PTSD

I currently have chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, due to growing up in a rather abusive household, and which stretched for over 20 years. My treatment is a combination of medication and talk.

PTSD isn’t all there is to me, of course, and much of the time I’m a very functional person. (You can’t work where I do if you aren’t.) But I do write a lot about PTSD, because it helps me organize my thoughts about it, which seems to be helping.

Change Log

2010-01-01:
• New posts listed under General PTSD Musings.
• Sessions 10, 11, and 12 listed under Dancing With Psychologists.

2009-12-12: First version of this page.

Table of Contents:

In this writing:

Change Log
PTSD in Literature
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Fiction
Miscellaneous Tor.com Posts Touching Upon PTSD
Other Thoughts on PTSD/Trauma in Literature
Dancing with Psychologists
General PTSD Musings
All That Background
The Past
The Present

PTSD in Literature

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Fiction

My most informative articles are a series of posts on Tor.com:

Part 1: How PTSD is experienced in real life, and an overview of what fiction often gets wrong.
Part 2: An in-depth look at the PTSD portrayals in Babylon 5 (“And the Sky Full of Stars”) and Lord of the Rings.
Part 3: Another in-depth look at PTSD portrayals, this time in World War Z and The West Wing (“Nöel”).
Part 4: A very in-depth look into PTSD and Lord Peter Wimsey.

Miscellaneous Tor.com Posts Touching Upon PTSD

Review of Terry Pratchett’s Nation

Other Thoughts on PTSD/Trauma in Literature

Dancing with Psychologists

Well, just an informal series of blog posts about my current run of psychological sessions. They tend to be very personal and at times very meandering. They can be somewhat difficult to find, so here’s a list of them.

A note on terminology: I use “Candy Man” to refer to my psychiatrist, because he prescribes the medication, and “Bartender” to refer to my psychologist, because he’s there to talk to.

General PTSD Musings

Just personal blog posts, not strictly attached to “Dancing with Psychologists,” on PTSD and trauma.

In reverse chronological order:

The Everyday PTSD Experience: Not As Romantic or Exciting As You Might Think
Last Night It Was So Good, I Felt Like Crying, Felt Like Crying (a few paragraphs in middle about flashbacks)
Why People Don’t Leave Abusive Relationships
Like Giving Away Keys to the NSA (triggers and vulnerability)
Intermission Betwixt Bartender Meetings #1 and #2 (though I think Part 1, Section 2 of “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Fiction” is a better, more concise version of this)
Abuse Really Does Permanently Change You and Ruminations About Comment Threads

All That Background

The Past

A few personal blog posts if you want to know more about the trauma exposure that created my PTSD. It’s kind of nasty, but probably in a fascinating way. There is no particular order to this list or even what’s recalled, because the timeline can be a little hazy (probably for the better).

More information can be found embedded in various posts in other sections.

The Present

This is where I try to live. Dreams somewhat betray me, and coping strategies I try to come up with. There is a lot of stumbling. I’m trying to compile this so I remember my mistakes, too, because I think some of these I’ve repeated over the years.

In reversed chronological order, because having the most recent and most coping-ative posts on top feels like the right thing to do: