I think it's important to keep in mind, Open Eyes (and I can understand from your experience that it's hard) that this (above) is not what is happening here, now, on this forum. quote ultramar

ultramar,

I actually appreciate your pointing this out. And it wasn't so much that I felt that "I" was being personally attacked in this thread. However, I "have" been a victim of others in my life that were very dismissive when I was genuinely emotionally challenged and it really wasn't a matter of "immaturity" on my part.

And even Dragon's last statement about a statement he posted was "not about ptsd but was addressing Venus's intitial questions". It doesn't really matter whether or not it was addressing PTSD specifically either. Because this is a discussion that is being read by anyone here that is challenged in someway. And it did disturb a couple of these people.

I think about who I was before I developed PTSD alot. And since this experience where I really struggled and did have that kind of response come at me, which actually was the "wrong" way to respond to someone "tramatized and experiencing post tramatic stress", it really changed how I look at people who struggle.

I have learned alot during my time in my own recovery, and here at PC. So I do look at "mental illness" in very different light, and I don't think of it as someone is just "crazy" or that someone is "just immature" either.

I use PTSD as an example because that is what "I" suffer from myself. But I can see how other "mental illnesses or brain challenges of somekind" can lead to "emotional challenges" or how emotional challenges can lead to "mental illnesses". And my own childhood was all about watching my older brother who had a disability and how he was "constantly punished" for it BY EVERYONE where ever he went. I had to study his face everyday to monitor how badly it built up inside him to where he would need to let it out, and he often "let it out on me".

If "anything" when I look at that poster Venus put up, I can say that immaturity and ignorance is not the one who suffers so much as it is THE IGNORANCE OF SOCIETY and how that CHALLENGE IS OFTEN DISMISSED, DISREGARDED, AND MISTREATED. So I know what that poster is trying to shed light on, its a start, but is not going to change "stigmatism".

When I hear about how my grand nephew is being poorly treated in school and how he is not "heard" when he tries to explain when he has "had enough" because he feels inside himself the tremendous force of anxiety building up that he can't seem to control, he is not heard. Instead his teachers keep pushing him, and he loses control and then they "restrain him". My grand nephew has Autism/Asbergers and he is "high functioning" but he is "very challenged" and somehow "others" do not listen to him and he is "very frustrated" by that. And he "does" struggle emotionally because of that. And it isn't a matter of "his maturity", it is a matter of "the maturity of others" that isn't there.

Because of my childhood where I really never "felt safe" it affected how I was able to learn and grow. Not only that but I have the scars of ulcers, hyatal hernia, barretts esophgus and I do struggle with anxiety, I was always looking over my shoulder and I didn't really realize that wasn't normal. And I do remember that when I tried to "tell" and discuss how I often struggled "emotionally" I was constantly "dismissed".

That day when I had woman come out to my farm with her grandchild and she ended up being a Doctor, highly educated and specialized in treating children as a "child psychologist, and she was so impressed and told me how "gifted" I was when I worked with her grandchild, it hit me pretty deeply. And she also is a college professor teaching others to do what "she" does, yet something is really missing there. Am I brilliant as I am told so often? I AM NOT SO BRILLIANT!!! The truth is I know something that so many seem to just not get, to overlook, it isn't brilliance either, it is just first hand experience, knowing the suffering "first hand".

Honestly? It is sooooo sad to me when therapists and psychiatrists are so enlightened by me. When I went to "them" for help and they turn around and thank me for helping them? I look back at that and it wasn't "ME BEING SO GIFTED" at all, and to think they didn't help me, and I did need help.

One day, I started to see that differently and I thought to myself how awful it is that I can see these things others can't see. I felt so alone with that thought. I had always thought it was "me" that somehow didn't get it or was not smart enough. How many times I would talk to parents about "their own children" and how much they didn't know about "their own children" always amazed me. The ignorance never ceases to amaze me. And then I come here and I see the end result, and it moves me to the depths of me. And if "I" am some how brilliant from seeing that, then that is such a trajedy, because "I AM CERTAINLY "NOT" BRILLIANT".

Dragon, I didn't know "how" you were challenged, and we sure didn't start off on the right foot. But it really explains alot to me about you and why that happened. And I can even understand where you are at in "your healing" and what you are saying here about "growth and maturity". I see it too, I can identify with what you are saying. However, what I do know though, is that often that "sentiment/advice" may not be "well recieved" depending on where a person is in their challenge with their "mental illness" or personal confusion. And it also depends of how much they have been "denied in their challenge" by the ignorance of society.

And I do hear that confusion all the time when people talk about how they have "tried" to sit with a therapist and didn't get what they needed or they feel like they are going to be judged, or that a therapist is not going to "get what they are saying" etc. And unfortunately, these misunderstandings or misdiagnosings, do occur, been there and gone through that myself, so I know.

And personally, I feel that our society is turning to "drugs" to solve problems, but that doesn't really "solve alot of the problems" that challenge so many. Yes, growth and maturity can go along way, but in order for that to happen, there has to be "less ignorance on the part of society too". That would have to mean "less stigma" and "more understanding and education", which there is definitely a "huge lack of". Mental "illness" or some kind of "disability" can cause challenging "emotions". However, someones emotional challenges due to a person's environment or dealing with tramatic events, can lead to mental illnesses.