Minime said: </font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
I also think I am sick and tired of professionals who study and write about this "disorder". They write from the safety of their life and experiences. These are abnormal reactions they say...treat them like this they say. UGGGGG. To them i say: Please dont treat me like I am a disease. Listen to me hear me and help me feel safe again. dont treat me like a child with a behavior problem. Dont judge me or talk down to me. Love me for the person I am and be a witness to my "trauma" help me put it in words. Help me learn that people are safe by showing me not telling me. I fought to stay alive and now i am fighting to live.

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What is unfortunate about PTSD is that is does limit our capacity (without therapy) to understand when people truly are helping. PTSD dictates that you go on the defensive, putting up blocks to being able to comprehend the difference between help and attack. That's where the trust comes in for the therapeutic relationship with your psychologist or therapist. A good T does model safe behavior and responses for you.

When you have that trust with someone who knows how to help, then you can begin to listen to them say those things over and over and over again, until you begin to hear them inside your head, even when T is nowhere around.

The coping aspect, well, yes it does go on forever so-to-speak. What therapy does, well what all therapy should have as a goal, is to help you learn how to respond (not react) to situations that would normally throw you for a loop. It is that constant "coping" ... the good response skills you learn.... that helps you cope with life, and not become bogged down repeatedly and needing therapy with the same issues your whole life.

Is there a cure for PTSD? Not yet. It may crop up at any point in your life, well after you think you have taken care of the beast! But by going back over the coping skills you will have learned through therapy, you will not suffer as severely nor as long with any such of it's head rearing!

TC