Fun With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Don't be a simpleton and take this all wrong because that would be stupid, and you don't want to be stupid. You want to be kind and supportive. Or you want to fuck off, whichever keeps your underwears from a'creeping.

Derp Is A Choice.

Do's: 

• Follow your friend with PTSD. S/he knows where all the emergency exits are. It's a superpower.
• Shut your mouth and open your ears. You might learn something, including how all the stereotypes in Hollywood movies made you dumber.
• Trust me when I say all the whole nations of fuck-all lunatics in your own head do not scare me. You can talk to me.

Do not's: 

• Leave open only the seat with its back to the door. I'll stand, you selfish ass.
• Say, "You just need to let it go/get over it." I'll tell you what. Find yourself a three story building. Jump off with the intent to land on your feet. Then, get up and WALK IT OFF. Are you picking up what I'm putting down here? 
• Ignore this one: PTSD causes physical changes to the brain; it is an injury to the brain. If one could "let it go," WHO THE FUCK WOULD HOLD ON TO IT?! 

http://www.posttraumaticstressinjury.org/

Never ever ever... Just never's: 

• "BOO!"

Don't.

It has taken me years to learn to control my exaggerated startle reflex, but I still need a good 6-8 inches of space. Stay out of it.

Understand's: 

• I'm no crazier than you are. My brain is just *very* excited about keeping me safe. It's a loyalty thing. You wouldn't understand. Understand it anyway.
• This also means those of us with PTSD are not weak. It is NOT a mental weakness; it is a physical alteration of the brain, an injury, caused by a traumatic event/s. Remember that building and jump from earlier? Yeah, my brain and mental health were no more weak than your previously intact bones, dunce. 
• We are not all the same.  We do not suffer the same; we do not battle the same; we do not all have the same triggers (and by the way, screw you people who ruined that word of therapeutic value! ) 
• I'm not quiet because I'm dangerous, you wuss. Who's easily spooked now? I'm quite because I'm listening. It's a novelty, I know. I'm quite because I'm watching. I'm quite because, really, I just don't have much to say! 

I am writing this half serious, half sarcastic, with a topping of humor for all my brothers and sisters out there battling and sometimes snuggling their demons. It is a hellish road made only worse by the stigma, the misinterpretation, and misunderstanding of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I rival major league baseball players in my ability to throw people out of my life who refuse to or just cannot get it. It's self preservation. I do not have the time, the energy, or the desire to battle that too. I spent years waging an internal war. Now, not so much. For the most part, I embrace who have I become, and the parts that aren't so bad. Still, I do live with PTSD, and sometimes, that makes me feel neither of nor for this world. But as Tupac once said, "Fuck the world if they can't adjust." (Emphasis mine.)