Bec,

Sorry - I know I took off on the work subject, because for me it's a huge example of my new limitations.

I don't think you're off. I agree that it's hurtful to assume that just because we all have ptsd means we all experience it the same. Reading this forum makes that obvious, I think.

One thing I take from Anthony's post is that it's because we're all individuals and we need to be mindful of that. While we're waiting for your ebook, Anthony, I would also appreciate it if you could put your main points on the subject of comparing symptoms in this forum in bullet points or something.

Bec, what your saying is exactly the point. Well said. People merely seem to look for other issues to concern themselves over, when in fact it is quite easy. You focus on your trauma and finding solutions that best suit you as an individual. This being a collective statement which applies to us all. It does nothing to worry about how bad one was treated over the other, how one's progress is compared to another, etc etc.... way to many variables to even consider nor factor equivalency for any type of pissing contest.

Pissing contests are what you see on military PTSD related forums, not here. Trauma is the focus, how to heal trauma uniquely, then how to manage it uniquely that best suits individual by individual.

Thank you Anthony... I was worried there! Was thinking I'd lost touch or something.. lol never know with x-mas stress and all!

bec

Thank you Kathy for your original post, it was very helpful and likewise Anthony your thoughts were most informative.

I'm going to keep re-reading over this because it actually raises a lot of good points about the variety in mental illness in general not just PTSD. It gives me an understanding of why I can do some things you think would be hard rather easily and others are impossible. My FIL has bipolar & asking him to work would be like asking a paraplegic to walk 'if you just try a bit harder'. He will never be able to work regardless of drugs or therapy.

I certainly hope I've never posted anything insensitive and if I have that it would be pointed out so that I would have the chance to explain myself and/or correct my behaviour.

To be honest, I still struggle enormously with the ins and outs of PTSD, despite all my readings on it. In part, maybe because to be really honest despite being on this forum I find myself from time to time thinking/hoping that I don't have it.

As yet I've not got a firm diagnosis, nor have I really sought to get a diagnosis.

My T says I have some clusters of the symptoms but let's not focus on a diagnosis at this time. Not give it too much importance.

My GP diagnosis is 'clinicial depression, but noting characteristics of PTSD'

The quiz I did on here I think said 'complex PTSD', but what does that really mean?

Sometimes when I'm on here I'm relieved to have an answer, to be able to relate so much to posts and at other times, I'm daunted by the fact that over and over I read there is no cure. That's the bit I have trouble accepting, and is probably denial, and something I need to work on.

My therapist is often accusing me of over analysing, thinking too much, intellectualising, avoiding etc. I do everything I can to go around and around talking about the traumas in an attempt to find something else to talk about! When I do manage to talk even the slightest about it - like it happened on a Wednesday in October - my symptoms increase dramatically, so I go back to 'well maybe I don't have it, maybe it (trauma) wasn't that bad, maybe if I try a bit harder I won't have the symptoms'.

Anyway now I'm making it all about me, when really I just wanted to thank you for this thread, it has certainly given me food for thought.

P.S. Forgot to add Anthony when you were saying that 'all people lie' it made me think of House (the TV show). If you are not familiar with the show Dr House's basic principle of treating his patient is firstly 'what lies are they telling, what aren't they telling me'.

i makes me sad to feel some of the bitterness here. i think the ideal for the forum was more of comradery than comparison, on any level. it's not my forum, though, so i'm not sure. i only know that for myself, i received a lot of good information here and was able to educate myself about ptsd, and learn things like symptom control from others. who cares who works, and who doesn't? that's a personal matter, and totally indivdualized. i don't want anyone to suffer with ptsd, and i don't think there's any such thing as a "little" ptsd. not from where i stand.

i am working, there was a time i shouldn't have been. i think working with children is somehow easier, but not always easy, either. i don't feel like someone that can't work is a bad person. they have different needs. i plan on this being my last year teaching, because it is still stressful. i will prob do something part-time, to keep me getting out of bed, lol.

