Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Support Group
Find support with others who have gone through a traumatic experience. Whether you have chronic or acute PTSD, we are here for you.
I heard on National Public Radio in my car today that the US soldier who killed 16 Afghan people spoke in court today to try to explain why he did it. He pleaded guilty so he wouldnt get capital punishment and will serve life in prison instead.
The way he described feeling before he up and killed 16 people matched the symptoms of PTSD rage.
It turned my stomach to think I have anything in common with a guy who would go and do anything like that. I have struggled mightily not to allow my PTSD rage feelings to become any excuse for hurting anybody else.
I am proud to say that although I came from a home where both husband and wife beat on each other several rounds a week like boxers, I was married for 16 years and never raised a hand to my spouse ever. Through the marriage and the divorce, too.
I also got PTSD from 6 years of combat. And being molested as a child.
This guys description of his PTSD feelings that led to such horrible violence against innocent people scared me. Im proud not to have acted out anything like that. I want to go to my grave being able to say it stayed that way. Its been the one pure thing I have to hold on to at times.
Can anybody tell me how theyve manage not to act out their rage as well?
The way he described feeling before he up and killed 16 people matched the symptoms of PTSD rage.
It turned my stomach to think I have anything in common with a guy who would go and do anything like that. I have struggled mightily not to allow my PTSD rage feelings to become any excuse for hurting anybody else.
I am proud to say that although I came from a home where both husband and wife beat on each other several rounds a week like boxers, I was married for 16 years and never raised a hand to my spouse ever. Through the marriage and the divorce, too.
I also got PTSD from 6 years of combat. And being molested as a child.
This guys description of his PTSD feelings that led to such horrible violence against innocent people scared me. Im proud not to have acted out anything like that. I want to go to my grave being able to say it stayed that way. Its been the one pure thing I have to hold on to at times.
Can anybody tell me how theyve manage not to act out their rage as well?
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I did the dumbest thing today. I charged my earbuds, unplugged the block and put the block in my little bag instead of the earbuds. I wasn't happy about that when I got to the gym. What a dummy!
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Ever since I stopped doing therapy because of insurance, I've been feeling that old tense and irritable sense of anxiety and stress. I hate that. I was making so many strides and changes during therapy, my therapist would acknowledge all of my progress and accomplishments, and I miss that reassurance. Today I thought about it, and I made those changes! She would always tell me that I chose to...
And when you put children in combat, expectations have to be low. I can't even pretend to know what that must have been like for that kid. I'm not excusing his behavior by any means, but who knows what he saw there, or even experienced in his own childhood before being deployed. I guess I'm just saying that the whole thing is tragic and so very sad.
Sigh.
I sabotaged myself in many ways. Destroyed relationships, did risky behaviors, including smoking and drinking.
There have been times where I was really on the edge. Like peel me off of the floor, where is reality... I lost touch at points. But I still think that there is a moment where you can say to yourself at SOME point, "This is ridiculous. I need help. Someone save me and others from myself."
Like Adam Lanza- at what point before he killed 26 people in an elementary school did he say to himself, "Whoah, this is FING crazy?!"
We with PTSD are not crazy! We know right from wrong. I don't think PTSD should be associated with killing.
But to be fair, I'll have to listen that story. I'm and NPR junkie, but missed that one.
I just don't get it. And I hope not to offend, but I just don't understand why ANYBODY would want to leave the US where we enjoy peace and go to a country where we do not belong and willingly go and engage in combat. The draft is one thing. Or defending your own country against outsiders. But I don't have the capacity to grasp why a young man would want to go to the Middle East with a gun. I think that's an indication of something askew.
It angers me. They're just kids.
I am grateful I never happened to have an assault rifle in my hand when the switch of my rage light was flipped... There, but for the Grace of God goes I.
But holding it in so much can only hurt one, that way. Things I have done to me are enough to know this too well.
I will purposely avoid the news programs a lot of the time. I think the last time I was caught up in it was the Boston marathon bombings. Recognizing the influence of their mother on their attitude was enough to finally make me break away. Too close to home.
Deli, it hit home when you wrote: ". But I still think that there is a moment where you can say to yourself at SOME point, "This is ridiculous. I need help. Someone save me and others from myself."
That's been part of my self-dialogue, too. Having a serious talk with myself about how "ridiculous" this will get if I don't turn myself around at that "point" you mention. Absolutely.