[AtLast]

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

I want to make clear that I statrted the thread for anyone who wanted to duscuss coping with PTSD or trauma. I don't think you have to have an official diagnosis to know you have experienced trauma and that it affects your life in many ways.

Jet, sorry if you feel you have wasted you time, I think your posts and discussion have been useful, educational and supportive, and I thought it sounded like you felt supported too.

I think it is important to serve as a place where people who are searching for answers can find out they are not alone. No official diagnosis needed.

In my life I am finding that sometimes the tests for official diagnosis make my symptoms way worse than they were in the first place.

Something I was trying to get across is that this is a support thread for a complex syndrome that really does affect a lot of people. One of the best ways for people to get support is through this kind of forum. So, I just feel that flip remarks are not only rude, but not helpful and makes this space unsafe. And that is sad because this thread is serving a good purpose.

I will be honest, even with a clinical license and a Ph.D, my experience with PTSD is a personal journey. How and why it came into my life has nothing to do with my professional life. When I come into a thread like this, I am doing so as just a person seeking mutual support and wanting to give back to people. And as just a person, I need to feel safe, too.

I just find it very disturbing and down right rude and without one ounce of empathy for someone to question anyone's diagnostic status or announce wasting one's time just because they feel the thread may not be the right one for them. This is dismissive and a put down to other members.

I would love to interact on the thread because I have found that just getting what other people experience is helpful to me. It feels like I am not alone and I can get ideas about coping. My background helps in some ways, but, just other people with PTSD have always been the best medicine for me.

I am not certain about my feeling safe here at this point because of this interaction. So, I'll just check back from time to time and see how it feels. Everyone needs to feel safe in support threads. It is true that by virtue of being on-line, this is a publicforum and that always has its hazards, but, I don't think it is too much to ask for simple courtesy within a specific community such as this one. It is a very diverse community with many experiences and skills and people that care about each other.

I am sorry if I disrupted things for others. I felt I owed you all an explanation out of respect for your participation and to you as the OP.