Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

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How do you ask your friends for support? #CPTSD

I've told a handful of friends that I am undergoing #emdr for my #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder and find it disappointing that no one checks in on me to ask me how it's going. I understand that they may not know what to say or that they don't know what that means--but I don't have to know what it's like to have a mom with breast cancer or Hashimoto's Disease or a mean mother-in-law to ask any of them about their struggles.

I do my best to show up for my friends, to listen to their down days and celebrate their good ones. All I ask is to be acknowledged for my reality and maybe a phone call or text to check in and see how I'm doing. That would go a long way. Instead, I get idle chit chat about what "activities" I'm doing, how my worklife is, general blah blah blah about nothing of import.

Living with CPTSD is a daily challenge and I wish people could not ignore my experience. If you can relate, what are some things you've tried to get support from your friends?

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How do you ask your friends for support? #CPTSD

I've told a handful of friends that I am undergoing #emdr for my #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder and find it disappointing that no one checks in on me to ask me how it's going. I understand that they may not know what to say or that they don't know what that means--but I don't have to know what it's like to have a mom with breast cancer or Hashimoto's Disease or a mean mother-in-law to ask any of them about their struggles.

I do my best to show up for my friends, to listen to their down days and celebrate their good ones. All I ask is to be acknowledged for my reality and maybe a phone call or text to check in and see how I'm doing. That would go a long way. Instead, I get idle chit chat about what "activities" I'm doing, how my worklife is, general blah blah blah about nothing of import.

Living with CPTSD is a daily challenge and I wish people could not ignore my experience. If you can relate, what are some things you've tried to get support from your friends?

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Insert#avm #CPTSD #artheals

I have, not inserted myself into anyones life, in years, because I wasn't welcomed, I asked hard questions about things that has significance, in my life and no one to help me. I did ask, I was shunned, for asking.
Alot, of mixed https://messages.And I am hurt and alone, not by choice.
I've learned, no one will, be forth coming or transparent about the last couple years, with https://me.I was, and that person, welcomed me with open arms, at first, until, the people in their life, questioned https://it.Their patterns not mine.
Because I was a secret, an embarrassment,kept in the dark but I, did not know this. Until https://recently.All of my https://relationships.Its me, I get it.
And then they went after my https://son.So I removed myself, https://AGAIN.Not control, boundaries.
But that person couldnt handle the truth.so they trashed me, set me up, go after family but they,still continued to mess with my life. But are not in it.
This went on for https://years.And done it to others. I, am not the first. Now multiple people have been played.I'm, Not the one who deserves to be https://humiliated.Keep playing and I will, play fair. I wont be intimidated or threatened, anymore.
I am aware and Your perception is amusement, to me. All involved, playedyourselves.
You cannot play people for sport and when, they are watching, you try, to deny it, it is sick and it will return to you, ten fold.You, did that to my Son.
I wished many well, I keep working, on relearning and Im still, dragged backwards, by those, adiment on hurting me and https://mine.All in the guise of care. I'm not proving myself to anyone, https://anymore.My sons future, IS my concern,my heart is, broken and he never, should have been https://used.Keeping me in the dark is wrong.it has not and will not help and, now I am, done participating, for good. Im not a social project or a therapy session for people to free guilt https://from.Go play Jackass and Hero control complex,with someone elses life,please.Mines not for sport. I wanted him to have more, that was all. I did it alone,for years and everyone had conditions and I am through with transactional relationships.We, deserved https://better.And I see it all now.

