Who Do You Hide Your Ptsd From?

[Gs172003]

Hi, I have had full blown ptsd for nearly a year some of my symptons have been around for a lifetime bu...

Almost everybody

 

[Deleted member 541]

I don't hide it, and I don't care who knows I have it. I didn't cause it. I didn't do this to myself, so I'm not ashamed of it either. Everyone I know and work for knows I have it.

 

[Gs172003]

I don't hide it, and I don't care who knows I have it. I didn't cause it. I didn't do this to myself, s...

I don't trust people with mine

 

[Gadgie]

I hid it from all my late wife's family, in fact it was her who told them, when they came to see her one day, and I was out having a therapy session, (it was a few years ago) and they asked where I was.

Rather than make up a cover story for me, she told them everything? I got a lot of stick and snidey comments from them after that, they just wouldn't let it go.

It's just as well that I've haven't seen any of them since she passed, and to be honest I'm really glad about that.

 

[expectingbetter]

I hide from everybody except from my mom. She and my therapist are only people I told them what I am going through.
But that is lonely life full of hiding and pretending which I can't say I enjoy :(

 

[NowYouSeeMe]

I told my partner and my boss, that's it. I'd like to confide in a friend but I don't have any.

 

[Varg]

The only person I've told besides my wife was my old coach. I made it a point to keep it on the down low when I told him. Ten minutes later he yells across the room "hey I know this really great book for people with combat related ptsd!". Everyone heard. Didn't even go back to training the next day and still haven't.

 

[cat-lady]

I used to hide it from everyone before I even knew what it was. Now my symptoms are so bad I can't hide it from anyone any more.

 

[Richie]

I had a chance meeting with a guy I see at work occasionally and after 5 months working there, they know nothing except he is in the Army. He feels that he would be treated differently if they knew he was undergoing therapy for PTSD. I suspect he made the right decision and when he met me and found I am ex Army he opened up to me in literally 5 minutes of meeting me for the first time. This guy is the reason that I want to specialize in military therapy. I bumped into him 2 weeks ago and raised my concerns about the fact that although I trained for combat, I haven't actually deployed myself so how can i treat PTSD? His answer was that it doesn't matter because his frustration is being given therapists with no military experience at all. They do not understand military jargon or who he is but I will so he can open up to me. It seems that he hides it from almost everyone.

just for the record, I am offering no opinion on this topic. I am simply sharing what I know about someone with knowledge of the people who he is hiding it from. I dont trust them at all and that is why I agree with his decision to hide his problems.

 

[PTSDfree]

Pretty much everyone except for my dad and school principal

 

[ground crew]

I once told a housemate at a hostile/homeless shelter about my PTSD, I had just been diagnosed and was coming to understand it myself. This man surprised me and expected me to take him down reflexively. I had progressed a lot just at that moment in my therapy and had discovered the "pause" response. So I braced for impact instead of attacking. Latter that night he was taken to the hospital with symptoms of stroke. I think he was trying to commit suicide as he had massivly overdosed himself with blood thinners. He had been a medic in nam, so he knew what that meant. If I had taken him down as I may have in the past, he would have died of massive internal bleeding. as it was, he had multiple mini strokes that seemed to make him a lot happier....

 

[Lola Nocheprieta]

Interesting question! My family (the non-abusers) know, my wife knows, and we have a very close circle of 4 friends (therapists and artists and healers) who know. And unfortunately, I had to disclose to a few people at work when I lost it publicly at a managers' meeting on Title IX (dealing with sexual violence on campus -- I was livid, I had no idea what I was walking into! Things are done differently now, with better training by professionals and plenty of notice about the content. Sheesh. But I digress ...)

Here's the thing: "knowing" and "showing" are two entirely different beasts, in my opinion. I've had good years and bad years, but even in the worst of times (on disability, unable to work, unable to get out of bed, wife finding me crying hysterically in the corner of the bathroom), I never, ever, ever talk about the details. And most of the time I'm quite high functioning, and can hide the dissociation, the pain, the "crazy thoughts." But that apparent competency is hard to keep up, and masks a whole lotta hurtin', lemme tell you. It's f*cking lonely as hell, no matter who knows.