Age: 21
Location: Ohio
Interests: photography, reading, psychology, weight lifting
User Name: My back was fractured as a child and I've been rather "broken" mentally it seems. Thought I'm no longer a "child" I've used this username since I was in my mid-teens.
Misc: I'm going into my senior year of college and am majoring in psychology and minoring in Latin and philosophy. I love animals and animals seem to like me back.
Therapy: I have been in therapy ever since I can remember. The first time I was on SSRI's I was 14 and it was a disaster. I have yet to find a therapist to deal with the PTSD and have just about given up on finding one.

I posted "Who I Am" in January of this year, but I think I have change who I am since then. I'm no longer someone who simply cares for her mother. I am now a person who cares for everyone. By that I mean that my awareness of other peoples feelings has finally kick in and I feel that I am finally a kinder and more considerate person, or at least I am trying to be.

Maybe caring for the kittens has taken my mind away from "ME" and helped me focus and care for others.

Anyway, this is who I "think" I am today

Hello. I am a 31 y/o female born into a military family. I had a normal childhood with the exception to the continent jumping every 6 months to a year. I considered it a blessing when we stayed any one place for more than a year. My nickname is Lily, I currently live in Ohio. I chose my username for these reasons:
1. Pre-trauma I was a very factual, logical person, now I fight emotions and PTSD symptoms everyday. I fight for my life everyday, for the reclaiming of it anyway.
2. I'm a complicated contradiction.... wanted to reflect that in my name
3. I grew up watching martial arts films (being half asian and being stationed in Asia most my life) and FightingLily seems like a kunfu fighting name. lol.

I love listening to opera, it's a contradiction- it's both incredibly sad yet delightful to hear at the same time. I love to paint, not an artist but it does relax me. I have 7 leopard geckos, 2 are rescued. I have always had a soft spot for Emeril on mute. Bobby Flay comes in second. Addicted to American Literature from the colonial and revolutionary periods. I watch the history and science channels.

38 yr old from Indiana. Which by the way...it scares me a little how many people on here are from Indiana...what does that mean about Hoosiers/growing up there?!!! i moved to the southeast 16 years ago because i can't stand snow. now we have no water.

have a little boy...not too little anymore. he's a first grader and way smarter than me and i love that. i'm an avid reader...my husband once said he's never met anyone that can spend $200 in a bookstore...I yelled across the store that before I met him it was $400! Love golf but never get to play, love cycling, swimming, working in the yard. Before I was diagnosed I was a clean freak....loved washing my car once a week. No really... Now ...well let's just say my car is actually black under all the dead bugs. I have a sick sense of humor and sarcasm that could choke a cow. I have a dear husband who is very confused by all this but is my rock. I have sooo many good friends that I'm learning to appreciate. never watch tv. love sitting on the back porch with my 2 dogs just looking at the stars. my favorite thing in the whole world is probably making my son laugh.

I really appreciate this thread. Being so new, it's nice to get to know you all a little bit.

I am 44. I was born in the south, but moved to CA when I was about 5 and pretty much grew up in SoCal. I now live in the Southwest with my partner, 4 dogs, and 2 cats. I don't know that we'll be able to afford it, but I would love to get a horse, as well.

Although I grew up precociously insightful (I remember when I was 8 years old watching some kids play tether ball and thinking, "I wonder if they're really that carefree or are they faking it like I do?" But I've read that that is common with PTSDers), I somehow ended up working with computer systems (booooooring).

Next week we go on vacation to take advantage of being able to get married (at least, it's legal right now anyway) in California. I am mostly vegan (I do like Baked Lays and they have a little dairy in them). I like step aerobics, even though I'm pudgy (I stress-eat). I love reading and am fascinated by quantum physics.

I started searching for an answer to what was wrong when I was 11 (I remember thinking, "Will I be glad in 10 years if I don't kill myself now?" and figured there had to be more to life so I started going to church, looking for answers/help). I've done a lot of different things (talk therapy, EMDR, hypnosis, incest support group, 12-step, etc. but 2 years ago started on something called The Solution Method (similar to CBT) and it has helped a lot). But then 2 years ago I started an intense job and it got harder...then this past December I started spinning and couldn't come out of it. I started meds in March, but hope to be off of them in another month. I am very grateful to have found this forum for support and sure wish I'd found it earlier. I never really got it before that I am not the only one "like this" (when I was 17 I actually became honestly convinced that my mother must have mated with an alien and that I was only half human, because I was so very different...and FELT like an alien, and I couldn't come up with any other explanation!).

When I'm not in a high-symptom place, I laugh easily. I love nature -- it is peaceful and healing. I love trees and hiking alone with my dog. I like to photograph trees. I love the peacefulness of horses and the quiet prairie where I live. I like movies, playing pool, playing games (Taboo is my favorite) and sometimes writing. I like to sit in my yard in the swing and watch the sunrise over the mountains and creep over the prairie. I love the sound of the wind in aspen trees. I love solitude, but I really hope to be able to someday be with people and be present -- enjoy their company and let them enjoy being with me.

Ok, probably a lot more than you wanted to know.

Great to meet you all -
-Dylan

My name is David.

I am 38. I am from Yorkshire in the UK. I have a whippet. I like cricket. I have a lovely wife and three stunning chidren aged 1, 3 and 7. I am a postdoctoral researcher at a university. I would like to have a Triumph bonneville but it would just be an expensive toy. I ride my mountain bike everyday. I run. I like long walks with my dogs over kinder scout and bleaklow. I like walking on the beach and then stopping for a pint and fish and chips.

Hello there. I'm a 22 year old girl who lives in a little city in Norway (22 500 inhabitants). But was raised in a little place in the country though.

I lived happily with my parents, my older brother and our two dogs. I went to school for nine years, and despite the low effort, I got very good grades.

I have not yet finished any education, and am currently unemployed, but that's all ok. I stay at home with my one year old son, while my husband goes to work. When my son gets older, and my health is better, I plan on taking a degree in social work or child pedagogics.

I love to write, mostly poems, but also lyrics. I play the guitar and I sing. I've been in several choirs, but quit because of my CPTSD. I love music, because it is one thing I can rely on to never be gone

Brokenchild, Please don't give up on finding help! I am reading WAKING THE TIGER by Dr. Peter Levine and am managing some hope for the first time. I have read some of your entries and your suffering has been immense. There are people here who know the hollow agony you describe. May your pain be replaced by the deep peace you deserve!

I forgot to add....I have two beautiful cats too, Mylee and QT. I love my cats.

My young son wanted us all to choose superhero names, so I am Moonshadow. I am married to Door Man.
I am 37, and a homeschool mom of 3 wonderful children, The Force, Landscape and Copycat.
I am a vegan atheist.

I've lived in Wisconsin for the last 11 years, but I am a Northern California girl at heart.
Winter is far too severe for me, and I can't wait for the chance to leave here.
Someday, I would like to live in Oregon.

I have 2 dogs, 3 cats, 6 zebra finches and 6 chickens.
I once co-founded a humane society.

I enjoy gardening, art, music, dance, theatre and reading.
I am a rampant baker.