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Insert#avm #CPTSD #artheals

I have, not inserted myself into anyones life, in years, because I wasn't welcomed, I asked hard questions about things that has significance, in my life and no one to help me. I did ask, I was shunned, for asking.
Alot, of mixed https://messages.And I am hurt and alone, not by choice.
I've learned, no one will, be forth coming or transparent about the last couple years, with https://me.I was, and that person, welcomed me with open arms, at first, until, the people in their life, questioned https://it.Their patterns not mine.
Because I was a secret, an embarrassment,kept in the dark but I, did not know this. Until https://recently.All of my https://relationships.Its me, I get it.
And then they went after my https://son.So I removed myself, https://AGAIN.Not control, boundaries.
But that person couldnt handle the truth.so they trashed me, set me up, go after family but they,still continued to mess with my life. But are not in it.
This went on for https://years.And done it to others. I, am not the first. Now multiple people have been played.I'm, Not the one who deserves to be https://humiliated.Keep playing and I will, play fair. I wont be intimidated or threatened, anymore.
I am aware and Your perception is amusement, to me. All involved, playedyourselves.
You cannot play people for sport and when, they are watching, you try, to deny it, it is sick and it will return to you, ten fold.You, did that to my Son.
I wished many well, I keep working, on relearning and Im still, dragged backwards, by those, adiment on hurting me and https://mine.All in the guise of care. I'm not proving myself to anyone, https://anymore.My sons future, IS my concern,my heart is, broken and he never, should have been https://used.Keeping me in the dark is wrong.it has not and will not help and, now I am, done participating, for good. Im not a social project or a therapy session for people to free guilt https://from.Go play Jackass and Hero control complex,with someone elses life,please.Mines not for sport. I wanted him to have more, that was all. I did it alone,for years and everyone had conditions and I am through with transactional relationships.We, deserved https://better.And I see it all now.

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How did you feel after asking for help for your mental health for the first time?

It’s been years since I first found the courage to seek support for my mental health. It feels like a distant memory now, but I still remember the emotions that came up: fear, intense anxiety, confusion, determination, anger, frustration, and sadness. I didn’t fully understand what was happening at the time, but I’m grateful I made the right choice for myself.

What emotions came up for you when you first asked for help or reached out to someone?

💌 Gentle note: I know how hard it can be to ask for help. If you're starting that journey now, we’re here to support you—both here on The Mighty and at NAMI-NYC. 🫶

💙 naminycmetro.org/find-support

❤️
FREE Mental Health Support & Community

#BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #PTSD #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #Schizophrenia #ADHD #Parenting #ChronicIllness #SchizoaffectiveDisorder #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Anxiety #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #Depression #MentalHealth #Selfcare #EatingDisorders #CheckInWithMe

(edited)

FREE Mental Health Support & Community | An Online Health Community

Guided by lived experience and evidence-based practices, NAMI-NYC helps families and individuals affected by mental illness build better lives through education, support, and advocacy. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, you can call, text, or chat 988 to connect to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
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So Scared and Alone in South Jersey

