Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Focus]

Just as the title says really...anyone here with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

And/or a past or current eating disorder?

[Hurdity]

Looks like your post has been missed - but there are members with both PTSD and also definitely past eating disorders and I think there is a thread on anorexia (possibly someone's daughter I recall). If you do a search for each topic you should find some threads.

Hurdity x

[racjen]

Hi Focus, I was diagnosed with PTSD after breast cancer a couple of years ago, and had 6 sessions of EMDR therapy which I think was very helpful in processing the distressing memories of treatment, which were being blocked by previous trauma going back many years. Very tough process though, as it peels back layers of memories from previous events which get triggered in each session, and you have to deal with the resulting distress in between.

I also suffered from an eating disorder during my teens and early 20s, as a result of the sudden death of my Dad when I was 14. For me restricting my diet was the only way I could have any control over a very frightenig situation, particularly as my Mum went to pieces and was uable to offer any emotioal support at all. I've had a lot of psychotherapy since then and generally don't have a problem with it anymore, but it does still rear its ugly head at times of huge stress - it's a learned copig mechanism which is very hard to let go of.

[Focus]

Thank you ladies.

I saw the thread Hurdity.

I know it's a bit of a niche posting..but it's nice to know you're not on your own out there.

I think one of the most frustrating things for me is when people tell me it's not good for me (talking about the ED here). It really drives me crazy. I mean, do you actually **know** what it's like to be me, inside my body and mind, at this point in time? Perhaps the ED option is the one that keeps me safest, physically and mentally, at a particular point in time? Why are people so quick to judge? And speak from their own perspective? It's not my perspective, and it makes no sense to me, emotionally, at that point in time, so why should I act from that perspective?

I can tell instantly when someone just doesn't get it and is speaking from across a gulf of lack of understanding. And likewise, I can tell instantly when someone is standing by me, alongside me, as it were, and not judging my choices or making me feel like I should be making other choices. It's a weird thing. I'm super sensitive to it.

Unfortunately it's rare to find someone non judgemental and yet empathetic. And it's definitely not connected to working in the medical profession - I've actually found many medical professionals to be the keenest to impose their own view on me, and their own boundaries on me and my way of being. It's so triggering.

And if we're going to get into a battle of wills about it, believe me, my will power is unbelievably strong.

I know it probably doesn't make much sense to most people. But is it really so hard to just let another person be? I mean, there's obviously a reason why they think and feel a particular way. So why are people so quick and keen to judge? And try and impose their own version onto someone else? Wy not just be OK with not having all the answers, not knowing everything, with letting things hang as they are, inconclusive and incomplete?