The average person tends to show their lack of understanding ptsd by making comments that insinuate the person suffering chooses to have triggers and flashbacks. PTSD is a term/label used that means a person is struggling with a mental health challenge that presents symptoms that can confuse and cripple a person. People do NOT choose to struggle with PTSD, most genuinely don't understand why they developed it and so many ask "why can't I just like I used to?". PTSD is a name for a challenge within the person's brain and that challenge can vary when it comes to WHAT that person actually experienced that traumatized them enough to create the condition of PTSD.

For example, lets say a person was at work late and that person went to the water cooler to get some water when suddenly someone approached the person and attacked them and overpowered them that caused harm and no one was there to help or see it. That can create this person to stuggle with PTSD where anything in that environment, including the water cooler and the cup and the sound of the water cooler and the hallway, all in that environment and even a tone of voice or the attacker lunging can leave this victim with any one of these things triggering them to re-experience the event, EVEN WHEN IT'S NOT WANTED.

Telling a person that now struggles with having anything in that environment trigger a re-experience that takes over to JUST IGNORE IT, or get over it, or let it go, don't allow, stop thinking about it IT'S OVER? Are all CRUEL statements that show ignorance about what it means to struggle with PTSD.

First of all, our brain takes in a lot more information than we consciously realize. Our brain takes in sights, sounds, temperature, touch/physical sensations constantly. And our nervous system responds to our environment. During a tramatic experience we experience a heightened sense of awareness, more than we consciously realize. We don't consciously take it all in as the frontal executive part of our brain doesn't really function that way. It's after a trauma that so many things start to present to a person all the things about their environment in the event that was present during the trauma. A person can now experience a trigger any time that person sees or hears a water cooler. Another person can say "Come on, it's JUST a water cooler, GET OVER IT!", but it isn't JUST a water cooler to a PTSD sufferer. The sufferer WANTS it to go back to being JUST a water cooler, yet, seeing or hearing a water cooler can literally send that person back into reliving being attacked. EVEN WHEN THE PERSON DOESN'T WANT TO RELIVE IT.

The other thing that the average person doesn't understand is the need to "talk about and even REPEATEDLY". When someone repeats describing a trauma, that is IMPORTANT, better than NOT talking about it and instead shutting down. Often what will happen is the sufferer may experience a trigger and discover something NEW that MEANS something about that event. Often the person will want to repeat the entire story of an event ADDING in this new detail. A person who DOESN'T UNDERSTAND PTSD often will say, "That's not important, you need to stop thinking and talking about it and move on". Saying that is actually CRUEL because HEALING happens when a person slowly becomes conscious of ALL THE ELEMENTS of that event. What the person suffering really WANTS is a presence that responds with "yes, something new you are seeing, good for you that you are finally recognizing that detail".

I know for myself, that I can experience a trigger that cripples me and I have no idea WHAT the trigger was. I find that HELL tbh. If I get triggered and it's a bad one where I can't function, it leaves me feeling HELPLESS and FRUSTRATED. If the answer does surface, it's a relief because at least I now know what caused me to struggle to function.

Also, some individuals DO have it worse than others. For example, with PTSD one person suffering can walk by a water cooler with NO triggers at all while the person who did have a bad experience near a water cooler avoids it to avoid experiencing a major trigger that can cripple them. Any statement of "Oh, water coolers are no issue, Just Ignore it, no water cooler bothers ME". Comments like that come across CRUEL and DISMISSIVE. Actually, a much better response would be a more CARING response and even a "Lets go over and stand by the water cooler and this time I will be with you and will hold your hand so you have something KIND AND CARING present when it comes to water coolers".

No one CHOOSES to struggle with PTSD. Making any kind of statements to someone who does suffer from PTSD that alude to "you are doing this to yourself" are disrespecting the challenge that PTSD means to someone.