has anyone really overcome ptsd, or is it something you have had to live with ?
interested to know because i have borderline personality disorder with ptsd
im 30 years old and have had a traumatic and unfair life My experience is mostly with Veterans and PTSD but when it comes down to it: PTSD is PTSD no matter what the cause. It only differs in terms of severity and the spirit of the individual.
It is generally accepted that PTSD cannot be cured. You will always have to live with it. Overcome PTSD? Yes you can learn to have a relatively normal life. You just learn ways to deal with it. You learn the situations that you need to avoid. You learn ways to respond to stressors which are stressful but which you can deal with for maybe a limited amount of time. If you decide to define overcoming PTSD that way then many people actually overcome PTSD. If on the other hand you allow the PTSD to control your life, then it is indeed a cruel master. That is up to you.
SORRY I GOT SO LONG WINDED. YOU HAVE MY MAIN POINT ALREADY. READ THE REST IF YOU FEEL UP FOR IT.
On some fronts PTSD might even make you stronger in certain areas. For instance if vigilance is an important part of your work you are naturally over vigilant as part of your condition. You just have to be aware of it and not allow it to get out of hand
I used the word spirit in my first paragraph. Here is how that comes in. PTSD is as much a spiritual disease as it is a psychological one. I do not use the word spiritual to mean religious. Yes, our spirit has to do with our religion or lack of religion. But it is indeed far more than that. It is the spark which is somewhere inside each of us which tells us who we are, what we are made of, and what we stand for.
The spirit is what you will use to make the choices I mentioned earlier. If your spirit is weaker than you would like then, with what spirit you do have, you commit yourself to work on that. Work with your friends, your counselor, your doctor, your pastor or your family. Find people who will help you to enhance your inner self.
In looking at your last sentence above I could read it to mean two different types of people. Probably you will find yourself somewhere between these two extremes.
The first young man or woman is only 30 years old and has started to gain some maturity and even occasional wisdom. He has had to gain some of this maturity because life has not been easy for him. Tragedy and difficulty have been there almost every step of the way. She does not see many things in life as being entirely fair, but she has learned to get past these experiences and put them behind her. When he sits down to play the game of life he does not always get the easiest part to play, but he can go on anyway because he has to just keep going.
The other person is already 30 years old and is already tired of life's day-to-day troubles. He is almost starting to feel old and out of place. His day starts out with spilling his coffee on the floor and having to clean up that mess. Then when he turns on the TV news the politicians are just yacking the same old crap, promising everything and delivering nothing. When he goes out of his apartment the steps are slippery and he almost falls down. She is just getting out the door and already the day has turned to crap. It can only go down hill from here because nothing is ever fair when it comes to him.
See where this is going? In the scheme of things spilling coffee does not alter the world on its axis. The politicians will do what they do on the news and one might show even their spark of a good idea, but nothing is going to really cause the world to come to an immediate end. A slow end? Perhaps, but nothing immediate. You see I am also somewhat of a pessimist to.
One sees the glass as half full the other sees it as half empty. It is the same glass but they each see an entirely different picture. Their spirit is the quality that allows them to choose one or the other way of seeing life.
You need to face it. Life is not fair. Bad things do happen to good people all the time. That's life.
I believe in God. He didn't promise to be on my side. It is up to me to be on his side. That is entirely up to me. Whether you share this belief or not, can you at least see what I am saying? |
