PTSD and trauma

A space for discussing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), domestic abuse, sexual abuse and other trauma. Please note some content may be distressing.

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A_Tech PTSD for Medical and First Responders
  • replies: 276

Hi, Well obviously this my situation. I was hoping to find others here that might have a similar background to chat with, it can be so hard to talk about this stuff with non-med people (and I mean no disrespect, it's just often graffic or upsetting t... View more

Hi, Well obviously this my situation. I was hoping to find others here that might have a similar background to chat with, it can be so hard to talk about this stuff with non-med people (and I mean no disrespect, it's just often graffic or upsetting to others). Im a 40 year old female that has spent the last 10years in the State Trauma Hospital as an Anaesthetic Technician. My PTSD was brought about after years of exposure to shocking traumas, deaths, and no support from management. I would love to hear from anyone that has a similar story, or just wants to chat. Cheers

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Jan_D I am haunted from a past childhood experience of being made to feel excluded, who do I talk to?
  • replies: 2

Lately I have been haunted by a repressed childhood memory of me being made to feel excluded where I was forced to stay home while parents took my siblings somewhere at night one time. It has undermined my trust with my parents and siblings, the love... View more

Lately I have been haunted by a repressed childhood memory of me being made to feel excluded where I was forced to stay home while parents took my siblings somewhere at night one time. It has undermined my trust with my parents and siblings, the love I had for them. It now haunts me to this day and I have nowhere to talk about it. Being the 2nd child I also noticed my mum always treated me differently from my siblings where she clearly didn’t love me which also hurts me to this day. I cannot put it out in words to show how much this has hurt me recently. i have also been giving my own mum the silent treatment for over 3 years now which was something I did not want to do but did because keeping the relationship would only hurt more me more if I kept up with the relationship.

tabbyhobbie Trauma from scam - how do I move on?
  • replies: 2

TL; DR: the scammers impersonated the police over the phone but had uniforms and badges, tried to arrest me for crimes I didn’t commit, and got me to transfer them my savings because they needed my assets frozen, threatened to harm my brother and par... View more

TL; DR: the scammers impersonated the police over the phone but had uniforms and badges, tried to arrest me for crimes I didn’t commit, and got me to transfer them my savings because they needed my assets frozen, threatened to harm my brother and partner if I didn’t do as they said. I live in Australia and am a dual citizen. I have a good job and earn decent money. I’m well educated and got promoted to a 3-5 year of experience position after 1.5 year of working. So I was very proud of myself. I felt like that was a pitfall and I am now being punish for my hubris. Fast forward to the end of 2.5 hours of interrogation with the scammers impersonating police from my birth country, with uniforms and badges, playing good cop bad cop, they managed to get me to send my joint saving with my partner over the last year ($10k) to an account with a state owned bank in my birth country, because they needed to freeze my assets during the investigation. Over the next few days, there was a lot of manipulation and psychological harassments from these scammers ie keeping me on the phone over meal time, yelling, pointing out sounds in the background, making warnings about my safety and my brother and partner’s safety, etc. A couple of days like that, and I eventually mustered up the courage to call my lawyer just to be told that I was being scammed and should go to the police.Now, I’ve reported this to the Australian police, banks, etc. The scammers didn’t stop. They bombarded my phone with messages and calls from all messaging apps. I had to change my number as a result. My partner and I made decent money but we had student debt, credit card debt and living expenses is a nightmare in the city. It took us years pinching pennies to save up that much. I couldn’t tell my parents how much money I lost because when I tried, when I had the word “scam” out of my mouth, my mom told me I was silly and gullible.I could not shake off the shame. I was not aware a scam could be this elaborate.I’m depressed and on the verge of crying all the time. During the first day when this happened, I wished it was a scam so that the whole thing would stop. Now it stopped and I can’t stop beating myself up. I just want to move on so that I can focus on making that money back.

tixiany I’m not even sure
  • replies: 1

I’m not even really sure how to do these things but I’m really struggling with what happened in my past and it’s really effecting my day to day life and me being a mother to my child. How to I get out of bad habits when the people around are stuck in... View more

I’m not even really sure how to do these things but I’m really struggling with what happened in my past and it’s really effecting my day to day life and me being a mother to my child. How to I get out of bad habits when the people around are stuck in bad habits to? Why do I get so attached to people who I should let go of? How do i let my brain process thing normally instead of going into full protective mode? How do I do life when hurt so young?