I don’t know what to do, I moved out here for my safety from the city I lived in. I lost so many people including all of my friends since childhood, family members, and comfort in my own home with neighbors going out of their way to harass me and my dog when I’d let her out in the yard. My neighbor’s sister’s kids would antagonize my dog (I don’t prefer that but I don’t hold anything against them since they’re just kids) but then she more than once threatened to kick my dog in her own gate because she “Didn’t want that little mf-er to mess with her kids.” When they’d reach their hands over the gate to touch her and my dog absolutely loves people (shin-tzu Maltese or Yorkie mix). She never gotten aggressive and she prefers people strongly over other dogs, especially loves new people. The final time I told her she will not hurt my dog. That escalated to a almost passive back and forth between the my two neighbors (husband and wife) and I. My parents instead of having my back at the time pushed me out. They now say they didn’t realize what they were doing and wished for me to come home. But I already switched all of my information to New Jersey. Since being here, the neighbors here in my boyfriend’s home do not like me. I’ve waived to them and say good morning every time I see them, they ignore me and talk to my boyfriend and his mom. It’s clear to them it’s racial but I honestly do not know how to handle that. On top of, dealing with medical practices that quickly assume I’m aggressive when I get scared or upset at anything. And no matter what my boyfriend and his mom says (they are both white as well), I feel like a monster out here. It’s hard to believe it’s “them” and not me. I don’t yell or attack anyone as I’m afraid of being ganged up on. But when I get accused it throws me into a panic. And no matter how much I express “My frustration is mainly with myself and that I’m just scared, I never went through medical issues like this before.” They double down and further dismiss me, even hanging up in midst of me hyperventilating. I hurt myself because I feel so alone sometimes and it just makes me hate myself more. I’m not a black person that hates my culture, but I feel disadvantaged out here vs, the city I’m from. I feel like no matter what I do, I’m not going to live a good or long life out here. I imagine having a heart attack in public and nobody helping because they think somehow I’m being aggressive towards them. I’m not used to being accused of this at all. If anything I’m used to being told to speak up more and my voice “matters.” I think it doesn’t matter if the majority is white and think my voice is better shut off. So I shut myself off. Just to go to the hospital for stomach issues and they see my arm and ask if I have intentions to harm anyone else. I’ve never been in a physical altercation since elementary school (as that’s when I started to take my frustrations out on myself since I could not win against a group of boys attacking me almost every day). My extended family abandoned me because my mom was with them and fell out and was rushed to the hospital, she called me to tell me and said someone laughed at her when she fell. I got worried and started asking “Who?” And what hospital so my dad and I could come up there. Her niece snatched the phone from her and told her I needed to “chill” it’s “not that deep” and “I’m bringing stress to my mom.” My mom is in the background and I hear her saying “No why are you saying that.” But she sounded so weak, and has cardiomyopathy so I was scared she was there for her heart. She’s had multiple heart attacks throughout my life that my father and I are on high alert for her over the years. After that my uncles passed the phone around yelling at me, then her niece again, to which my brother told me to hang up because they have no care in the world. Luckily my dad went to pick her up, and when she got home she tried to re explain. This is before the dynamic between neighbors and I gotten worse. My old friends honestly thought because I was the one friend that valued friendship over so many other facets of life, along with the violent experiences with boys I had as a child, that I truly hated men. So when I found my boyfriend, they called me a hypocrite along with repeating that I only do nice things “to make up for my sh***y life.” Along with my other friend comparing my aunts death to her aunt who died years before she was born but she would have dreams about her and felt connected to her. When my aunt passed (who I found out about a day before she passed because she told my mom not to tell me because I lost wind for a moment when I saw how weak she was from the cancer during her final days) it devastated me as the day I lost wind, after wards she called me in the room, asked me to lay with her, and held me tight and broke down that she was scared and didn’t want to die. And I’m such a idiot that didn’t know she was dying that I told her that she will be okay because we all love her and will not let anything happen to her and that she’s not going to die she’s going to live a long beautiful life. I feel so stupid to this day. I regret saying it and it eats at me. When I tried to vent to my remaining friend, she started to get frustrated with me because that day she learned about her aunt and how that aunt was the black sheep and that’s why she kept coming to her dreams and she was grieving her. And how could I not understand that or recognize her spiritual connection. I wasn’t trying to take away from her pain, but I just lost my aunt who I was incredibly close with. She wasn’t a perfect woman by far, but she was one of my closest relatives. The other ones outside of my parents, passed away, including cousins I was close to who were close to my age. My aunt was the last one. I am grateful to have my mom, dad, and my half-brother. I’m grateful to have my boyfriend and his family who supports and love me just as much as I love and support them. But when I step outside here in South Jersey, I feel like an absolute monster. When I try to go to doctors out here, certain staff treats me like I’m trying to make things hard on them the moment I ask any questions. And if they come off dismissive or aggressive and I get upset, I get accused of aggression. Even when I oftentimes walk away as I fear standing up for myself because I don’t want to be accused of aggression and actually maybe am coming off stern which can be translated as aggression. I feel so alone, I feel so scared, my parents live home in the state I’m from. I don’t know what to do out here. Can’t make friends, my boyfriend keeps telling me it’s not me it’s them, and I should trust that if it were truly me he would say that. I just find it hard to believe because they are oftentimes nicer to him or his mom. I never felt so insecure racially until I moved out here. I don’t know where else to go because I made the stupid mistake of filing for SSI… listening to family. Now I am stuck on SSI off of the basis that there’s no job for me in the national economy. I hate that trauma and anxiety and stress has affected so much. Now I’m having GI issues from all the stress, my GI doctor and primary care doctor keeps telling me I have to lower my stress but I don’t know how to out here. Even grocery shopping in Brooklawn I feel like a parasite. Like I’m up to something. But I have no criminal record, never been on drugs, only violence I’ve committed is towards myself in the dark, I hide it because of how embarrassed I am. But I don’t know what to do… but truly be angry at myself. Everyone else just makes me feel deeply sad, and discouraged. I’m not asking for validation that it’s not me it’s them, I have that enough from my boyfriend, parents, and therapist. I guess… I just want more faith that it gets better. Maybe someone relates, or lives in the area and can affirm that’s not the case, maybe I’m going to or live in the wrong area? #CPTSD #Anxiety

