You know you have PTSD when..

You know you have PTSD when..


When you can feel someone staring at you- you turn instantly, and they quickly look away.. seeming startled that you zeroed in on them like that.

When you jump and react so much when someone startles you, that you end up apologising to them for making them jump in return.

When you hate anyone standing behind you where you can't see them.. you end up turning your body slightly to the side in queues so that you can see everyone.. even if it's just out of the corner of your eye.

When there's no way on earth that you'll sit in the middle of a restaurant.. you'll always choose a table where you can have your back against a wall, or at least to one side of you.. and if you do have to sit in the middle for some reason, you'll end up acting spacy and distant - and be a crappy dinner companion, because you're on such high alert to everything else.

When you can completely calmly handle a crisis.. but going to the supermarket makes you want to curl up and sleep for the rest of the day.

I almost laughed. Thank you.

One of the huge things I think with Child abuse PTSD, is we often do not realise that we have issues. Sure we don't fit with society, so the easy out is too withdraw. That is almost guaranteed through the modern school system, but we withdraw even more, as develop survival skills.

Since coming here I have researched my little heart out and have found some extraordinary research papers by some very hard working, caring professionals (some from way back in the early 1970s when it was called child battery). But I may have learned more about myself and who I am, and even a glimpse of who I could have been by interacting here.

Yep, Sea all of that and -

when you hate going to weddings, parties, end of year work functions (even though the booze is free)

that you realise you are not really careful, but you simply don't trust anyone,

or that when you say I don't need anyone - well you actually don't need anyone..

that in life you observe, but do not actually interact

that you are not just cynical, but expert and look for everything to go wrong, - at least we never get surprised

Seabreezeblue, hugs!

I relate to what Terry shares about child abuse PTSD. I call myself a "distrustful cynic" and I am just that. I didn't become that way overnight either.

quietgirl2538 wrote:Seabreezeblue, hugs!

I relate to what Terry shares about child abuse PTSD. I call myself a "distrustful cynic" and I am just that. I didn't become that way overnight either.

nope that took a lot of hard work and planning by someone

Terry E. wrote:when you hate going to weddings, parties, end of year work functions (even though the booze is free)

that you realise you are not really careful, but you simply don't trust anyone,

or that when you say I don't need anyone - well you actually don't need anyone..

that in life you observe, but do not actually interact

that you are not just cynical, but expert and look for everything to go wrong, - at least we never get surprised

Yep.. all of that got a nod from me..

To add to the hating going to weddings etc..

When free alcohol can't entice you, because you can't get drunk unless you're comfy with everyone anyway,. all drinking does is make you slightly paranoid that you sound weird.


When people tell you that you overthink - and you silently say that there's no such thing as overthinking - you've just thought through everything and they haven't.


This is more a ''you know you have ptsd and aspergers'' than just a ptsd one i think.. but;

When you know you're acting weird because you see every little reaction and emotion flitting through the eyes of the other person, but you can't manage to act normal enough at that point.

Hugs to you too QG and thank=you for mine..

Another distrustful one over here - but as i'm getting older and understanding more and more, I'm starting to trust my instincts about people a little more.


You know you have ptsd when you sleep with a knife under your pillow, or a baseball bat right near to you.. but then lie awake worrying that you might accidentally hurt someone.

This one is from childhood - not done it for a long time.. but;

You know you have ptsd when you crawl under your bed/into a cupboard/wardrobe in the middle of the night and sleep there instead.

seabreezeblue wrote:

You know you have ptsd when you sleep with a knife under your pillow, or a baseball bat right near to you.. but then lie awake worrying that you might accidentally hurt someone.

Elephant in the room ... not that I think 99% of psychologists and counselors don't know enough BUT

when you cannot sleep because your son is making slight noises in the kitchen. You know it is him .. but every time you hear a noise, you have to say .. "it is only my son"

when there is a fight at a party three doors up the street and at 1.00am a young guy bangs on your door telling you to ring the police because his friends are being attacked and all you do is grab your Javelin (leaving the baseball bat behind) tell your wife to put the German Shepherd on the leash while you throw on some track pants (see why I could not carry the bat) before striding into the unknown maelstrom, realising you are not scared, but hoping no one is going to die..

amazing how fast things improve when I turned up.. all became quiet and each side walked away quietly

that ability to wake and act immediately not driven by any cortisol response..(after I came back to bed I was soon asleep ... don't think my wife slept for another hour)

if there is one thing and only one thing that is a positive from that childhood is that I have basically no cortisol response ... high price to pay for it though

we could have this discussion with a 100 professional counselors and psychologists and we would have to continually stop and explain

"yes, it is not just me ..."

Yep.. all of those.

Everyone that knows me is convinced I don't sleep because i'm awake and alert at the slightest noise.
I could sleep through a hurricane (and have), but the tiniest sound indoors and i'm instantly alert.

if there is one thing and only one thing that is a positive from that childhood is that I have basically no cortisol response ... high price to pay for it though

I don't know what my cortisol response is like actually.. I jump really easily (when someone actually manages to startle me.. usually i've heard them long before they get anywhere close though).. but in an emergency situation i don't get the rush of adrenaline.. I just do what needs doing, and then slightly puzzle later over why i was so calm (you know the story re the guns and baseball bats already)..

My daughter was choking once in the garden on a chocolate bar that my mother gave her. The neighbour next door saw and was panicking, and there's me, ran over to her - somehow performed a perfect ''stop small child from choking'' manoeuvre (just instinct on that, didn't realise until a couple of years later that i did the exact thing that they teach in baby/small child first aid), and then gave her a hug.. no panicking - simply a calm, ''i've got this'' action.
The neighbour asked me why i hadn't panicked - i just said that it didn't occur to me - my only focus was to get the food dislodged from her windpipe. Simply acted without fear or conscious thought.

That's probably a little ptsd/weird i guess..



When you have zero fear of walking through the forest at 2am on your own, but a neighbour inviting you over for a cup of tea scares the crap out of you.

Exactly. Yep I can get s quick startle response. I snap alert, but not aroused.

A saw a doc on PTSD for emergency workers etc and one of the things was that afterwards people cannot process accurately what happens. They may think they do, but they are joining together a few facts by making up what they think happened in the middle.

After my assault with the baseball bat, I very accurately described the attacker and IDed him. Of the 14 people there and of who only one other was hit, only 4 had credible witness statements and only one other made an ID. I behaved quite contrary to the norm.

Of all the stuff in this, it is the one that fascinates me the most.

why I am fascinated with the story of Audi Murphy.

Congrats on turning RED.

When ...

You're stressed out of your mind on vacation and it's not even work related.