Life is hard and i wish to be held

man

i like it too :)

I talk to many people who say things like "oh I have trauma but I don't have PTSD", but then when I talk to them a little more I realize that they most likely do, they just can't recognize it as such due to how lacking PTSD awareness is, even beyond the whole "it's not just a veteran's disorder" thing.

The main reason they think they don't have PTSD usually has to do with flashbacks and nightmares, either they have one but not the other or have neither. But here's the thing, those are only two symptoms out of the 23-odd recognized symptoms. Flashbacks and nightmares are two of the five symptoms under Criterion B (Intrusion), which you only need one of for a diagnosis. The other three symptoms are unwanted upsetting memories, emotional distress after being reminded of trauma and physical reactivity after being reminded of trauma (i.e. shaking, sweating, heart racing, feeling sick, nauseous or faint, etc). Therefore you can have both flashbacks and nightmares, one but not the other, or neither and still have PTSD.

In fact, a lot of the reasons people give me for why they don't think they have PTSD are literally a part of the diagnostic criteria.

"Oh, I can barely remember most parts of my trauma anyway." Criterion D (Negative Alterations in Cognition and Mood) includes inability to recall key features of the trauma.

"Oh but I don't get upset about my trauma that often because I avoid thinking of it or being around things that remind me of it most of the time." Criterion C (Avoidance) includes avoiding trauma-related thoughts or feelings and avoiding trauma-related external reminders, and you literally cannot get diagnosed if you don't have at least one of those two symptoms.

"Oh I just have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep, but I don't have nightmares." Criterion E (Alterations in Arousal and Reactivity) includes difficulting sleeping outside of nightmares.

"But I didn't have many/any trauma symptoms until a long time after the trauma happened." There's literally an entire specification for that.

Really it just shows how despite being one of the most well-known mental illnesses, people really don't know much about PTSD. If you have trauma, I ask you to at least look at the criteria before you decide you don't have PTSD. Hell, even if you don't have trauma, look at the criteria anyway because there are so many symptoms in there that just are not talked about.

PTSD awareness is not just about flashbacks and nightmares.

I’m having a hard time putting this into words, but I’ve been thinking about how the loss of a regular patient can effect the vet staff.

I’ve had a coworker tell me that whenever they see a cat with named Othello on the schedule it gives her pause because it reminds her of a now years dead patient and she has a moment where she remembers that it’s not the Othello.

Or how we custom ordered needles for a client who had an easier time giving SQ fluids with that gauge and after the patient passed my boss still ordered them out of habit and as I was unpacking the box I looked at her and said “Doc, these were for [name]” and the moment of silence that followed.

Or how our walls are decorated in memorials as well as educational and cat-themed material, patients long gone who remain a sort of unofficial mascot in our hearts because the office is haunted with memories of them.

Your pets touch more hearts than you could imagine.

yuri is when there’s themes and motifs and yaoi is when there’s two blokes who do fuck all. if you reblog this you love trans people

Put your height in the tags

Everyone reblog with your most unemployable traits

i keep seeing jokes about Imagine Dragons showing their support by performing for WGA strikers, like about how bad their music/singing is and jokes about how it’ll hurt the movement and normally i’m neutral to the hatred of popular/used to be popular things, but GOD. as a queer ex-mormon i so badly wish more people knew what this group and what specifically Dan Reynolds has done to support queer kids

(article from screenshots)

also while im here Enemy (the arcane song) is also about queer mormon kids <3

I absolutely hate how people took a kind, progressive, good band and decided to give it the nickelback treatment.

(Frankly I don’t even necessarily think they’re bad, sound wise, either. But I guess music is subjective so if you disagree that’s your right, just don’t treat it as some kind of unilateral truth)

My cousin (who is a christian fundamentalist and a massive homophobe) once mocked me for liking the band as an atheist because they’re religious, and I just went silent because I didn’t feel like getting into an argument, but

Like

Dan Reynolds has been an outspoken ally for a while.

“Believer” is about queer religious trauma. “Love” is about queer acceptance. He called out Eminem over homophobia. He was part of the Loveloud Festival, that raised over a million dollars for queer charities like the Trevor Project.

Gee, it’s sure a funny coincidence he and ID got branded as cringe. I wonder what motive someone could possibly have to do so.

I got the honour of seeing Imagine Dragons live, and, a. they’re fucking GOOD what the FUCK especially live, like their music style has changed over time and it’s fine to not like that but the live performance was just so passionate and wonderful, and b, I can’t coiuldn’t take any pictures of it but one of the guitarists has a trans flag guitar with a trans flag strap and it’s so fucking beautiful and I nearly cried when I saw that clear and open support in such a subtle way. I’m glad someone else put into words how fucking annoying that attitude has been towards them with the strike.

obsessed with this pair of wood pigeons attempting to nest in the exact same spot as this falcon. how could this possibly go wrong?

[feed here]

(first screenshot from reddit post linked in source, and also where i discovered this)

@is-the-owl-video-cute

poll time because something my mother said pissed me off lmao

and in the tags tell me your gender and age?

If you are neurodivergent (including all psychological conditions, neurological conditions, and developmental conditions) I have a question for you and pls elaborate in the tags if you feel comfortable

reblog please and tell me why you chose your answer. is it a regional thing like color/colour and favourite/favorite? do you simply spell it as you saw it in books as a child? is this something you do not care about to any extent at all? let me know in the tags

This person scaring the shit out of their sugar-glider “pet” and thinking it’s cute and they’re just “pouch protective.”

Tik tok exotic pet keepers kill me.

If it's illegal to own that animal as a pet in the country it's from, why do people think its perfectly acceptable to own it outside of that country at all?

The number of protected Australian species I see being owned and bred overseas when the climate is so wrong and the education on that species is piss poor makes me so mad. They are almost always in clear distress and not at all having the proper care needed. Please just stop owning exotic pets it's so bad for them!

As an Australian, we have strict laws on what animals you can keep as pets. Native animals are a big no-no.

It makes me so mad seeing other countries (mostly the US ) take our native wildlife and abused them as “pets”

ok i looked it up (on the vic gov website) and you CAN own a sugar glider on a tier one wildlife license (i dont agree with this i dont think sugar gliders should be in private ownership) idk how difficult it is to get a license in vic or any other state (cause i've never wanted to own one of these animals)

my mom refuses to make this post so I'm gonna make it instead:

People who drink coffee: why did you start?

I don't drink coffee and I've never wanted to, but that's obviously ~not normal~, so I'm curious why most people do start drinking it.

Additional question: People who don't drink coffee, why?

For me, it's because, as a child, I was incredibly cranky, and as soon as caffeine-free Coke was introduced, Mom had me start drinking that, and, hey, I got a lot less crabby, so that made me want to avoid caffeine. I also never really cared for the smell of coffee, either, so had absolutely no interest in drinking even decaf.

(and yes I am very aware that "it makes me feel better" and "love the way it smells" are top answers in why people do drink it XD)