The Emotion Sponge

[Jimmy1]

I could not really think of a name for this thread, or if I had the right section, but here goes.

We all know PTSD has a dramatic effect on our emotions. We do have a habit of only exhibiting anger and suppressing all other emotions, well you could say displaying all other emotions.
We do feel emotions, but as we don't want to let anyone else in, we just don't show the others.
Anger is easy. Its acceptable in the military, so we use that one frequently. Anger also scares other people away and keeps them at a distance, that way we don't have to deal with them.

Unfortunately though, once you start managing your PTSD to a socially acceptable standard, and manage to reduce some of your medication, I believe your open to the world of emotions.

I find that susceptible to a lot more now.

If anyone is stressed around me, I get stressed. If anyone is angry around me, I feel angry. And, if anyone is sad around me, I feel sad.
On the good side, I can actually laugh now and have a great sense of humour.

Just my thoughts. Is anyone else like this.

I think it explains why we tend to isolate. That way we only have to deal with our own emotions.

Jimmy

 

[Steph_F]

I hope it's ok that I respond to this, but my guy is just like that! He suffers from Combat PTSD from 2 pretty rough tours in Iraq (in '03 and '05). He tends to mimics my moods. When he is suffering bad I can't do anything for him but toughen up and love him from a distance, but most of the time he picks up my emotions and makes them his for the day. It makes me feel good (GREAT! actaully) that I can lift his spirits when my day rocks and that get him to feel him stronger when I feel invincible. The downside is that I have to be careful not to overhelm him with my stresses and bad days. When I am upset at my boss, he is furious, when I am sad, he is heartbroken, when someone hurts my feelings, he is destroyed. I have learned the hard way what to share with him and what is best dealt with alone or with others. Like a alot of woman, I feel better after talking out my problems -ok...bitching ;) My guy is a soldier and a leader in his unit, when people have a problem, its his job to solve them. When I have a problem, I just need someone to listen to me and not try to fix things. I think it makes him feel helpless and useless that I tell him, "I just wanna vent". I'm trying to get him to clue me in on his moods (which are very unpredictable)...I tell him its ok to just tell me "just good stuff today". That helps me alot!! :)

I think you are right on when you say that isolating makes things easier because then there is only one set of emotions to wrestle with, and there is not any guilt or fear of letting someone down, which only adds stress and pressure that is totally unneeded and unwelcome. Thanks for your post, it really makes sense and gives me a tremendous insight to what my soldier deals with sometimes. The more I learn from a sufferer's POV, the better I can serve my Sgt. :) Thank you!