"ptsd is difficult...but sometimes i think people become crippled by conditions out of fear rather than by the condition itself." ~quote stumpy

Yes, this is correct, a lack of knowledge and facing the symptoms can cause the condition to worsen. It is called catastrophizing and often due to "not" understanding how PTSD effects the brain and body and what triggers episodes of extreme anxiety, headaches, rage, depression, bad thoughts,even body memories of abuse, someone can become very afraid and end up even more dibilatated by the disorder. I know that when I was diagnosed I simply thought it was something I would just get over, no, instead it progressed and I became crippled by it, which made me very frightened and confused.

" ptsd is what you make of it..or what you allow it to be." quote ~stumpy
As I mentioned when I was first diagnosed I didn't make anything of it, as I said it got worse without my knowing, sinking me into depression and slow withdrawl. Truely understanding it, why it happens, how it has manifested, and what triggers are and understanding that has to come long before one can "slowly" consciously work on dealing with it better.

"i imagine you would get the same answers on a forum for almost any other medical condition...it's not like we are that oh so special" ~quote stumpy

I don't think anyone that suffers from PTSD wants to be "oh so special" in any way.
However I know personally that because I struggled not truely understanding it and family members were not educated about it until just my husband recently, instead of getting support, my family was actually really mean and blaming and disrespectful in many ways that made my condition even more difficult.

"Oh so special?" No, stumpy that can actually be a trigger to be honest. I can remember being in a psychward in shock and my sister sitting across a table from me with a very angry face, blaming me and telling me to "get with the program" and that I wasn't " oh so special". That was wrong stumpy, the psychward should not have let family members harass me for something I could not help or understand.

Understanding? That truely has to come first, I have had some terrible thoughts, I don't want to be special for that, and I don't think keeping a loaded handgun in a drawer next to my bed even when I asked for it to be removed is understanding how severe PTSD can get.

"I had no idea" is probably one of the better responses to it that I can think of. Because I truely had no idea what was happening to me, and when I came here to PC I still didn't truely understand the depths of it. I truely had no idea WHY I was suddenly exeriencing Flashbacks or what they meant. It is not easy to find a therapist that TRUELY UNDERSTANDS IT AND CAN GUIDE A PATIENT TO ALSO UNDERSTAND IT. I know this because I was extremely mislead down an extremely confusing road, which made me even worse.

Stumpy, I think that it is promising that you are now on a level that you understand what it means and have found ways to make efforts to NOT let it control your life.
But, I will never forget where I was in PTSD when I first came to PC. I learned so much more about it since I joined in March of last year. I have to say it took me months to understand it, I didn't even know what triggers meant, even though I was constantly being triggered and experiencing the crippling after effects. It also took me a long time to find a therapist that could work with me, there were so few in my area, like others who struggle to find a good therapist, PC was all I had in some very crucial months where I truely struggled and didn't have any support as I mentioned outside PC.

To be totally honest, by my coming to PC and finding others that were more knowledgeable and understanding, willing to support me and help me learn more about it, that probably saved my life. So, when I see new members that come here in confusion, I would never tell them to "just deal" somehow. Instead, now understanding it better myself, I reach out any way I can to SUPPORT those that come here so VERY CONFUSED and OFTEN VERY ALONE in their struggle. And I know that members that come here do not want to be "oh so special" and continue to struggle or embrace this disorder in anyway.

I think that it is great that you have gotten to a personal understanding of PTSD and how it effects you and "HOW" to find ways to "NOT LET IT CONTROL YOU" stumpy. However I am sure that didn't happen overnight, because it doesn't "just happen overnight". You are an important member because you "HAVE" found ways to address and control it better, so that is promising to all those that "TRUELY HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET".

PTSD, is like an arubics cube that someone is handed all messed up, the goal is to try to line up all the colors (crippling symptoms and what they mean) and lining it up can be very difficult. While sometimes the arubic's cube can be slowly lined up, it can be disturbed by many things that a patient doesn't understand, it truely takes a while to learn how to become more aware of how to work on this complicated cube and learn to line up the colors better.

Open Eyes