Trauma & PTSD Recovery Stories

Our understanding of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder is evolving and changing; daily, it seems. One of the most important things we do here at Recovery Diaries is challenge archaic beliefs about mental health, diagnoses, and stigma. It was once very commonly believed that the only people who lived with PTSD (before there was even a name for it) were combat veterans returning from war. However, we now know so, so much more, and our understanding of trauma and how it impacts, changes, and reorganizes the brain is nuanced and expansive. For instance, we now know that non-combat/deployed veterans have higher rates of PTSD diagnoses than combat veterans. We also know that anybody can be diagnosed with PTSD (a mental health condition whereby a human being impacted by a traumatic event and experiences symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks and severe anxiety), or its “cousin”, CPTSD (similar symptoms to PTSD, but the result of chronic, prolonged exposure to traumatic events or situations).

In our essays, documentary films, and podcast episodes featuring individuals who live with PTSD or CPTSD, we introduce you to a police officer who copes with his past trauma through the tango, psychiatric inpatient hospital workers who live, breathe, and experience trauma day in and day out exploring creativity and healing through theatre, gunshot survivors uniting together to unpack their trauma, a mental health advocate who survived abuse and cancer; and many, many more indomitable human beings.

Acting like the quicksand we all feared from 80’s movies growing up, PTSD threatens to grab hold of our legs and suck us deep, down into a hole that transports us right back to the time of our trauma, convincing us that we are not safe, that we are back in a dangerous, vulnerable time and that we are going to be hurt no matter what we say or do; but it’s essays, films, and podcast episodes like the ones we have here for you that remind us that we are safe, we are whole, we are healing.