Social Class And Ptsd

[Richie]

there is no prejudgement or bias. their social class is only relevant to their lifestyle, not events that are beyond their control but there are fewer upper class people than lower class so again, the laws of probability are relevant.
this is no different to a working class couple coming to me for marriage guidance. sorry, not my field so i would advise them to see someone who does know about that kind of thing. the right person for the job!

 

[Richie]

I think it is not that well-off people are so much after the money. Some are but for some loosing...

losing everything is not really what my first post was about. i meant losing a small percentage, not losing everything. self esteem is what you base that on as an individual. we all have our own values, principles and morals. look at Prince Harry as an example. he served in the military and set up the invictus games. i dont care about him being royalty, i would shake his hand because i respect him for what he has done

 

[Never_falter2]

May be I did not bring my point across very well...

You seem to think that are two groups of individuals a) rich toffs and b) individuals that have combat ptsd, but what if an individual belongs to both groups?

How would you try to help him?

Let me give an example of a problem that could arise:

Dr. Richie: "How are you?"
Lord Basil (or another toff name), who has PTSD: "Not too, well. You know I told, I did not go to the fancy wedding of my extremely rich friend Sir Ian, who invited 800 guests, because I could not stand the crowds of people I did not know"
Dr. Richie: "Why invite so many people for a wedding anyway?"
Lord Basil: "However... there was something else I was looking forward to. I was going to organize a duck shooting (or something equally posh) for my friends and relatives at blablabla hall, but now I found out I cannot afford it, because I lost my posh job. I am so sad because I feel I am losing contact with other people"
Dr. Richie: "Hey cheer up, who needs a duck shooting anyway? Why not invite them over to have a Tesco coke and some crisps. If they want more food they can bring it themselves"
Lord Basil: "But we always had a duck shooting at this time of year. Oh, everybody will look down on the xyz family from now on"
Dr. Richie: "Cheer up, there are so many families everybody looks down on"

I am not trying to be mean, I am just trying to be helpful. I think as a therapist on should be prepared to help sufferers from all walks of life and that the sufferer should feel the therapist got their six and does not make fun of their problems.

I think that this is something you might want to discuss with your mentor, like how you can be sure also be helpful for the rich sufferers, because PTSD keeps people from doing things. In case of posh People it may keep them from doing posh things. If your approach is just "who needs that posh things anyway" it may be hurtful for the sufferer.

You are totally right to point out that most people are not posh, but some are and some of those serve and some of those might catch ptsd and end up in your office and you should be prepared to help them.

 

[Richie]

i do see you point but i think you may be missing my point.

if someone has an appointment to see me because they have experienced something like Combat PTSD then that is why they are seeing me. their lifestyle is of no interest to me as a therapist. they may be unhappy with the consequences of what happened but my purpose is helping them cope with the trauma and psychological damage because they are the real issues. financial advice is not my department and i cant help someone with something that i know nothing about which is why i am keen to focus on what i can deal with. if someone has served in the military then i can relate to them regardless of their background and seemingly this is rather in the field of psychology. not many people leave the forces and go into this career path which is part of the problem out there.

to give a completely different example of my own limits (with an explanation), i avoid the section on domestic violence on this forum. it is not because women dont matter or i dont like them or anything like that. i could not deal with that and i know that as fact. the reason is because i would get far too deeply involved and i would want to take matters into my own hands. it is simply my biggest pet hate!

my stepfather used to hit my mother when i was too young to do anything about it. i stood up to him when i was 14 and he picked up by my throat and threw me across the room. he did stop but when i was 20 (and in the army) i told him straight that if he ever did it again then i would kill him and i meant it! the only time i have ever been violent was one occasion when a female friend was on the floor with her boyfriend about to lay into her. i acted instinctively and i punched him on the head hard enough to hurt his back. i only believe in violence in self defence and defending a woman is very much justified under that category in my mind.

i am not violent and i am very difficult to wind up but i know that if i had a female patient that was there for domestic violence then i would want to go and make sure the guy was too scared to ever touch her again or he was not capable of doing it again.

my point is that there is such a thing as the right person for the job and that will not always be me. i would rather narrow what i can do and be good at it than be ok at everything. do you understand my reasons?

 

[Suzetig]

But you may find someone with combat PTSD who beats their partner - and you'd need to be able to offer them care, acceptance and respect. And dealing with the domestic violence would be as much part of the work as dealing with the PTSD.

