I find a lot of the older generation dont understand mental illnesses, as its a new thing (just in recent years). Dont get caught up with what other people have to say, even if its from a family/friend. A lot of the times when the world is dismissive, things get worser in the sense that we lose more hope and it generally not a healthy feeling. Your grandma is coming from a generation where emotions and things like that werent really talked about and were repressed, perhaps understand where she stands in her beliefs will help you, try not to get caught up in being bitter and mad at her, as she is your grandmother. Anyways, thats just her 'opinion'. You dont have to believe her. Dont take it personally. And You have every right to feel /justify/ your situation, dont let anyone else tell you other whys. Im sorry to hear that this happened to you, I get a lot of that BS myself, but I try to ignore it. I know thats easier said than done, sometimes I just have to let the emotion through, and calm down awhile before I feel better. Give yourself time, do something that makes you happy. Ignore anything else especially the negative. For me, I stopped talking about anxiety /personal things/ infront of those who think its a joke. I just shake it off... it takes time darling. Give it time - Not everyone needs to understand you, but we peeps in DS do, Your not alone.

Thank you :) im not TOO bitter at her, i love her to bits. But like you said, the generational gap makes it so difficult for us to understand each other. I dont expect her to understand completely, i just want acknowledgment i guess :) thanks for the advice, it means a lot :)

I agree with Lucill. My mom has a hard time understanding ans Lucill said it wonderfully. ((hugs))

Hugs back, thanks Doo :)

This member of the older generation doesn't believe age has anything to do with understanding mental illness. "Rights" to have PTSD symptoms? Would those be Civil Rights, Academic Correctness, or? ? ? Whichever definition of "Right" you are using, this Disabled Vet wants to compare the "Right to have PTSD to the right to have cancer or the right to have a spinal injury.

Hope you can forgive your grandmother for flaunting her ignorance, Shena. My PTSD was first presented to me by a seasoned Viet Nam Era Army shrink as, "Civilian Shell Shock" and I still don't understand it too well, especially in others. I don't expect folks who are newly exposed to it in theory only to understand it at all.

At best, family members make lousy therapists. Hope you can seize the opportunity to work through all the emotions that her ignorant comment stirred up in you here with folks who have some first-hand experience with them. A qualified therapist with formal training could help, as well. Even if Grandmother is a qualified therapist, she is not qualified to treat family members.

Gentle validation, Shena. "Rights" have nothing to do with it.

no one has the right to judge you. only you know how you feel inside. Education would be the best way to help others to understand. Ways to go about this is to read books. If you are in therapy your mom should go with you. That way see can validate her own thoughts. Gentle Hugs.

Scott

Shen, I was a child raised by missionaries in a war zone. My car was hit by a bomb when I was 9. So I got PTSD like soldiers do, yet my family told me the same thing--I wasn't a soldier so I didn't deserve treatment.

I went for 12 years after my PTSD dx without getting help for the combat part of my PTSD because I thought I didn't deserve it. Then I got a therapist who worked for the VA. He told me no, you don't have to be a soldier vet to get the same help as anybody else for PTSD.

That goes for you, too. You deserve to be well.

here is a life saver - the real kind, like they throw in the water. we do know, we have, well - i have people in my life who cannot understand that i have PTSD, or that i have it from when i was a kid. it is better for ME not to talk to them about it with them, easier on me. i come here, i talk to people here, i talk to my doctors, i talk to people who do know and will try to understand.

it is horrible when you need someone to hear you, i know, i can hear you - through your words and feelings, i can hear you/feel you, and i remember needing someone to hear me/feel me and there wasn't anyone in my out here life i could go to - but i found this place - and these people here are real, the most real and the most like you that you will ever find.

and we got you, you aren't drowning now, you can express your emotions here when you are ready and we can take it. or we can sit together and just be quiet or cry. you are not alone anymore with this, you've got us now, hugs

Thank you everyone for your support and advice :) my emotions dont feel as messy today, and ive been speaking to my therapist about this, which has been helping a bit :) im really glad I came here to vent/for advice now :)

that is good, i'm glad talking to your therapist helped. ((((((((hugs))))))))))

It makes me so mad when people say things like that, but I am glad you are feeling better and that this site and your therapist helped. Many hugs.

My family only reluctantly acknowledges that I have PTSD. In their minds I haven't had a direct traumatic event so there is no way I can have PTSD. I guess I thought that way when I was first diagnosed. I had to go through a lot of therapy before I was even willing to accept the diagnosis. It took even longer to accept that I am still getting traumatized on a regular basis. I hope you are getting enough support and I am glad you found your way here.

Is your grandmother a dr. or therapist? If not, she may in her way mean well but she doesn't know what she's talking about. She herself makes a contradiction in saying your abuse "wasn't that bad." She needs to go to the dictionary and look up the word, abuse. Sometimes people do things that merit punishment, but nobody deserves to be abused by definition. Perhaps, too, she is ashamed of someone in her family having any sort of mental or emotional issue because she thinks it reflects badly on her. Listen to your own heart and inner voice; and yor higher power, if you have one. You need and deserve healing, not dismissal. I'll pray for you.

Having experienced panic attacks myself, it's hard to understand how someone cannot have a right for panic when the attacks jump out of nowhere! Unless someone has had one, there is no way to understand what a panic feels like. I am glad you visited this page as well, always unburdening one's soul and mind provides relief, hope, and healing. I am equally glad you are seeing a therapist. PTSD for a warrior can be as frightening for someone who never saw combat. You are not alone, and no, I never figured out totally why I had mine, I just know they went away... Love, prayers and thoughts for you dear!