all of us can grow and learn and help ourselves more every day with practice and patience. that does not mean that every one will be able to work. that does not mean that they won't, either.

by the way, some work here. paid or not, work is work.
i have never looked down on anyone that doesn't work,nor any that do. it seems some of both is going on, in my opinion. (and ya, nobody asked for my opinion, either)
it seems very much that the holidays are hard on many of us, and we need to remember that our stress levels are elevated. i have to kick myself all the time to remember that my perception is often what makes me feel bad, not the intention of others.

i don't know everyone any more, but i do care that we can all help one another. i'm not much help right now, i've not been here much. but i would like to encourage all, i have come so far this last year. i am off of meds now. still in therapy, and prob will be to some extent for a while. my symptoms are much better, i have learned many techniques for calming, grounding, and so forth. sometimes they still run away. but i am still working on it. keep trying. keep edifying others here. don't let anyone make you feel less than you are.

i respect everyone's religion/non-religion, but know that i am praying for all here. i doesn't matter that i don't know you, He does.
cathy

Kathy, thanks for starting this thread. Bec, Evie, Veilid, and everybody, thanks for additions.
I am a lucky one who has relatively mild symptoms, and, although had seen in my life people with more severe PTSD, did not realize how disabling it can be before I got to the Forum. To be honest, reading from others helped me to realize that things can be a lot worse, and made me to feel that I am luckier than some people - a kind of selfish feeling, as I would hear about someone having a horrible disease and be glad that I do not... I know it is not a nice feeling, but that how it was.
But this is something close to what I was thinking about, and what I once mention in a private message to one of the members: as any disease, physical or mental, PTSD has different level of severity, and people are effected in different ways.
What I think is useful for people like me, who are able to live a nearly normal life, is to try hard to realize that it is NOT too much of our achievement, but rather is our luck (although, of course, work on self matters). And another think to consider is that others may be a lot more sensitive to certain issues. So would be good to think twice before letting am anger out here... I had failed it once, and feel like offended and hurt many people, but will not repeat that.
Thanks again everyone,
Linda

Well Becvan then I guess I was triggered with your remark about "I was forced to go to work" As I was the one that said it months ago, I felt it was directly aimed at me. Still do too, as you could have used any other statement than mine. JMO!

Never on this forum have I ever said that someone's symptoms were less or greater. I have stated this. PTSD is PTSD, pain is pain, suffering is suffering. I also said that I may handle anxiety better than someone but it dosen't mean that their anxiety is any less upsetting to them. All of us suffer. Yes we all suffer differently. I had my share of it too, and like I said I have fought to get where I am today.

I hate this frigging condition, I wish that none of us had to go through what we have, only to be left with this....PTSD.

I am hoping that this thread does not get specific, though more remains a general statement. Why did Kathy post this? At a rough guess, and I mean rough, in that I have not specifically asked her for any behind the scenes information; is that she posted it not about the older members, but maybe more the newer members coming in with the same habits as the older, though maybe some older members are agreeing with newer one's relating to severity or comparison, instead of parsing what is known as a more correct analogy to the facts.

A forum is a community, and as such one creates the general background of information and then the community builds upon that information. The idea of a community is to interact; though as part of that interaction comes subject knowledge and the ability to parse that knowledge to those who maybe do not understand it as yet, or maybe someone has a better way of doing things which should be adopted. Either way, I think Kathy is getting to the core of the issue being that with the overwhelming flood of new members to the forum it is quite difficult to respond to everyone now, and more as a collective group the older help the newer, or the more knowledgeable help the less knowledgeable, being those who think they have the answers but may not have quite all the pieces of the puzzle just yet, they need a few pieces.

Kathy will correct me if wrong, though I believe this is where the issue really stems.

Added: This is why I am going to do an ebook next year, so it summates all the required information so that if a person did nothing more than read that book alone, they would have all the answers to the general problems, without being specific to themselves which is what therapists assist with.