You don't get to leave part of you, or part of your client, out of the work you do. So lifestyle will be an issue because PTSD impacts lifestyle, finance will be an issue because PTSD impacts finance, relationships will be an issue etc etc you can't take one part of a person and not attend to other parts if the relationship is to be therapeutic. You need to be able to accept the whole person, even if you might eventually refer them on to another person because what they need lies outside your realm of experience.

 

[Richie]

i have considered that (first sentence) and while it sickens me, i know it is not unheard of within the military. i havent figured that one out yet! i do need to figure it out but honestly, i havent done that yet.

i am not disputing that PTSD affects lifestyle but does lifestyle cause PTSD? if someone is suffering from PTSD then i dont care about their lifestyle. their reason for that appointment is PTSD no matter who they are.

 

[Richie]

But you may find someone with combat PTSD who beats their partner - and you'd need to be able to offer them care, acceptance and respect. And dealing with the domestic violence would be as much part of the work as dealing with the PTSD.

i know that Combat PTSD can manifest itself into violent outbursts which could hopefully be treated. the person is there for treatment so i would hope that they are receptive to stopping the violence. that i could probably handle but it really is totally different to the woman seeking help for domestic violence because the guy causing it is not the one asking for help. for all i know he is quite happy at exerting his power over women through violence and has no intention of stopping it. i dont think i could handle that! the guy seeking help is at least showing willing and remorse which does not make his actions acceptable but at least he wants to change

 

[Suzetig]

Not necessarily - in many cases they don't recognise they're being abusive at all much less seeing a need to stop it. Your training will be a good place to really challenge your expectations and assumptions about people, how they live their lives and how they present in therapy. You're right that you can't possibly have it all in place just now and asking questions, debating and reflection is the way to grow.

 

[Richie]

we all have to start somewhere. i have had my mind changed on some things already and it would not surprise me to see more of that happening throughout my studies. we live and learn!

 

[Anarchy]

Just a little spanner in the works,
Marx got his theory of class from the French Laissez faire radicals Charles Comte and Charles DuNoyer. But he got it via the sometime Laissez faire - sometime socialist fellow traveller, Saint-Simon,

Soirees and shallow thinking were Saint-Simon's forte, Intellectual rigour never was one of his strong points, and not surprisingly the theory that Marx wrote about, is full of contradictions.

It's One of those ironies of history that at any moment in time, thousands of people are writing essays papers and comments on the confused and contradictory stuff Marx wrote out, while the original and consistent theory and its originators are forgotten.

If you search for Libertarian theory of class, you'll get some info on the original. And a comparison with the Marx version.

 

[Beemo3780]

I don't think social class matters at all.

I grew up upper middle class, my mother worked in medicine and my father is an international engineer. My mother was bipolar, it did not end well. She had the money for all the expensive doctors and name brand medication which I think made it worse. She was always learning about something new which were basically medical fads and would try them. Plus my parents were always about image, because it would affect their careers, so no one really knew my mother was bipolar and a lot of her hospital stays weren't beneficial because she got different treatment. Like she wouldn't have to stay or her symptoms were played down. My father also to this day denies mental illness exists.

My ex husband's family was low class blue collar, although he never worked. They were able to take advantage of a lot of programs that were made available to them, and never really seemed all that stressed out. They didn't really have high stress careers and would work 40 hours or less a week. And if needed, it wasn't a big deal to them to quit their jobs to take time off when there were stressful things going on. They didn't have money, and there was always an option for them via social services and unemployment insurance.

I was for maybe 5 or 6 years very poor. Like no car, walking everywhere, worrying about food and bills all the time. But I wasn't nearly as stressed as I am now being upper middle class earning 6 figures a year and I had down time because I only worked 40 hours a week or less. My PTSD developed during the time that I've had money. I've worked in a high stress tech field for the past 10 years. I don't have the option for failure or else I could lose everything. I do not make my PTSD publicly known and have to keep symptoms hidden from coworkers. I panic about having panic attacks at work. There's a lot more pressure on me and I do not have down time at all, even for medical issues. I had surgery on my throat once, took the morning off for the surgery, but as soon as I was back home, I was working from home.

Sure, I could downgrade my life. But I have a teenager going to college and I have a mortgage, and car loans. I think it would be tougher for me to change my current lifestyle.

 

[illusionist]

Aha!.....the key word...lifestyle.

I totally understand wanting the best for kids. Kids can still be sent to private school, have good holidays etc without us leading a lifestyle we either choose not to live in, nor want. Yes we need the occupation, but when we leave that place of work we are free to choose how we want to live outside of it.

I have never had the luxury of working 40 hours or less...I had to work every hour that was going to make ends meet....not so much now though, I do it simply because I can.