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Be blessed that you don't have it. Be there for those that do. You may not be a medical or psychiatric professional. That's fine. you don't need to be. We PTSD survivors are real people with real thoughts, real desires and real emotions. There is a big misconception that I've run into since being diagnosed with PTSD almost 20 years ago. When getting to know new people in our lives a question that most commonly, in my experience, comes up. Are you going to flip out and try to attack me or kill me? No! That is a very telling and naive question. There are more healthy questions you could ask instead of automatically responding with a fearful question. For example;

1. Would you mind if I asked you some questions about it?

2. Do you mind talking about your experience?

3. What kind of music do you like?

4. What would you like to do for fun?

5. Are you close with your family?

6. Do you like concerts or comedy shows?

You know, things that can inform you more about that individual person.

According to the National Center for PTSD these are you current statistics in the U.S. that have it.

About 7 or 8 out of every 100 people (or 7-8% of the population) will have PTSD at some point in their lives.
About 8 million adults have PTSD during a given year. This is only a small portion of those who have gone through a trauma.
About 10 of every 100 women (or 10%) develop PTSD sometime in their lives compared with about 4 of every 100 men (or 4%). Learn more about women, trauma and PTSD. Yes that's over 8 million people in the U.S. that have it. Odds are that you already know someone that has it.

We don't need you to be our doctor or provide us with care. What we do need is to feel a sense of normalcy and acceptance regardless of our diagnosis. Of course, like with anything else, everyone is different. Different people respond differently. After having many conversations with other PTSD survivors I find that a lot of people are hiding it because of one or many reasons. A lot of us tend to isolate ourselves. There are many reasons for each one of us and I can only speak about why I do it on here. I isolate because at the beginning, after diagnosis, friends and family would say "get over it". We could only do that if we force ourselves into PTSD by consciously thinking about it. That's not how it works so saying that is very dismissive and naive. They started treating me differently and telling me I was faking it. That's even more dismissive and naive. Then there were times when I would tell new people in my life. They would most often, talk to me for a few minutes after that and then run away scared.

I can tell you what would help me more than anything right now. Is someone who is understanding and gets me out of my apartment to do fun things or interesting things. Someone who doesn't look at me like I'm a broken taboo object that if they get too close to I will cast a spell on them. I also get people that could care less about understanding it but try to fix me anyway. I don't need to be fixed especially by someone who doesn't care about my 'affliction'. A lot of times my PTSD keeps me from going into public from the fear of getting triggered. I never know when it's going to happen or what is going to trigger it. I'm getting help with it again though because it was manageable but the last 3 years it has gone from manageable to extremely severe to an almost constant roller coaster of less severe and different ranges. If you can be there for someone through support.... just by accepting and being a friend then that could be something that saves someones life. By treating them like you love and respect them just as much as the others in your life could be all of the support someone needs.

I apologize that this wasn't some of my best work. Sometimes I share my personal story through my journey with PTSD and sometimes it takes too much out of me. As soon as I start to get healthier again with this I can do that and it shouldn't be as much of a drain. I appreciate you reading my story and following me. My goal on here is to raise awareness for those of us with invisible disabilities. Feel free to comment and ask questions so we can open a dialogue and hopefully help others. I can't tell you how much a positive support system can help. Thank you for reading.