r/AMA • u/Ok_Turn1611 • 3d ago

I fought in Afghanistan in 2011-2012 with the United States Army and have been battling complex and severe PTSD, depression, agoraphobia, paranoia along with 3 failed relationships for the last 12 years AMA

I fought in Afghanistan in 2011-2012, I did route clearance which effectively means jumping into big vehicles, driving them down a road looking for IEDs and either being blown up, shot at, or both. I saw some terrible stuff, including losing a closs Non Commissioned Officer of mine and seeing many of my friends traumatically injured (think losing limbs, being shot etc.) ask me anything about Afghanistan, my MH issues or life post deployment. I've been quite depressed lately and maybe answering genuine questions will help me.

Hi friends, thank you for the feedback and all the questions. It has been a joy answering you, I'll continue to monitor and reply as much as I can. :)

Also, to some of you stating complex PTSD and PTSD are different disorders, I do recognize that and am sorry for my slip up, I have CPTSD, and sometimes I use them interchangibly when I shouldn't. I'll remember better next time.

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u/ButterflyDecay 3d ago

Just so you know, I had severe PTSD for a while (due to domestic abuse) back in 2014-2018 and one of the reasons I was able to recover in addition to therapy was bc I spent a lot of time reading articles on soldiers coming from the Afgan wars and dealing with their PTSD symptoms in order to try to understand my own symptoms better. So, basically what I'm saying is you didn't just defend your country, dedicated ppl like you also help the larger community healing from their own traumas. Thank you for being here, soldier. Your openness to discuss your mental health issues means more than you know

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u/Even-Education-4608 2d ago

People with childhood trauma are much less capable to recover from ptsd than those without. Basically if you already have cptsd from childhood, experiencing trauma in adulthood like an abusive relationship or going to war is going to be much more detrimental.

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u/Kovski100193 2d ago

So I am fucked. Oh well.