I’ve always wondered why I am different psychologically from so many of my peers. Why do I see more than they do? Why do I feel more than they do? Why do I react more than they do? Now I know why: it’s because I’ve been through a deeper degree of life threatening experiences than they have, if they have been through any at all.
People who have gone through life threatening experiences see the world differently from people who haven’t. So this creates 3 kinds of relationships.
Let’s call the two groups PTSD and non-PTSD.
Two people who are Non-PTSD can become friends who understand each other
Two people who are PTSD can become friends who understand each other
A PTSD person and a Non-PTSD person can never truly understand each other until that Non-PTSD person converts to a PTSD person, or puts in the work and effort to study and imagine and empathize with what PTSD is.
If you are a PTSD person who has trouble connecting with Non-PTSD people, I want you to know 1. you are not alone and 2. they don’t understand you. Rather than have them try to understand you, point them to understand what PTSD is, and then have them understand you and empathize with you through that lens.
This article from Psychology Today describes 3 kinds of Trauma.
- Life Threatening Trauma (you or someone you love)
- Beyond Everyday Trauma (abuse)
- Everyday Trauma (stress)
If someone has never been in a brutal car accident, then getting into a car doesn’t trigger fear like someone who knows the trauma that can occur from getting into a car.
If someone has never seen how the careless negligence of something insignificant like accidentally bumping into someone in the grocery store can result in a mentally unstable person being tipped over the edge and massacring people, they might not look around before backing up in a public area.
If someone has never seen how a smile and a trusting face can be used to scam and extort and ruin families, they might not feel fear when they meet someone pleasant to be around.
Harry Potter had it right with the Thestrals: some things, only people who have seen death know.
So the question now is: How do I as a person who has seen death interact with and live with and socialize with other people who literally do not see what I see, and consider what I see to be imaginary? How do I maintain my reputation as a sane person when only other people who have experienced death will know I’m sane? How do I maintain popularity if most people don’t understand what I’m saying because they don’t see what I see because they haven’t had a life threatening experience?
Should live threatening experiences be part of the education system? It certainly is a significant mark of maturity, and a necessary experience for maturity, and yet
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/trauma-queen/201703/what-does-it-mean-be-traumatized
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/trauma
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