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So Scared and Alone in South Jersey

I don’t know what to do, I moved out here for my safety from the city I lived in. I lost so many people including all of my friends since childhood, family members, and comfort in my own home with neighbors going out of their way to harass me and my dog when I’d let her out in the yard. My neighbor’s sister’s kids would antagonize my dog (I don’t prefer that but I don’t hold anything against them since they’re just kids) but then she more than once threatened to kick my dog in her own gate because she “Didn’t want that little mf-er to mess with her kids.” When they’d reach their hands over the gate to touch her and my dog absolutely loves people (shin-tzu Maltese or Yorkie mix). She never gotten aggressive and she prefers people strongly over other dogs, especially loves new people. The final time I told her she will not hurt my dog. That escalated to a almost passive back and forth between the my two neighbors (husband and wife) and I. My parents instead of having my back at the time pushed me out. They now say they didn’t realize what they were doing and wished for me to come home. But I already switched all of my information to New Jersey. Since being here, the neighbors here in my boyfriend’s home do not like me. I’ve waived to them and say good morning every time I see them, they ignore me and talk to my boyfriend and his mom. It’s clear to them it’s racial but I honestly do not know how to handle that. On top of, dealing with medical practices that quickly assume I’m aggressive when I get scared or upset at anything. And no matter what my boyfriend and his mom says (they are both white as well), I feel like a monster out here. It’s hard to believe it’s “them” and not me. I don’t yell or attack anyone as I’m afraid of being ganged up on. But when I get accused it throws me into a panic. And no matter how much I express “My frustration is mainly with myself and that I’m just scared, I never went through medical issues like this before.” They double down and further dismiss me, even hanging up in midst of me hyperventilating. I hurt myself because I feel so alone sometimes and it just makes me hate myself more. I’m not a black person that hates my culture, but I feel disadvantaged out here vs, the city I’m from. I feel like no matter what I do, I’m not going to live a good or long life out here. I imagine having a heart attack in public and nobody helping because they think somehow I’m being aggressive towards them. I’m not used to being accused of this at all. If anything I’m used to being told to speak up more and my voice “matters.” I think it doesn’t matter if the majority is white and think my voice is better shut off. So I shut myself off. Just to go to the hospital for stomach issues and they see my arm and ask if I have intentions to harm anyone else. I’ve never been in a physical altercation since elementary school (as that’s when I started to take my frustrations out on myself since I could not win against a group of boys attacking me almost every day). My extended family abandoned me because my mom was with them and fell out and was rushed to the hospital, she called me to tell me and said someone laughed at her when she fell. I got worried and started asking “Who?” And what hospital so my dad and I could come up there. Her niece snatched the phone from her and told her I needed to “chill” it’s “not that deep” and “I’m bringing stress to my mom.” My mom is in the background and I hear her saying “No why are you saying that.” But she sounded so weak, and has cardiomyopathy so I was scared she was there for her heart. She’s had multiple heart attacks throughout my life that my father and I are on high alert for her over the years. After that my uncles passed the phone around yelling at me, then her niece again, to which my brother told me to hang up because they have no care in the world. Luckily my dad went to pick her up, and when she got home she tried to re explain. This is before the dynamic between neighbors and I gotten worse. My old friends honestly thought because I was the one friend that valued friendship over so many other facets of life, along with the violent experiences with boys I had as a child, that I truly hated men. So when I found my boyfriend, they called me a hypocrite along with repeating that I only do nice things “to make up for my sh***y life.” Along with my other friend comparing my aunts death to her aunt who died years before she was born but she would have dreams about her and felt connected to her. When my aunt passed (who I found out about a day before she passed because she told my mom not to tell me because I lost wind for a moment when I saw how weak she was from the cancer during her final days) it devastated me as the day I lost wind, after wards she called me in the room, asked me to lay with her, and held me tight and broke down that she was scared and didn’t want to die. And I’m such a idiot that didn’t know she was dying that I told her that she will be okay because we all love her and will not let anything happen to her and that she’s not going to die she’s going to live a long beautiful life. I feel so stupid to this day. I regret saying it and it eats at me. When I tried to vent to my remaining friend, she started to get frustrated with me because that day she learned about her aunt and how that aunt was the black sheep and that’s why she kept coming to her dreams and she was grieving her. And how could I not understand that or recognize her spiritual connection. I wasn’t trying to take away from her pain, but I just lost my aunt who I was incredibly close with. She wasn’t a perfect woman by far, but she was one of my closest relatives. The other ones outside of my parents, passed away, including cousins I was close to who were close to my age. My aunt was the last one. I am grateful to have my mom, dad, and my half-brother. I’m grateful to have my boyfriend and his family who supports and love me just as much as I love and support them. But when I step outside here in South Jersey, I feel like an absolute monster. When I try to go to doctors out here, certain staff treats me like I’m trying to make things hard on them the moment I ask any questions. And if they come off dismissive or aggressive and I get upset, I get accused of aggression. Even when I oftentimes walk away as I fear standing up for myself because I don’t want to be accused of aggression and actually maybe am coming off stern which can be translated as aggression. I feel so alone, I feel so scared, my parents live home in the state I’m from. I don’t know what to do out here. Can’t make friends, my boyfriend keeps telling me it’s not me it’s them, and I should trust that if it were truly me he would say that. I just find it hard to believe because they are oftentimes nicer to him or his mom. I never felt so insecure racially until I moved out here. I don’t know where else to go because I made the stupid mistake of filing for SSI… listening to family. Now I am stuck on SSI off of the basis that there’s no job for me in the national economy. I hate that trauma and anxiety and stress has affected so much. Now I’m having GI issues from all the stress, my GI doctor and primary care doctor keeps telling me I have to lower my stress but I don’t know how to out here. Even grocery shopping in Brooklawn I feel like a parasite. Like I’m up to something. But I have no criminal record, never been on drugs, only violence I’ve committed is towards myself in the dark, I hide it because of how embarrassed I am. But I don’t know what to do… but truly be angry at myself. Everyone else just makes me feel deeply sad, and discouraged. I’m not asking for validation that it’s not me it’s them, I have that enough from my boyfriend, parents, and therapist. I guess… I just want more faith that it gets better. Maybe someone relates, or lives in the area and can affirm that’s not the case, maybe I’m going to or live in the wrong area? #CPTSD #Anxiety

