to start somewhere and it started here for me.

With gratitude to My PTSD.

 

[Recovery4Me]

Before you act or react, "ask for clarification." Ask a question, you might have assumed a meaning or intent that was not there.

Solid point Flossy!
I noticed that practice on my first or second post. Some wise member did ask me for clarification and allowed me the opportunity to do so. I was so relieved. Useful skill set. Thank you for the reminder to keep it in my toolbox.

 

[The Albatross]

I can discuss and get feedback from people here about things I would not be able to in my day to day life. With the exception of my untreated mother (who has all the marks but is undiagnosed and most likely never will seek treatment) I am the only one in my small community that I know of who has PTSD.

It has been invaluable to me from an education/peer support/mutual aid forum standpoint.

 

[SeekingSerenity]

What makes the MyPTSD site so special to me? Well... there are a few members here who will remember me, I've been a member for almost 3 years now, but have become less active of late. Why have I become less active? Well, because I have learned to cope. Thats why.

I am a supporter.

I came here when my world had fallen apart. I didn't have a clue what I was going to do. Suicide did seem like a good idea at one stage, I came close, but luckily I realised that I still had things to live for. I went through absolute hell; depression, anxiety, insomnia. The most incredible shrink came to my assistance, and with hard work, no, make that bloody hard work, I beat the anxiety. I beat the insomnia. And I beat the depression.

Only once I had sorted myself out, was I able to start comprehending what the love of my life was going through as a PTSD sufferer. And she had it really bad. I found this forum, and through it, and the information that Anthony had put up regarding PTSD, and through some wonderful people here, both supporters and sufferers, I started learning about the beast that is PTSD.

I studied, and I spoke. I got advice, I got support, and I got encouragement. Lots of encouragement, that inspired me to keep going and to keep learning how to be a supportive supporter. This forum became my refuge. I quite literally lived here. But I knew that someday I would have to fly the nest, and stand alone. But also knowing that I could always return if I needed to. Much like going home to mom and dad.

My life HAS turned around, and a lot of the credit for that has to go to this forum, the people who run it, the friends I made here, and the incredibly valuable information I gained from it.

I do still pop in from time to time. Sometimes I re-read my diary, just to remind me of where I used to be, to remind me how far I have come. To remind me when I'm feeling a bit down how bad things can be, and to show myself that things are not as bad as I think they are.

So thats why this site is so special to me.

It helped me to get my life back.