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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braxthemusicman i think im losing my mind
  • replies: 3

The last 3 months have been really bad for my mental health (due to breakups, living situation, etc) but recently it just spiralled downhill. I feel like I can't trust the people I'm most closest with, and that I am a bourden on them when they want t... View more

The last 3 months have been really bad for my mental health (due to breakups, living situation, etc) but recently it just spiralled downhill. I feel like I can't trust the people I'm most closest with, and that I am a bourden on them when they want to just chill. I feel like a different person everyday, but one thing remains the same; I'm losing my mind. It hurts to cry and speak out, I can't love anyone the way I use too, I love different people at different times and I don't know what the hell is happening to me. I feel weak all the time, I feel like my friends don't want to hangout with me because they are sick of seeing me. I've also been hearing voices making me think of things I hate about myself. I don't know if this has to do with events the last few months, or a relapse of a bad depression episode, or if I'm schizophrenic or bipolar or anything, all I know is I'm going insane and I need help, but afraid to ask because of anxiety.

QueenOfBadIdeas Completely unable to talk about trauma
  • replies: 3

Hi, first post on these forums! Basically, something happened in my family life when I was about 8. Technically it's still ongoing. I don't know if it would be considered trauma... I feel stupid calling it that as I myself was never hurt or in danger... View more

Hi, first post on these forums! Basically, something happened in my family life when I was about 8. Technically it's still ongoing. I don't know if it would be considered trauma... I feel stupid calling it that as I myself was never hurt or in danger of being hurt. The thing is, I completely and utterly cannot talk about it. I never have been able to with anyone except for my family. Every time I try I completely shut down -- whenever the surrounding topic comes up I freeze. I have been going to therapy since after this event happened for general anxiety/ depression stuff but I feel like I wasted it all since this huge thing has never been hinted to. My mum sat in the room with every therapist I had until I was 15 and directly changed the narrative. I know I can only get better if I investigate this, but I don't know how. I feel like I've wasted so much money on pointless therapy sessions. I don't know what to do anymore. A while back I was supposed to have an appointment with a psychiatrist but I broke down when he asked me to recount my childhood and I just couldn't speak. I apologised for wasting his time. I've promised myself and my psychologists that one day I would open up, but I can't. I even wrote it down in a word document, but I can't bring myself to send it. I've been sitting on this secret for over a decade... I just feel so completely damaged. I wonder how much of my difficulties with my mental health have actually been caused by this. I really don't know how I can recover from this, or how my life would look if I told someone (I think I'd feel guilty), or if I'm just being dramatic... I know I'm at the point right now that all I need is the right support and help, but I'm aware that means talking about it and I'm so so scared. Basically, what can I do?

Shelly333 Multiple traumatic events
  • replies: 2

Hi my name is shelly im new here and not sure where to start but im looking for help as im not sure who to reach out to for a diagnosis or help and feel like suddenly its all too much to deal with i was abused by my best friends father at about 8 yea... View more

Hi my name is shelly im new here and not sure where to start but im looking for help as im not sure who to reach out to for a diagnosis or help and feel like suddenly its all too much to deal with i was abused by my best friends father at about 8 years of age i blocked it out and only starting thinking about it constantly at the age of 50 after finding said childhood friend on Facebook it was consuming my every thought so i decided to go to police and report matter and miraculously was no longer consumed by thoughts of it until i was advised at end of it all that the matter couldnt proceed due to no evidence and time passed i pushed it down cause at the same time i find out he was not gonna have to face what he did i found out my son was addicted to drugs and living a very dangerous lifestyle but thats too big of a story so i became consumed with saving him organising rehab etc which went on for months and of course nothing worked because i wanted it not him until eventually he did after he harmed himself in front of me and numerous other traumatic events he come home and asked for help and everything was great i went back to work first day i did his old friend came around and took him within 45 mins he was admitted to hospital was in coma 5 days but all good home recovered well and things looking great but now all bad thoughts have returned i wont leave my house if i do i start to get physically sick i make excuses not to go to even the shops i wont answer friends calls i make up excuses like my phone broken etc and im embarrassed to say all i seem to do is smoke marijuana but i feel everything closing in and its affecting most of my relationships any direction anyone can steer me in would e greatly appreciated

n2k12 Wondering i also have PTSD
  • replies: 1

I have made a post earlier on , which i hope will be approved. i am wondering if i suffer from PTSD. i have taken several different versions of online "tests" which i know are not accurate diagnosis'. they just provide insight. And they all say the s... View more