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Grief #CPTSD #avm #artheals

I haven't been able to greive,in the ways others have been https://granted.That was taken, from me, out of https://malice.I will never, understand, why an entire group of people, would do https://that.I have asked why, a million https://times.When others passed, I was also attacked with,anger, assumptions and contemp, for having emotions and feelings,and expressing https://them.Everybody else is allowed to talk, discuss, reflect but me, no.Nothing. I am nothing in that family, no one of value, no significance, to them, ever.
Why do other people monitor and dictate, HOW, someone else should, feel about death and loss.
I saw the dynamic and manufactured anger then, all that resentment towards me, for others gossip, between certain family members. And then they All fall silent when asked.
I have been away, getting therapy, finding peace and to now know, I am Still a topic of, toxic conversation, is as common today, as when I grew https://up.I hope those who excluded me purposefully know, it was calculated by them, for https://years.I watched them go after mine and then, they abandoned them, just as https://quick.The name calling, assumptions, backstabbing, lies, gossip, hearsay....that is them, that is why, I called them out and do not have relationships, with https://any.And they'd stutter, yell, deny and become meaner, https://everytime.Im used to these, family disfunctions and roles, all https://play.Just because there is a dollar,$$$ attached, doesnt change or lesson the https://dysfunction.Ive been addressing it, for too https://long.I am sad, for them and hurt by https://them.Imagine planning for something beautiful and it is tainted by mockery and https://lies.Those family dynamics, are going to backfire because the impact, is destructive and https://cruel.That circle, I though for my future, just imploded some more.to deliberately, take away, that grieving process, with others, is https://cruel.I waited, to reach out,because of fear, fear of being rejected again, by the ones who, I reached out to https://before.I know now, but it never makes it hurt less, no matter how old I https://get.I wanted to know my Son, would be taken in, loved and not used as a pawn, by others https://involved.Thats https://it.What is wrong with people? Seriously,never thought Id let more heartache in, but now,it doesn't go https://away.All of my fears, insecurities and pain, only confirmed,this past three https://years.Nothing https://more.Thank you, for showing me exactly what I already felt.no big mystery solved.Confirmed,dysfunction and destruction, from family.
I will no longer relive this pain brought on by them.

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