Yesterday after reading a thread entitled ' Coming to Terms with My Trauma' on the 'Chat PTSD' room. I left the site feeling extremely disturbed by what I had seen taking place.

A very , very vulnerable young man who has suffered extreme violations against himself by a family member and their companion, has been coerced into outing his traumas in order for Anthony to demonstrate how to unravel the events in order to teach this young man the advantages of epowerment - ha! Empowerment, at whose expense?

I am absolutely, shocked, appalled and angry at what I can only describe as an abuse of power.

It does not matter what good intentions are behind this psycho babble exercise it is irresponsible to encourage this young man to take part in a amateur psychoanalysis experiment.

A survivor of PTSD or someone who claims to be managing their symptoms is NOT/NEVER in a position to undertake the seriousness of the context between a therapist and their patient. Unless, you are a qualified therapist? And, even then I would question the integrity of the therapist who is so blatantly sidestepping all of the ethical considerations between therapist and patient, amongst other gross misconducts - irrespective of your legal disclaimer.

I am sure the young man involved will now leap to your defence and tell everyone how much you have helped him and how worthwhile this experience has been. He is a young and vulnerable person who should never of been 'used' in this way. Never, and I am disgusted by your behaviour Anthony.

The really shameful thing in all of this is that all I am really achieving here is providing you (Anthony), with another platform to prance about and pull off another one of your peacock displays. Yes in my opinion your ego has the better of you and shame on you for that!

I do not need to be a part of a community where the man in charge is abusing his position of power. Doesn't that contradict the aim of the site, empowerment by sharing and learning about each others' experiences? Not someone who is so lead by their own ego that they feel they can heal another by mere self experience and research. You have no right to take that position. No right at all, especially if you do genuinely care about the welfare of others. Perhaps you have lost site of your real objective? Or was your real objective effected by an out of control personality trait called, the ego?

I have watched you time and time again launch attacks on people on the forum who you believe are challenging you. Perhaps, you should continue looking inwards before you start trying to fix people?

I only hope that this lovely young man is not further damaged by your inexperienced and poorly executed amateur dramatics performance.

I have learned much from this forum and I have learned some from you Anthony, but that does not mean that you are always right. Even as the owner of this site! You have behaved poorly and with a lack of true insight in this instance.

I will miss all of the wonderful people that I have hooked up with on here. There are some fabulous souls and you should all be very proud of the wonderful and beautiful people that you are, all of you! I am proud to have virtually met some of you. Thank you for assisting me on my journey, I could not have got this far without your input! I am ready to fly the nest and I just cannot sit by and watch what I see on here sometimes.

I have thought about this and I am not choosing lightly! As I have said before, the right thing is sometimes the hardest thing to do. A lesson I am prepared to repeat if it means standing up for what I believe in.

I am still on my journey and I will make it to a great place, I really will! Believe in yourselves and see what I have seen in all of you, a lovely communicative, assisting, loving, caring, learning community.

Thank you for your warmth and kindness.

Signing out!

Vicky xxx

Which young man are you referring to? Thought cypher was female, if I am not mistaken.

Seems a petty matter to point out perhaps. However. If you have misread something as simple as a person's gender, perhaps you have misread others things as well? Something to consider in any event.

Jim.

That kind of comment is what I expected!
Yes Cypher is female; a young woman not a young man. Thank you kindly for the correction. Although, the semantics over my error still do not detract away from my argument. Example: I am working hard towards the right to become a therapist, my PTSD experiences and research do not entitle me to carry out any type of theoretical practise on anyone! I have seven years of academic achievement and practise before I can be so bold to even try to help another.

I am only interested in the welfare of others - you can pull my argument to pieces, even try to diminish what I have said by using many examples. But, ultimately everyone should be more interested in the welfare of others; rather than just trying to protect Anthony.

I will not be back to continue on this matter and support my argument.

Spirit,

First, let me say, I'm sad to see you go.

With regards to Cypher - Cypher has a Therapist of her own whom she should consult regarding her participation on this forum in this manner, as that would be the responsible thing to do. Everyone here who has PTSD has suffered in ways that were horrible and undeserving, there should be no differentiation. Cypher made a choice, Anthony nor anyone else here can make those choices for her.

Just my thoughts.

