The Benefits of Peer Discussion Groups

The Benefits of Peer Discussion Groups

Joining discussions is a sign of strength and personal courage.

• SEE OUR CALENDAR OF MEETINGS and EVENTS
• This Week's Meetings & Events
• Descriptions of Group Meetings and Events

Our meetings focus on the present, self-care and health, with important educational and psychological consumer information for those determined to recover from trauma. We also teach you a small, science-proofed technique for managing symptoms at every meeting :-)

• FREE and open to anyone
• Spouses, friends, family--anyone looking for PTSD info are welcome
• Support the work you do with your therapist, counselor, doctor.
• Provides support between therapists or while coping with health costs
• Discussions are present-focused
• No confessions, no public recounting of the trauma
• Solution-positive: No dead-end, misery-loves-company gatherings
• Validation and safety in a stable, supportive group
• De-escalate anxiety, fear and irritability when interacting with others
• Become a better communicator: Express yourself clearly
• Feel reconnected, reduce dissociative symptoms
• Build coping skills and resilience to lower your risk of revictimization
• Become a PTSD expert to protect yourself as a consumer
• Find your voice, reclaim yourself—The group is a sounding board for your thoughts and ideas
• Reframe your experiences, see memory as a source of strength
• Develop positive self-talk, end guilt and self-blame
• Examine rigid beliefs, become more flexible and resilient
• Regain control over runaway emotions
• Learn healthy emotional regulation (not repression).

The group has your back: If you stumble here there is no shame or shunning, we get you back on your feet and moving forward!

Anyone attending our weekly discussions must understand our disclaimer: This is not a replacement for psychotherapy or counseling, merely peer discussion support.

If there is a topic you will like to see added to the schedule, please contact  Colleen Crary at BeFearlessToday@gmail.com

RETURNING TO WORK AFTER TRAUMA


Re-entering the workforce after a traumatic event can be frightening for those with post-trauma. Perhaps you had to take medical leave or some time away from work. Maybe the people at work know what happened and you dread their reactions when you return. But getting back into the flow of life, work, family, and community is important if your doctor or therapist has decided that you are ready.

Why is it important? Because if you stay at home too long and become reclusive, PTSD symptoms become more ingrained and harder to fix. Your anxiety and fears become magnified, and you cannot move forward if you are alone—albeit your “safe” place—and ruminating upon symptom management.

It’s not easy! It’s difficult to even find a job these days, let alone keep one. Bosses expect more work for the same so-3-years-ago pay, commuting is stressful, coworkers can be unpleasant, and HR will be giving you the stink eye because you needed time off to recover.

If you cannot find a job, try to volunteer (animal rescue, local shelters, community events) to build up a tolerance level for people, startles, and triggers. It’s hard work, but you can do it.

You can also desensitize yourself to the anxiety of re-entering the workplace and community by practicing interaction with others in the virtual world. That is why Fearless Nation has the virtual world component: You can re-learn to cope in interpersonal situations, build up your tolerance and resiliency by interacting with others through your avatar. There are many nice people – not all – but many in the virtual world to interact with. Hey, even if you meet a selfish “meanie” it’s an opportunity for you to put your coping skills to the test—and deal with it effectively and appropriately.


Join us online in our 3D space. FIVE Meetings a week for PTSD and related topics: http://www.fearless-nation.org/ONLINEEDUCATION.html

A big shout-out and “Hurrah!” \o/ for Dr. Irene for enhancing what was a rather dull discussion entry—she reminded me that vicarious desensitization is good for building tolerance in anxiety-producing situations and that doing so in the virtual world can be helpful. Please visit her website where she has many informative and educational resources and a wonderful approach to standing up to verbal abuse: http://www.drirene.com/

When PTSD is NOT PTSD

In light of recent media reporting on the behavior of people who have committed homicide but claim "The PTSD Made Me Do It" It is time to take a closer look at PTSD and how it is different from other preexisting conditions and co-morbid tendencies. Fact: People with PTSD ARE NOT homicidal or dangerous. In fact the opposite is true. Read on....

For PTSD to be taken seriously in social, legal and political arenas, a strong distinction must be made between true PTSD and malingering, a legal term for when someone gains value from pretending to have a condition that they do not have. When people fake PTSD as a means to legally part others from their money. These are usually narcissistic personality types, who feel that world owes them a living because they are "special" (cough) or because their ego has been bruised or slighted in some minor way.

PTSDers need to be aware of this personality type and fight back, because we have trouble enough being taken seriously, we don't need con artists and grifters further dimming and distorting the public's view of trauma. There are very real claims in court of PTSD, but a definite dinstinction must be made between the true trauma sufferer and those looking for a payday -- or the spotlight.

Similarly, if you notice someone claiming to have PTSD who just won't shut up about their trauma and right away tells you in detail every gory, bloody, explicit bit of their story (interrupting, overtalking others, taking center stage, and shaming others from speaking), chances are, they do NOT have PTSD. 

PTSDers have been through unspeakable events, literally. They do not discuss outright their stories, except with a therapist, and only after a great deal of time and work has occurred. Sometimes even those closest to them have no clue as to what happened, or they are only told in the most general, non-specific, non-verbal ways what happened. They may talk if asked what happened, they may run away, or they may simply shut down, go numb and fail to even remember the event. Or deflect your question by making jokes, changing the subject, or exiting the room.

NOT-PTSD types like to go to group meetings and pretend they have the condition. Yes. There are people who feel good haunting group meetings, emergency rooms, accident and crime sites, hospice care groups/wards, and so on...It is not a very nice subject to bring up, but when it comes to PTSD, even the less-than-pleasant topics must be brought to light. This site is not dedicated to all safe and nice subjects.

You can tell who the "Not-PTSD" people are because they won't shut up, grab center stage, and are rude to other group members who try to express themselves. It's all about them, we are merely satellites circling their egos. These folks shop around all sorts of groups, Alcoholics Anonymous, Crime Victim groups, anywhere they can get a "fix" for their insatiable egos. If you run a group or support center, hustle these folks out the door, because they will destroy the group trust, and drive people away, destroying months even years of work building trust and a sense of safety in the group.

Us PTSDers have a lot of energy tied up in managing our condition, and we work so hard to try to regain independence, confidence and autonomy. Often there is very little energy left over to fight back or to speak up when NOT-PTSD types bully their way through the system, getting resources we are too timid and exhausted to go after. The time is now to make it clear to the public what separates PTSD and NOT-PTSD. It's in our own best interest, and we need to start fighting back and make our voices heard clearly over the egoistes, narcissists and criminally self-absorbed who seek to use us and our condition as a celebration of their egos and a big pay out.

Time to come out of hiding and stand up for ourselves.

Root out the fakes and attention-seekers so that PTSD can be taken seriously by the public!

See the chart below for a list of  distinguishing features between PTSD and "NOT-PTSD"