Cal_31 and Purplebutterfly, I know how hard it is to reach out into any forum, whether it is designed to help or just about knitting patterns, so well done for taking the first and hardest step.
I am into 21 years of formal diagnosis of PTSD, but of course it began long before that. When it comes to family and friends, the main difficulty is their lack of understanding. And depression, anxiety or PTSD is very difficult to put into words to get others to understand. Generally, we don't always understand ourselves fully either!
I have learnt, for me, that acceptance plays a huge role in my management of PTSD. That acceptance is as simple as just acknowledging how I feel. If I wake up and feel like rubbish for some unknown reason, I just say to myself "cool, enjoy that". Sounds strange I know, but for me, the mere acceptance of the feeling allows it to dissipate, quite often to be replaced by another emotion. So that being the case, I have taught my family and friends to validate how I feel. I have reiterated that it is not their issue to solve, so don't bother trying. If I am feeling gloomy or depressed, I can now tell my family, and they respond by telling me to enjoy it while it is there. This is generally followed by a friendly swear word at them from me, and before I know it I begin to smile even when I don't feel like it.
I have found that this method and training of family and friends has eliminated that portion of stress, anxiety and perceived burden that I think I place on them and allows me to get on with the job of trying to maintain some sort of stability.
Family and friends love and care for us and it is in their nature to want to try to help. But in my case, now that they know that the best way they can help me is by not helping (if that makes sense), they are actually coping with me and my PTSD moments much easier.
Keep up the posting and offload whenever it gets too much for you.
🙂