Best,
Rachel

I have been away from the forum for the last month, so maybe my opinion won't mean much to anyone here. I still have a voice, so I will voice my opinion.

NO ONE has to be here if they choose not to be. Anthony keeps this forum going out of his own pocket, with help from others if they choose to offer $$.

Cypher chose to open up, NO ONE forced her to do this. I commend her for doing this in an open forum. It took courage to do this. More courage than anyone could possibly comprehend.

As far as Anthony's method.....He is correct. He is right on, and is only trying to help. If anyone feels different, then I guess that they have the option to NOT sign on.

I wonder if Spirit was triggered by what she read??? Or possibly not ready to become a therapist because she doesn't have the stomach to push her patients to be open and honest. SYMPATHY will get you no where with your clients. Your clients won't get any where either.

Pisses me off when people lash out and attack others, because they can't look at themselves.......


Well I guess that's my " I am back rant."


Wendy

Agreed Wendy. Myself, I was most pleased to see cypher opening up thusly. Anthony notwithstanding. The process is what is important. My daughter did the same upon the forum (along with having a therapist) and it helped her tremendously. Good to see someone else facing their traumas head on. Well said and welcome back.

Jim.

Thanks Jim....I am glad that you are back also.....Hope Kathy is still doing well and on the mend.

Hi Wen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have struggled with myself as to whether I should comment or not. My automatic response would be to stand up for Anthony but for those who do not know me - I would only do that if I believed he was right. He would be the first to admit that I challenge him if I have a differing view.

With that cleared up, I can now comment without anyone thinking my response is because Anthony is my partner.

In my opinion, every one has a different opinion and our life experiences color our views. There are also always two sides to every story. It's all about position as to the view you will take.

Anthony can be harsh and direct and may come across as having a big ego but I would say it is more confidence than ego and I know confidence can intimidate those who are not confident themselves. Is that wrong? Well, that is who he is and I love him for who he is. Does that mean I have to agree with him - hell no. Does that mean I should publically prosecute him because I disagree - no. The solution is somewhere in the middle.

Like Wendy said, you are free to come here and no one is forcing anyone to. What works for one person may not work for another hence why people change therapists. As Jim said, being here helped Evie but it may not help someone else but that is their responsibility. Just like you choose or not choose to attend a therapist appointment is the same choice between logging on or not logging on.

Furthermore, there are things which happen here on the forum which make me feel uncomfortable like all the "love and kisses" spread as I think it happens too easily and to me it is something special I give to those I care about most and not something I hand out to someone who has posted a few times. That is me, and my opinion but I don't start a thread condeming those who do it as I accept that is the way those people are. Just because it makes me uncomfortable does not mean they are wrong.

My point, I think we should take from the forum what is best for us and disreguard the rest. Anthony owns it so has the right to do or say as he sees fit. That's just a fact.

I think more people should invest their energy in themselves and healing rather than involving themselves in what other people do.

I will only speak for myself in regards to the forum.

Huggy-huggy, kissy-kissy just doesn't work with PTSD. Yes, my opinion, other's opinions here, Anthony's opinion, my therapist's opinion and a lot of other therapists/psychologist/psychiatrist's opinions that I've researched.

Openening up and dealing with the trauma(s) head on and learning to live with PTSD in one's life are, IMO, the best way to deal with a situation a lot of us have found ourselves in. I say this because I did this to learn to deal with a whole lot of difficult shit in my life caused by PTSD. I'm now at a point where I consider myself pretty well recovered. I still live with the symptoms, but in a managed form. I've learned to manage my sypmtoms and get my life back.

I know that I whole lot of my recovery has been helped along with this forum. I also know deep in my heart that I wouldn't be no where near as far in my recovery without the help I've received on the forum. At the beginning I had a lot of help from Anthony in opening up and dealing with my traumas. For that I will always be grateful.

This isn't a blanket ass-kiss to Anthony and I'm not protecting him (doubt he needs it anyway). There's a lot of times he's royally pissed me off...but he did help me learn a way to get my life back on track with PTSD in it.

If someone doesn't want to do the hard work necessary to deal with their trauma(s) and PTSD then it's their choice. Life is all about choices and living with the consequences of those choices. Trying to make that choice for another-even if it's just through a post-is wrong.

Lisa