When you have a loved one or a friend with post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD it can be hard to know what to do and how to help them. You can feel overwhelmed or even frightened about what and how to help. I want to give some tips on things that you can do to help. … Continue reading How To Help Someone with PTSD
Like most siblings, my brother and I fought, bugged each other but we also stood by each other, supported and encouraged each other. What makes our relationship unique, is my brother has a learning disability and lives with mental illness. He is very emotional and sensitive. My brother was about a year or two when … Continue reading What Is It Like to Support a Sibling With a Mental Illness
I grew up in a household where I thought life was normal. I thought everyone’s parents fought, thought dad always beat and raped mom, thought playing mind games was normal, I thought this was what everyone lived like. Years later I’d come to realize, NO, this is not normal! I remember when we were little, … Continue reading 8 Signs You Grew Up With PTSD
Whether we're talking about PTSD from the military, from an abusive relationship, or any other type of traumatic experience, there are some things that simply should never be said to a person with PTSD, and here are a few. 1. "Maybe you should talk about it" Well, that would probably be fantastic, only how do … Continue reading 7 Things not to say to someone you love with PTSD
I know its okay to talk about my experiences; I find writing helps me, more than I realized.
“Normal is Illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.”
Trauma is a strange beast. As is its persistent follower PTSD.
Dear Melanie, We're not good friends but we're very familiar ones. We even sleep together, or should I saw awaken together from horrible dreams or lay awake together with anxieties and memories. I'm with you when you're in an elevator with strangers because more often than not, strangers mean potential attackers. You just never know, … Continue reading With (no) Love, From PTSD
The words "support group" used to mean you had to seek out a physical group, usually in your own town or nearby. Then when you learned the meeting information, you'd muster the courage to get yourself ready and leave the house and take some sort of transportation to and from the meeting. And bare your … Continue reading Ten Facebook Help Groups
I’m 46 years old living in Miami, Florida, and in 2013 I was diagnosed with Complex post-traumatic stress disorder. For 17 years I had been verbally and psychologically abused by my husband. But up until 2012, I was fine. I was facing each instance of abuse individually and surviving. My brain had not compounded them … Continue reading How My PTSD Diagnosis Gave Me Strength