I have made a post earlier on , which i hope will be approved. i am wondering if i suffer from PTSD. i have taken several different versions of online "tests" which i know are not accurate diagnosis'. they just provide insight. And they all say the same thing, extreme / high risk of PTSD. i am wondering, please, any PTSD sufferers, can you explain what its like, and how it "feels" and how it impacts your daily life. i have high functioning asperger syndrome, and other diagnosis' and i have learned most recently, i cannot trust my own thoughts, i dont know how i feel on a day to day basis. only time i know what i am "feeling" is when i cry, because their are tears, and my heart hurts and goes cold, and when i am angry. because i get very jittery and end up having a seizure if i get to upset. i basically sit here, flat and emotionless. i am capable of laughing. it seems people dont like it though. they say i am childish, and my friend said i have the mental age of 13. which actually makes sense. as i have always gotten along better with people much younger than me, and seem to be on the same wavelength, and just "click". especially if they are autistic to. even girls, as young as 15 have tried to date / get with me. i know this is totally inappropriate so i turn them down respectfully. i cop an earful for it, but i know its the right thing to do. i just wish i knew why someone that young could possibly have a "crush" on someone like me, and my age. which i disclose well and truly early on. like when i am introduced to a girl, or if she talks to me. i tell her my name and age. its very confusing. i realised i have gone a bit off topic here. sorry. i do that. just looking for advice.

MyProfile Coping with the distress from the collective of traumatic events
  • replies: 2

I was just on Facebook and noticed someone posted a picture of some people on their way to be executed in the Holocaust. I find images like that extremely distressing. I avoid the news because it really upsets me. How are we supposed to cope when we ... View more

I was just on Facebook and noticed someone posted a picture of some people on their way to be executed in the Holocaust. I find images like that extremely distressing. I avoid the news because it really upsets me. How are we supposed to cope when we are bombarded with distressing images and information of traumatic events that don't even directly affect us? I worry that it is intentional! I'm still so haunted by 9/11, by the planes crashing or going missing over the years, the world wars and the Holocaust, the building collapse recently.. Basically all the horrible stuff blasted at us by the media. I literally imagine how all the people must have felt, their suffering and fear and sadness, their last moments, their family's grief. How are humans supposed to cope with this much pain? It destroys me and preoccupies me unless I deliberately force myself to think of something else.

Small Sexually assaulted by my uncle
  • replies: 2

Everyone is saying it’s my fault and I’m not sure what to do anymore…

Everyone is saying it’s my fault and I’m not sure what to do anymore…

SkiitZ I think I have PTSD
  • replies: 4

Hi guys, Firstly, I've never spoken about this to anyone really and currently struggling with life quite badly. I haven't been diagnosed with PTSD but I do feel like that it is my underlying issue in terms of my mental health. I once smoked some pot ... View more

Hi guys, Firstly, I've never spoken about this to anyone really and currently struggling with life quite badly. I haven't been diagnosed with PTSD but I do feel like that it is my underlying issue in terms of my mental health. I once smoked some pot when I was about 16 which made me trip out quite hard and left me in that state of "tripping" for several days/weeks. I eventually got out of it and away from it and never touched drugs again but at the time I was so beyond scared and hated every second of it. It's clear it was laced with something else but unsure what yet. I was good for a few years and didn't feel any anxiety or worries about anything really but when I did I felt like I was sort of tripping a little bit, takes me back to that night and I've always been scared about feeling that way again as it was the worst day of my life. I didn't really think about it like that before but it does definitely seem like PTSD is the thing I have and struggle with. My anxiety has been HORRIBLE as of recent and feeling like I am "tripping" when my anxiety is high again but not to the full extent but other symptoms I get is my memory becomes foggy, I come to an instant panic and need to leave where I am or what I'm doing and get home asap, I feel like life is pointless and seems "fake" sometimes. Hard to explain but just wanted to share. I hope I can get a proper diagnosis soon and get the help I finally deserve because I can NOT live like this anymore. It affects my every day life, jobs, relationships and everything in between. I am petrified I will never feel normal again.

pl515p1 Trauma relived over and over, how long can a person go on this way?
  • replies: 1