Jasemine Unsure of the future
  • replies: 8

Hi all, so I have only recently being diagnosed with c-ptsd and I am currently getting help for that, which seems to be going well. The question I keep coming up with that I can't find an answer for is what works for everyone else when they are tryin... View more

Hi all, so I have only recently being diagnosed with c-ptsd and I am currently getting help for that, which seems to be going well. The question I keep coming up with that I can't find an answer for is what works for everyone else when they are trying to figure out their lives and who they are moving forward? I have spent so much of my life stuck in that flight or fight response that I'm just not sure on how to move on.

xXJIGSAWXx Emotions following MVA, MBA or other Trauma.
  • replies: 3

Hey Everyone, This is my first post to any forum on this topic. Okay so a brief background....I had a big motorbike accident in 2015 which put me in a coma for 2 weeks, multiple admissions totaling 8 months, 18+ injuries and 12+ surgeries. After i wo... View more

Hey Everyone, This is my first post to any forum on this topic. Okay so a brief background....I had a big motorbike accident in 2015 which put me in a coma for 2 weeks, multiple admissions totaling 8 months, 18+ injuries and 12+ surgeries. After i woke from my coma my family were always there. No that is not an exaggeration....my mum was there everyday which at times was nice but most of the time i was just holding everything together because i didn't want my family to see me break i guess. to this day i haven't really dealt with my emotions or feelings, i did see a psychologist in hospital where i opened up, i was on heavy meds so i had NO filter and she said "okay ill pop back tomorrow" and i never saw her again so i guess in a way i began or started to deal with it but that stopped. i have held it together since with a few slip ups though (anger) i spoke to my GP and he at first was just chatting with me because i just wanted to chat, then he said i should start seeing a psychologist so i did, i saw this psychologist when i could afford it, which for the first couple months was every week but then got further and further in between. i was feeling GREAT talking with him and he was helping me. i stopped seeing him because it got expensive and thought i had a lid on things but as of late its like that lid is coming undone. now i know you're probably thinking "simple fix....got back to the psychologist" but i wanted to see if there was anyone else out there like me. so my question is...is there anyone else with a similar backstory/situation and has ever increasing anger and irritability? please forgive the lack of capital letters.

KJay-- Relationship after Domestic Abuse
  • replies: 2

Hi, I'm 26 years old and this is a little back story. A week after my 18th my mum was diagnosed with cancer. I took over family duties and very rarely went out. I was drugged and raped at a party with friends (still 18). I suppressed alot of what I w... View more

Hi, I'm 26 years old and this is a little back story. A week after my 18th my mum was diagnosed with cancer. I took over family duties and very rarely went out. I was drugged and raped at a party with friends (still 18). I suppressed alot of what I was feeling to get on with looking after my family. At 19, I fell for the first man that made me feel safe. Around 6 months in I moved out with him and the abuse started - physical, verbal, emotional, mental, and financial (I was the bread winner, caused debt etc). He isolated me from family, cheated and took everything. I was stuck for almost 6 years and feared for my life. Fast forward to now. I have the most beautiful long distance partner. He is so great with communication but I feel myself struggling to let him into the deeper parts of my trauma. I know he genuinely cares and wants to understand but I just don't know how to.. any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated for navigating a healthy relationship after DV x

Jess92 My story :)
  • replies: 10

Hello, my name is Jess. I have been living with my partner for about 7 years which is a same sex relationship. Recently her dad has been crossing a line with me; and I feel like its my fault . Would love to hear from anyone that has advice or has bee... View more

Hello, my name is Jess. I have been living with my partner for about 7 years which is a same sex relationship. Recently her dad has been crossing a line with me; and I feel like its my fault . Would love to hear from anyone that has advice or has been in a similar situation:)

