crimson_angel94
New Here
Note: This post is rather lengthy, I apologize for that.
I have a 31 year old brother who was a former Marine that served two tours in Iraq--he was discharged in 2011 after, according to his claim, he was diagnosed with PTSD. I am somewhat familiar with the disorder, however, over the past years his behavior and reasoning has become bizarre and childlike to a point in which it has had me spending an inordinate amount of time on Google in an endeavor to figure out exactly what is up with him. I came across this site here and I am hoping someone might recognize some of the symptoms that would help me understand him better. His illogical reasoning and childish antics have gone on to include:
- Taunting me for wetting the bed until my teen years, as though I (at age 33) am supposed to find it humiliating. Or constantly taunting me for silly things I did as a kid as young as 4.
- Making fun of some classmate I had a crush on at the age of 12, again legitimately expecting me to find it offensive.
- Discussing events in our childhood passionately as though it happened last week (Example: At the age of 10, I put the family bird outside after getting annoyed with his squawking, and he died of hypothermia....and my brother (20 years later!) brought it up and started yelling like it had just happened last Saturday)
- Calling me by some kiddie nickname I had back when I was 6-8 years old.
- Playing immature pranks sneaking onto my computer, contacting my friends, and telling them personal things about me.
- When confronted with anything, he either denies it even though it is painfully obvious, starts talking in riddles, or engages in a weird antic of "personality swapping" in which suddenly he starts talking as "me" and I have to talk as "him"....and he outright refuses to knock it off unless I play along. (This one seriously gets to me)
- Insists on making fake Facebook profiles posing as me and WILL NOT STOP.
- Constantly making up wild stories that he actually expects me to believe ("I pulled up 750 pages of your internet activity! I have all kinds of embarrassing legal documents on you! I have $4.5 million in a frozen fund!") or wildly exaggerates everything.
- Is constantly starting "businesses" where he always parades himself as either a "President" or "CEO" and has wasted literally tens of thousands of dollars leasing office suites and doing no research whatsoever on what he is trying to do, each endeavor resulting in absolute failure.
His child-level logical reasoning includes:
- Thinking I still like Disney movies and cartoons because I loved to draw them as a teenager.
- Assuming I still use Myspace because I used it religiously back when it was the social networking rage. (Show of hands: Who here still uses Myspace?!?)
- Thinking I visit New York City every summer because I visited it ONCE over 10 years ago and made a fuss over it.
- Insisting that I am still homophobic because I didn't like gay people as a teenager, and frequently tries to annoy me by accusing me of being gay.
- Threatens to post a picture of a unicorn tattoo that I have on my back, stating "Your friends are gonna laugh their a*sses off at you and make fun of you till kingdom come if they ever found out about it" (Maybe they would if they were under the age of 16...)
- Still is under the impression that I struggle financially because I found myself down and out some 12 years ago.
I understand this has been a long read, and I'm sorry if I bored any of you. I am seriously trying to understand what this man's problem is--it's just not normal! Are these kinds of antics and reasonings symmetrical with people with PTSD, or could this be a deeper issue? I've never heard or dealt with anything like this.
Thank you for your time, I appreciate it.
I have a 31 year old brother who was a former Marine that served two tours in Iraq--he was discharged in 2011 after, according to his claim, he was diagnosed with PTSD. I am somewhat familiar with the disorder, however, over the past years his behavior and reasoning has become bizarre and childlike to a point in which it has had me spending an inordinate amount of time on Google in an endeavor to figure out exactly what is up with him. I came across this site here and I am hoping someone might recognize some of the symptoms that would help me understand him better. His illogical reasoning and childish antics have gone on to include:
- Taunting me for wetting the bed until my teen years, as though I (at age 33) am supposed to find it humiliating. Or constantly taunting me for silly things I did as a kid as young as 4.
- Making fun of some classmate I had a crush on at the age of 12, again legitimately expecting me to find it offensive.
- Discussing events in our childhood passionately as though it happened last week (Example: At the age of 10, I put the family bird outside after getting annoyed with his squawking, and he died of hypothermia....and my brother (20 years later!) brought it up and started yelling like it had just happened last Saturday)
- Calling me by some kiddie nickname I had back when I was 6-8 years old.
- Playing immature pranks sneaking onto my computer, contacting my friends, and telling them personal things about me.
- When confronted with anything, he either denies it even though it is painfully obvious, starts talking in riddles, or engages in a weird antic of "personality swapping" in which suddenly he starts talking as "me" and I have to talk as "him"....and he outright refuses to knock it off unless I play along. (This one seriously gets to me)
- Insists on making fake Facebook profiles posing as me and WILL NOT STOP.
- Constantly making up wild stories that he actually expects me to believe ("I pulled up 750 pages of your internet activity! I have all kinds of embarrassing legal documents on you! I have $4.5 million in a frozen fund!") or wildly exaggerates everything.
- Is constantly starting "businesses" where he always parades himself as either a "President" or "CEO" and has wasted literally tens of thousands of dollars leasing office suites and doing no research whatsoever on what he is trying to do, each endeavor resulting in absolute failure.
His child-level logical reasoning includes:
- Thinking I still like Disney movies and cartoons because I loved to draw them as a teenager.
- Assuming I still use Myspace because I used it religiously back when it was the social networking rage. (Show of hands: Who here still uses Myspace?!?)
- Thinking I visit New York City every summer because I visited it ONCE over 10 years ago and made a fuss over it.
- Insisting that I am still homophobic because I didn't like gay people as a teenager, and frequently tries to annoy me by accusing me of being gay.
- Threatens to post a picture of a unicorn tattoo that I have on my back, stating "Your friends are gonna laugh their a*sses off at you and make fun of you till kingdom come if they ever found out about it" (Maybe they would if they were under the age of 16...)
- Still is under the impression that I struggle financially because I found myself down and out some 12 years ago.
I understand this has been a long read, and I'm sorry if I bored any of you. I am seriously trying to understand what this man's problem is--it's just not normal! Are these kinds of antics and reasonings symmetrical with people with PTSD, or could this be a deeper issue? I've never heard or dealt with anything like this.
Thank you for your time, I appreciate it.
