June is PTSD Awareness and Men's Health Month, so for this Redshirt Roundtable, we asked about Men's Health and PTSD. A list of those questions before we get into our community answers:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can affect anyone who has gone through a traumatic event: What is something people should learn/understand about PTSD?
What are some tips you have for others with PTSD to help manage symptoms of it? Any methods you use that help you out?
Any advice or words of encouragement for others who are learning to manage it and trying to get through each day?
If you don't have PTSD, stress is a normal part of life that can sometimes become unmanageable. What is something you do to relieve/manage stress?
Men: What is a piece of medical advice you would give to other men in managing physical and/or mental health?
Men: What is a piece of general life advice you would give to other men? If you are willing to share, how did you learn it?
As always, thank you to the members of our community who answered! The Stack Up community is a vital part of our mission, and we hope we can continue to serve those who have been with us for many years to come.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can affect anyone who has gone through a traumatic event: What is something people should learn/understand about PTSD?
That it affects a lot more people in a lot of different situations, and there are a lot of people who may not even know they have it because they don't think it is possible for them to get it.
What are some tips you have for others with PTSD to help manage symptoms of it? Any methods you use that help you out?
Find something or someone positive that you can rely on when you are struggling. For me, I play games or find something else that focuses my energy, working outside, practicing drums, and working on videos.
Any advice or words of encouragement for others who are learning to manage it and trying to get through each day?
Take each day you wake up as a blessing and fight to move forward. When you move backward, it's good to have someone you can talk to.
If you don't have PTSD, stress is a normal part of life that can sometimes become unmanageable. What is something you do to relieve/manage stress?
We are groomed to be busy, and I think the pandemic shed light on how destructive that can be. I think taking a step back and evaluating what's really necessary vice things that eat our time/resources with little benefit is a necessary step to bettering our mental health.
Men: What is a piece of medical advice you would give to other men in managing physical and/or mental health?
Don't try to work through an issue. If your body is giving you signs, see a doctor/specialist. Don't let something small turn into something worse, especially Veterans, who are groomed to work through pain/illness.
Men: What is a piece of general life advice you would give to other men? If you are willing to share, how did you learn it?
In everything you do, do it out of love for one another and out of heart of service. That's where you'll find your joy.
ZiplockBob
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can affect anyone who has gone through a traumatic event: What is something people should learn/understand about PTSD?
That it's not just mental but physical as well.
What are some tips you have for others with PTSD to help manage symptoms of it? Any methods you use that help you out?
One of the things I use is checking my pulse manually with two fingers on my neck. If it's too fast, I stop and catch some air and force oxygen into my bloodstream, calming my body down, and my mind follows.
Any advice or words of encouragement for others who are learning to manage it and trying to get through each day?
While yes, no two cases are the same, compassion on comradery does help. Just knowing and being reminded that you are not alone is a great way to help yourself.
If you don't have PTSD, stress is a normal part of life that can sometimes become unmanageable. What is something you do to relieve/manage stress?
Outside of the PTSD side of things, hobbies always help.
Men: What is a piece of medical advice you would give to other men in managing physical and/or mental health?
That engaging in a doctor or therapist doesn't make you weak nor affect your "manhood," whatever the hell that means.
Men: What is a piece of general life advice you would give to other men? If you are willing to share, how did you learn it?
In life, you are told, doing x, y, or z is manly or isn't manly, and honestly, it's just noise. Manhood is something we made up to make men feel better about themselves and is usually used to say I am more manly than you, so I am better than you. Honestly, the same can be said about "womanhood" your self-worth should be tied to what you care about and should be flexible. Men are told to tie their self-worth to their usefulness, and honestly, that shouldn't be the case.
AnxiousGoat78 | Twitch
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can affect anyone who has gone through a traumatic event: What is something people should learn/understand about PTSD?
There is no specific qualifying event type for PTSD. It can come from a lot of sources, not just combat or sexual assault, etc. Just like there are a lot of different people out there, there are a lot of different individual brands of PTSD. Everyone handles and copes differently. Two buddies could have been in the same vehicle that was blown up and come out with very different injuries physically and mentally.
What are some tips you have for others with PTSD to help manage symptoms of it? Any methods you use that help you out?
A big part for me was denial I had PTSD, and it took a long time to accept it. Radical acceptance can be an instrumental first step to begin living your best life despite your PTSD. Since my PTSD is a bit, uh, personal - I don't tell many about it, and when I do, I let them assume whatever they want when they find out I was a soldier and have PTSD. I rely very heavily on a support network. Only a handful of them actually know details - those details are important to me in my treatment, but not to them.
Any advice or words of encouragement for others who are learning to manage it and trying to get through each day?
Don't be afraid to lean on your resources for help. Thinking you are strong and can get through it alone is a bit of a fallacy - to me, PTSD is my brain screaming out for help. Reach out. There are a ton of resources out there for you. Stack Up (of course), Military One Source, a support network of friends, family, and professionals, suicide hotlines, etc.
If you don't have PTSD, stress is a normal part of life that can sometimes become unmanageable. What is something you do to relieve/manage stress?
I'm really bad at this - when I get stressed, my other mental health conditions start to flare up, and I become symptomatic. I try to occupy myself with something or another. I write a lot, play video games, and watch TV. Legal here: I sit on my back deck and relax with some weed - but I keep responsible about it.
Men: What is a piece of medical advice you would give to other men in managing physical and/or mental health?
I'm in the worst physical health of my adult life - so no comment/advice there! Mentally, you need to find the things that help you keep you together and chase those. For me, it has been working on a memoir. It has gained a lot of traction, and an online group for writing has become an incredible resource for help on writing and also has become part of my support network.
Men: What is a piece of general life advice you would give to other men? If you are willing to share, how did you learn it?
Try not to think or live in absolutes. PTSD can scream at you that you are worthless, bad, evil, or something else. But it turns out nobody is strictly one thing; even the villains in life have a capacity for good and the heroes for bad. My mental health makes me feel worthless, and I have to actively seek out the ways I am not. Sometimes, in a bad state, it is hard to do. Normally it isn't hard to do. I learned this when I received a letter from Dean Koontz answering my question about creating interesting characters.
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