Mjtsb Past sexual assault now affecting marriage
  • replies: 2

I was sexually assaulted at the age of 18 I have been with my partner now for around 10 years and have 2 children. Since the kids were born I’ve had less interest in intimacy however more recently I had a night out and when I came home he took advant... View more

I was sexually assaulted at the age of 18 I have been with my partner now for around 10 years and have 2 children. Since the kids were born I’ve had less interest in intimacy however more recently I had a night out and when I came home he took advantage of me being drunk, this had happened a few times now and hadn’t really thought much of it because I do tend to want more intimacy with a few drinks in my system. However it’s really affected me and I find myself cringing when he is near meim sure this is all related back to my history of assault but I’m not sure how I can work through this?

Angel_ Police Wife Help
  • replies: 10

Hello my husband has been a police officer for 18 years.Suddenly he can’t get dressed for work, can’t go to work, and is generally a mess.He’s seen the doctor and has been diagnosed with PTSD- not a huge shock for me as I’ve watched the symptoms wors... View more

Hello my husband has been a police officer for 18 years.Suddenly he can’t get dressed for work, can’t go to work, and is generally a mess.He’s seen the doctor and has been diagnosed with PTSD- not a huge shock for me as I’ve watched the symptoms worsen for years, most notably in the last 12 monthswhat is shocking is that he’s now not going back to work.. ever - I found this out todayWe now face an uncertain future anyone been here and can tell me what to expect the doctor said today (and it keeps going around in my head) He will never fully recoverwhat the actual!excuse my ignorance- I’m in shock and not feeling overly able to communicate right nowi appreciate your responses in advance

Dukeyberry How do I stop my trauma ruining me?
  • replies: 2

5 years ago I lost my Dad at 35. Three months later my partner left our family and removed us from our property.Everything in my life changed.I started again, from a refuge with 4 children to a home of our own. I have worked fulltime since then Also.... View more

5 years ago I lost my Dad at 35. Three months later my partner left our family and removed us from our property.Everything in my life changed.I started again, from a refuge with 4 children to a home of our own. I have worked fulltime since then Also.My heart was in pieces.From the day I lost my dad, I started drinking heavily. It turns out that I'm a highly functioning alcoholic. Our mornings begin around 5.30am, work, school, preschool, sports, play dates etc. Once we were all home I would start drinking while making dinner. I could barely make it to bedtime before literally passing drunk. I've moved around alot and after the last move, promised my eldest that we would stay put til he had finished his schooling.I've just signed a lease for the 2nd year, now I'm wanting to run away. Why is this?I've changed careers also from chef to office, so I can be home at night with the kids. It's since this change that I have been more aware of my alcohol intake. I have tried cutting down, I only have one glass of wine while cooking dinner at night these days. But once dinners done, I sit in front of the TV and wait for 8.30 so I can go to bed.My kids have been raised by their devices for the past 5 years and I'm noticing this now because I'm home at nights and they're all off in their rooms. I'm lonely.I'm realising this past month that I am not the person I used to be.Nor do I like the person I have become.I don't do anything except work, run a household and clean.I'm not the involved parent that I once was. There are so many times where my head is stuck in my phone and I completely ignore what my kids are saying until they yell at me for a response.I have no hobbies. I have isolated myself from all of my friends.I do the bare minimum with my house ( my washing pile is the size of a small car). And I am so wasteful with money that I'm always broke ( I used to be great with money).I gamble when I'm down, I shop when I'm down, I smoke pot sometimes and drink sometimes. Occasionally, when I need to clean my house, I'll use a point of ice to get through it.I believe this all started when my Dad and ex partner exited my life.5 years on, I know the traumas in there, but how do I bring it to the surface and deal with it? I'm not much of a crier, I hate feeling weak which is exactly how crying makes me feel.I want so badly to be someone my children want to be around again.I don't have a life that would afford me rehab, Im a singke Mum with 4 children and no one to take them for an extended period of time. I have thought about going to detox, kind of like a reset.That and ongoing counselling support would definitely help.But what can I do in the meantime?I would love to find someone to talk to on here, tell me I'm not alone.