General Volunteering and helping other people - can it be a symptom of ptsd?

[Freida]

Was thinking about this.....
Volunteering is a way to do penance for what I've done. I cant undo my past but maybe I can help someone else's future

 

[MyWillow]

Spent my whole life placating, helping, supporting others. Saying “I need” is enough to trigger me. Slowly making progress with the help of my psydoc and equine psychologist.

So much of my volunteering is like I’m trying to pay back all the animals I’ve witnessed being abused.

 

[Fitlady]

Hi I'm Freida and I'm a workaholic! :laugh:

Working/keeping busy/making others happy was how I coped for decades. 60 and 70 hour work weeks? No problem! Have a disaster you needed dealt with? I'm your girl! Family stress you need help to sort out? Yep I'll stay up all night and help you figure it out and then go to work on no sleep!

Some people do drugs, some drink, some stay busy.
Until you can't any more because your ptsd finally catches up to you.
Then you are just screwed :(



Ya..no. Family comes with strings and emotions and angst. Plus I have to keep them safe so it jacks my hyper vigilance all the way up. Think about a local park. You go for a picnic and you see flowers and swing sets and benches. I see the never ending dark spots in between all those things where bad guys can be hiding.I

if I'm there doing volunteer work with strangers im aware but not really caring if someone gets hurt. If I'm there with loved ones? I'm constantly checking, watching, tracking them. It's exhausting. Which makes me bitchy. Then I ruin it for everyone

Hearing this now makes sense. I remember attending my BF family’s funeral and he kept coming to check on me and then eventually asked me to come sit next to him. Then maybe 20 mins later he basically said can u go back to the hotel, that way I can wrap up things and not worry about u. I was like this is ur family and friends. But I guess it was a crowded place and he mentioned previously he did not like being around them that often and for long times. I went to the hotel and he came shortly after and seemed ok.

 

[anthony]

Volunteering and helping other people - can it be a symptom of ptsd?

No - not directly. Its more complicated than this though. Sure, avoidance could be an aspect, but helping others is not an avoidance strategy. Anxiety however is manifested by the over-doing aspect. Put too much pressure on oneself, the anxiety then spikes symptoms, collapse, repeat and rinse. Helping others can make a trauma sufferer feel good about themselves.

Many people who have endured trauma want to give back. If giving back to others is a symptom of anything, it is of enduring an event to begin with, understanding how hard it can be, then wanting to make others lives a bit easier if they can.

The avoidance aspect can be the excessive aspect, being over-doing it to the point of breaking yourself. Repeat and rinse. But what is a person avoiding is the question?

I did this exact thing with this exact forum, when I started it many moons ago. I helped myself, I helped others, at the expense of my own emotional and physical capacity, relationships too. I avoided a marriage which was another pressure on me, to help others instead. Acknowledging our limits is the aim, I think. Yet saying that, workaholism is a coping trait for trauma, however, it should not sacrifice healthy aspects of our lives.

Workaholism at anything is a fine line. Healthy, yet unhealthy, and is like walking along a fence itself, thin, and you easily fall one way or the other.

Many a trauma therapist endured violent, PTSD level, trauma, to put them on their path to help themselves and others.

Nothing is every simple with trauma, and not within the broader scope of each situation.