PTSD != 'veteran'

[BattleBack]

Even though some stories in the mainstream media have worked to educate that public that PTSD is not just a 'vets' disorder, I think most people quickly think 'vet' when they hear 'PTSD'.

Now, before any vets jump on me hold up: I'm a vet myself.

But there are people who can have very, very severe PTSD that were never in uniform and never saw conflict. For instance, children who grow up in Watts or the Bronx and see people get smoked on the street routinely by violent gangs or EMT's in a big city or someone who is kidnapped and held against their will for long periods.

I sometimes worry that non-vets with PTSD are either not taken seriously or may face a greater social judgement for having PTSD but not ever having been in a war. And it should be mentioned that two people serving side by side and having similar experiences with nearly the exact same external stressors..one might walk away 'fine' and the other not to the point they lost much of their life to the symptoms of PTSD.

Anyway, I hope the people here with PTSD who weren't vets of foreign wars do not feel they have a more trivial form of PTSD or that the reasons for their PTSD are trivialized. If you suffer with PTSD, it simply stinks..no matter the catalysts.

 

[Domo]

Maybe it's just my age showing but when i think of PTSD, i don't think of war vets...

But agreed that i hope no one is trivialised.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Maybe it's just my age showing but when i think of PTSD, i don't think of war vets...

But agreed that i hope no one is trivialised.

Ditto. When I hear PTSD, I tend to think first of victims of assaults, child abuse, motor vehicle accidents, house fires, criminal victimization, or traumatic losses of loved ones. etc. Then I think of police officers, firemen, and paramedics. And then I think of military personel.

 

[Jazzey]

EMT's in a big city or someone who is kidnapped and held against their will for long periods.

or any emergency personnel (police, firefighters or EMTs) irrespective of the size of the city. It's unfortunately, I think anyway, a danger of the job...They will all, at some time, see something that is difficult (at the very least).

 

[SoSo]

This may sound like a dumb question but ask I will...do the abusers or can abusers suffer from PTSD? Just wondered. Being on the receiving end of the abuse most of my life I know all to well how to avoid my 'triggers' now but just wondered if abusers ever suffer the same way, have or get PTSD.
SoSo

 

[forgetmenot]

I think many abusers were indeed abused themselves at one time and in that yes they too can have terrible flashbacks and if untreated perhaps why they became abusers themselves. Hope i made sense here take care.

 

[Jazzey]

This may sound like a dumb question but ask I will...do the abusers or can abusers suffer from PTSD? Just wondered. Being on the receiving end of the abuse most of my life I know all to well how to avoid my 'triggers' now but just wondered if abusers ever suffer the same way, have or get PTSD.
SoSo

I don't think it's a dumb question Soso. I've often wondered if my abuser wasn't always subjected to abuse of some kind. He may very well also suffer from PTSD.

Having said this, suffering from PTSD myself, I cannot fathom abusing anyone. PTSD is such a specific thing. It involves triggers, short term memory, sometime anger - but for me, it has never involved wanting to harm another human being, ever.

PTSD, while a particular beast, from my knowledge - does not ever involve harming others in a sexual way.

The only case I've heard of - a case of a Canadian veteran storming through the gates of a military zone because of his PTSD, out of anger. Wounded Times: Christian McEachern crashing through PTSD walls

And this, only because my psychologist was involved in his defense. Thank goodness for good psychologists out there. :2thumbs:

 

[Lana]

I may be wrong, but PTSD is like any other disorder and does not distinguish between victim or offender. So, if the abuser suffered any trauma in life, he or she may also experience PTSD symptoms I don't think that being abusive means a person is immune to disorders. However, having said that, I do not subscribe to the idea that having PTSD leads someone to be abusive. Angry - yes, but not necessarily abusive. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Jazzey]

...It does..Or at least, I get it.