Sadly, Nicolette, I agree with you. Especially bearing in mind that a supporter might be posting about someone who isn't even a forum member themselves and might not be taking any steps towards recovery. I chose the word recover because that seems to be in line with a fairly widely accepted goal for those with PTSD - getting better with the possibility of relapse, like being a recovering alcoholic - but at the same time it's compatible with the idea of a complete recovery.
To be nitpicky with my own wording (not towards anyone else!) I'd still "like" it. I'd like to think everyone was moving towards recovery. Which I accept may not be the case.
For some time into my healing journey I found the word survivor very problematic. I didn't feel I had survived trauma, I had only suppressed it. Working on healing has been the struggle for survival. I feel more like a survivor now, that I've earned that term. Earlier, I felt it didn't apply to me and didn't validate what I was going through to heal. I prefer it to victim, though. I prefer almost anything to victim. To me, that is always referring the person back to their state at the time of trauma, instead of the present situation.
I think where the person aspect gets lost in terminology is usually when an adjective is used as a noun, like the examples of schizophrenic and quadraplegic. I think sufferer is a "person word", as much as teacher or guitar player are. To me, the person is there because it's a noun.
I can understand the viewpoint of it possibly overly defining that person. But, like Abstract, I see sufferer as a neutral description for a condition. I think it's appropriate in the context that this is called "PTSD Forum" and centres on the condition of PTSD. If everyone outside this forum referred to me as a PTSD sufferer in all contexts, then I think that would be overly defining me by the condition. Within this forum I think it's a relevant term.
Maybe I see/experience PTSD differently from you, lala. At the moment, I always have some symptom to at least some extent. I wouldn't say I live with PTSD though. I'd say it's something I have at the moment, but I see a future point when I won't have it. Not worse days and better days, but no longer having PTSD. "Live" to me implies lifelong, which would be different.
I think just about any term or phrase is going to work for one person and not for another.
lala, thank you for posting about this. It has been really interesting to me to think about it, in terms of where I feel I am now.