These past several months have been a blur, I have been treading water so long, I wish I had some solid ground upon which to stand. Losing my dad, finding my brother, losing my mother, finding my uncle, losing my aunt... I cannot believe all of this ... View more

These past several months have been a blur, I have been treading water so long, I wish I had some solid ground upon which to stand. Losing my dad, finding my brother, losing my mother, finding my uncle, losing my aunt... I cannot believe all of this has happened, yet it has. For a variety of reasons I still have to live in the family home where I found my dad, all of these months later I still exist only in the front room, the other rooms past his bedroom are merely memories to me now. Memories are what haunt me, I have packed everything in readiness to move, a move I have had to put on hold, and this terrifies me. Everywhere I look reminds me of dad, of mum, the faded marks of pictures that once hung on the wall, the faint smell of all of those wonderful meals we ate together, the echoes of laughter we all shared, now drowned out by the deafening silence of an empty place I once called home. I don't know how much longer it will take until everything is settled and I can move, I don't know how much longer I can last. How can one come to terms with a trauma, if one is constantly exposed to it each and every day? I feel myself deteriorating, having to wake up here, remembering that initial day when I woke up and called out to him all over again... I am so scared right now, I am scared that the damage has been done. I am scared that everything I have tried to achieve, with the support of my counsellors, will all fall away. I had slowly began to renter life over the past few months, reconnecting with my friends, enrolling into courses, attend further sessions, and even a grief support group, which was a daunting prospect but one I wished to push myself to do. But now with lockdown everything has halted, back to telehealth, back to here, back to nothing. These next two weeks I face inside this place scare me more than anything I have ever experienced. Just when I swam to shore, the wave takes me out again, I don't know if I have it in me to keep afloat. I have written so much, so many words, from poetry to music, I even created a book and video for dad for his f...... but words are I don't know how much damage has been caused by staying here so long...I hope everything is sorted soon, and I can move somewhere without this darkness hanging over everything, I miss dad so much, I miss mum, I miss my aunt, I wish my brother would connect with me, I wish I could go to sleep and wake up and things would be back to the way they were....

Bee1998 We were sexually abused by our grandfather
  • replies: 4

I can't remember the exact age I was when the abuse happened, but I do remember that I was still in pull-ups, so I was so young that I was still toilet training (I'm guessing between the age of 5-6). My younger half sister is 2 years younger than me,... View more

I can't remember the exact age I was when the abuse happened, but I do remember that I was still in pull-ups, so I was so young that I was still toilet training (I'm guessing between the age of 5-6). My younger half sister is 2 years younger than me, so she would have been 3 or 4. My brother is 2 years older than me. So he would have been either 7 or 8 years old. I have extremely clear and vivid memories of all of the abuse that occurred. I still remember what each room in the house looked like, the colour of the bed frames, the carpet, I remember everything like it happened yesterday. I am currently 23 years old, so this happened around 18 years ago. Throughout my teenage/adult years of life, I have struggled with intimate relationships. I have been cheated on multiple times, physically and mentally abused by previous partners, as I am an easy target for abuse. I struggle with abandonment issues. I have never had a relationship or friendship that has lasted. My main reason for this post is to talk about my older brother. He was living at home with me, my mum and our two younger half brothers since just over 4 years ago now. One day he decided to move out of home to go and live with grandparents (on my mum's side). My brother and I were super close before he left, and we were like best friends. Anyways, he moved into my grandparents house with them, and after a few months went by, I found out my grandma confronted my brother, asking if he was taking drugs, as she had noticed he was constantly sniffing. This seemed to distress my brother, and shortly after, he ended up moving out with some of his friends. A few months went by, I had tried to contact him, but would never get a response. My brother ignored me for months, then finally responded to me asking why he was ignoring me. He sent me a long message explaining that he felt guilty about what had happened with our grandfather, and briefly came out saying he had also been sexually abused. (At this point, I was unaware that he had also been sexually abused... I knew that he had watched me be sexually abused, as he had told our mum years after the abuse happened, but he had never told anyone that he too was abused.) Reading the message he sent me was very upsetting, and I felt extremely confused as to why my brother would not want to speak to me or see me. Another 3 years have passed. I still haven't been able to speak to or see my brother, as he has cut all contact with me. I feel I am being blamed.