PTSD Survivors Speak: Sometimes You Need To Have A Sense of Humor
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 • PTSD Guest Post: Survivors Speak •
It’s good to have a sense of humor in the PTSD struggle — hard to do maybe, but really great when we can. Mike Ehrmantrout is graciously letting me reprint a terrific blog post from the Combat PTSD perspective. Check out Borne the Battle blog for more of Mike’s insights.
Actually, this would be a great theme for those survivors with PTSD or C-PTSD, too. Together we could make some new lists. Leave your “You might have PTSD if…” ideas in the comments and I’ll pull them together into another post. We all groan with each other, let’s laugh a little, too.
You Might Have Combat PTSD if…
– you think the term “The Great Depression” refers to the month you spent in the psych ward at the VA.
– before you mow your lawn, you sift through it w/a stick searching for landmines and booby traps.
– your local police department refers to your house as “Fort Wack,” you might have combat PTSD.
– your neighbors politely suggest you replace the barbed wire and sandbags with a fence.
– your significant other morphs into an enemy troop in the middle of the night.
– when startled, you feel like you drank a venti at Starbucks, shot up meth, then snorted a line of cocaine.
– your neighbor has asked you numerous times why you pace the perimeter of your yard at 3 in the morning.
– every time you walk in a room, you “slice up the pie” looking for every exit point and find a chair w/the back to the wall.
– your knowledge of psychotropic medications surpasses that of your psychiatrist, you might have combat PTSD.
©2009 bornethebattleblog
Mike Ehrmantrout served as a cannon crewman with the 18th Field Artillery Brigade in the Gulf War, and has been battling PTSD since returning from the war. Mike lives in Spokane, WA with his wife, Shari. He has three sons, a daughter, and three grandsons. You can follow him on Twitter @dustmyblues.
Tags: combat ptsd, gulf war, Mike Ehrmantrout, ptsd, Veterans healing
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Humorously true, this is a great laugh and I do relate.
You may have PTSD if….you find yourself in your yard doing intense midnight gardening
With a headlamp on.
@Tracey — LOL! Love the visual. But hey, at least it’s proactive.
You may have PTSD – If every time you hear a siren you hit the deck for two minutes then start calling everyone you know to verify they are ok.