Write Your Story, Read Your Story
The other day a Veteran kept pointing out to me that somehow my PTSD was different (in the context of how people react to PTSD) because I wasn't a Veteran. The conversation was about an Army Times story about
Veterans and socio-economic skills. My feeling is that it is the civilian employers who need to be educated, and that anyone with any kind of military duty should be given respect and understanding when being considered for employment. The Veteran speaking to me felt I was wrong, and that Veterans should be treated like any other person. But they aren't like any other person. Not even like civilians like me who have had PTSD for over 27 years, diagnosed prior to soldiers being diagnosed (as far as I know). Soldiers of any level offer to die for us first. They cannot help but put others first, which is the definition of compassion.
I have seen people look at me differently, suddenly, if they figure out, or are told I have PTSD. "Oh, so you can't handle emotions" is what they say, which is absolutely not what PTSD is. PTSD is a brain trauma, a brain injury, and a person's thinking process changes. It is not either solely emotional, or solely violent, either, or both. It irks me that our "
National Center For PTSD" is actually a VA center, does not use civilian cases in their research, and basically, pretends that PTSD was invented by the military. However, they do have some very good resources for PTSD patients. One is a report on a recent breakthrough of a possible
blood test to diagnose PTSD (Military Times).
As you can see, my opinions don't always match military assessments of PTSD, I see it from a slightly different angle because mine is from a severe car accident, but my brain has PTSD just like a soldier's brain has PTSD because biologically our brains are the same. So, often, when I find something that works for me, I talk about it, you never know, it might work for you.
I have found that writing my story down, and then reading it - using it as a "continual read", is very beneficial. On the surface, I am reading words like car, hood gone, bank a mile away, where is my son, head trauma, but in reality I am reminding myself of words that balance it- survived, fought ticket, succeeded in court, son is fine, got the car frame rebuilt, etc., all the positives are as remembered as the negatives. It becomes a dialog of the event, yes, but with both good and bad, and being human, most of us hold onto the good more than the bad. So if you have PTSD, I suggest you write your story and then read your story. Not really in journal form or diary form, keep it succinct and to the point. Pretend you are writing a police report, list the facts. That is my suggestion, after many years of journaling myself. Keeping it like a report immediately validates it as an "accident" or "incident", and NOT A CHOICE. I mention it briefly in this video about using bare minimum supplies:
