Do you have PTSD?
Do you know anybody that has PTSD?
What do you think abut PTSD?
How much do you really know about PTSD?
Are people with PTAD discriminated against?

This thread will mainly be a discussion about PTSD, and a place where you can get questions answered if you have any questions.

But for now, let me just briefly explain what it is:
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can occur after you have been through a traumatic event. A traumatic event is something terrible and scary that you see, hear about, or that happens to you, like:

-Combat exposure
-Child sexual or physical abuse
-Terrorist attack
-Sexual or physical assault
-Serious accidents, like a car wreck
-Natural disasters, like a fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, or earthquake
During a traumatic event, you think that your life or others' lives are in danger. You may feel afraid or feel that you have no control over what is happening around you. Most people have some stress-related reactions after a traumatic event; but, not everyone gets PTSD. If your reactions don't go away over time and they disrupt your life, you may have PTSD.

If you have gone through one of these events, then check out and see if you have any of these symptoms: Symptoms of PTSD may disrupt your life and make it hard to continue with your daily activities. You may find it hard just to get through the day.
There are four types of PTSD symptoms:

1.Reliving the event (also called re-experiencing symptoms)
Memories of the traumatic event can come back at any time. You may feel the same fear and horror you did when the event took place. For example:
-You may have nightmares.
-You may feel like you are going through the event again. This is called a flashback.
-You may see, hear, or smell something that causes you to relive the event. This is called a trigger. News reports, seeing an accident, or hearing a car backfire are examples of triggers.

2. Avoiding situations that remind you of the event
-You may try to avoid situations or people that trigger memories of the traumatic event. You may even avoid talking or thinking about the event. For example:
-You may avoid crowds, because they feel dangerous.
-You may avoid driving if you were in a car accident or if your military convoy was bombed.
If you were in an earthquake, you may avoid watching movies about earthquakes.
-You may keep very busy or avoid seeking help because it keeps you from having to think or talk about the event.

3.Negative changes in beliefs and feelings
The way you think about yourself and others changes because of the trauma. This symptom has many aspects, including the following:
-You may not have positive or loving feelings toward other people and may stay away from relationships.
-You may forget about parts of the traumatic event or not be able to talk about them.
-You may think the world is completely dangerous, and no one can be trusted.

4. Feeling keyed up (also called hyperarousal)
-You may be jittery, or always alert and on the lookout for danger. You might suddenly become angry or irritable. This is known as hyperarousal. For example:
-You may have a hard time sleeping.
-You may have trouble concentrating.
-You may be startled by a loud noise or surprise.
-You might want to have your back to a wall in a restaurant or waiting room.


For me, I see number 4 in myself a lot. Even though I was never in combat during my short military career, I have to be aware of my surroundings; if I head a sound I don't recognize, I have to investigate it.



Believe it or not, people who have PTSD are discriminated against.
Example? I went to a job interview earlier this year, and I heard a sound I did not recognize. So, I asked what the sound was, and the interview told me. They then proceeded to ask me why it was such a big deal. So, naturally, I told them. "I have PTSD. Even though I never served in combat, I have be aware of my surroundings. Having been Army trained combined with PTSD will do that to you." Then then proceeded to end the interview, telling me that I did not have the mental capacity to do the job because I was a Veteran with PTSD. What was the job? Cashier.

There are other instances of discrimination that you can find just by Google'ing or Bing'ing about about.


This was just a brief overview of what PTSD is and what goes on with people who have PTSD. If you have any questions, or would like me to post more information, then all you have do is ask.

sources: http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/what-is-ptsd.asp ; http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/symptoms_of_ptsd.asp ;

Local Mods : Go ahead and DQ this post from the TdV... this is mostly Copy and Paste. I posted this because somebody asked me to post about PTSD because they wanted to know more.

I don't know that you're going to get any response since the average age on this website is something like 15 and the average military experience comes from you and me for all intents and purposes.

I was in the Marines for six years as a machine gunner.  I served in Chechnya, Azerbaijan, and Afghanistan.  I never made it to Iraq but I saw enough action north of the sandbox.  I've seen combat and did some shooting myself.  

I experience no effects of PTSD.  I have a happy, normal life being out of the service and I don't feel any psychological problems.  The only thing that happens is I have memories of being overseas when I see fireworks at night.  Or I hear the popping of firecrackers and I think about rifle and automatic weapon fire.  But those are generally memories, the way you can think about an experience by seeing something similar.  It's not bad at all.  I enjoyed my time in the Marines.

I know a few guys who say they have PTSD.  One was already mentally unstable and mortar fire just got him going.  The other?  Maybe.

I could see being a cashier and needing to leave a drawer with money to check on things potentially being a problem.  You can't walk away from money.  However, if another person said the same thing without mentioning PTSD, I bet they would be disqualified, too.

Unlucky.

warmaker : Lucky. And my PTSD is in no way military related. I can tell you that much. I don't want to say more than that about it.

But I do know that

Cyro Xero : has served. If I am not mistaken ( I swear he has to tell me every time we speak ), he currently serves in the National Guard.

Also, I remember 2 other users besides us 3 that served. They posted in that thread in my old rented forum.

Well I don't have PTSD, but I think that my job has caused me some kind of deep mental harm. I work at a concessions stand in a baseball stadium. Now... before you read this post, you probably will think that I am being just a little b---- about this, but this has really screwed me up.

So at my stand I am in a stadium... execpt don't let that make you think there are a lot of people at these games. There are probably 50 people max at these games. So my job is to stay at the concessions stand and wait for people to come by. So most of my day is isolation from everybody. and this isn't a 4 hours a day, 2 day job... this job can go up to 10 days straight and have up to 15 hours some days. Most days are usually 12 hours and normally I get 7 days in a row. So this job makes some good money for a 16 year old but it's literally driving me crazy. I've had 3 days in a row off now (I haven't had more than 1 day since the begining of summer) and I think that I'm a lot more sane than I was before. "-You may think the world is completely dangerous, and no one can be trusted."... I kind of already think this way, trust nobody because they will stab you in the back if something better comes around. This job gives me constant mood swings, sometimes my mood changes in 30 seconds and back 10 times. And leading up to all of this I lost my best friend (lost our friendship I mean, nothing happened to him) and that put me into a deep depression. So now that I don't have my best friend and that I'm working an insanity inducing job, my old friend decided to start talking as more than friends to the girl that he knows I like (a lot ton). But I decided that I really need his friendship to stay sane so we are still friends as much as I hate what he did/is doing. With all of this stuff happening I've started to be a lot more aggresive than I ever have been before, like just throwing stuff for no reason just to get some anger out. I feel like I'm trapped in my skin every second of the day and it's just the worst feeling I've ever had. Before I had my break for 3 days I was just starting to see things that weren't actually there. I don't think I really need to say this, but I also had wanted to kill myself for a long period of time but didn't because I'm not that selfish (yes, the only reason I didn't kill myself when I was feeling that way was because I knew people would miss me and I don't want to put people through something like that). I don't have PTSD obviously but something was wrong with me for quite a while and I think that it's comparable in ways (small ways of course) to PTSD.

Note to all those do-gooders, please don't message me about wanting to kill myself, I'm not feeling that way anymore and you messaging me about it really does not make me feel too great about myself as a person.

jack3604 : sounds like depression to me. If your... symptoms continue, I'd suggest going to your doctor and telling him what you just told us.