Comments on: An Analogy to Explain CPTSD https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/ The Foundation for Post-Traumatic Healing and Complex Trauma Research Fri, 17 Oct 2025 13:45:01 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Mari Stewart https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-43300 Fri, 17 Oct 2025 13:45:01 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-43300 In reply to Stephen.

Dear Stephen –
I owe you a huge apology. I am so sorry I did not see your comment until today.
I am thrilled you have found help.
I’m hoping the best for you, too.
Mari

]]> By: Mari Stewart https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-43299 Fri, 17 Oct 2025 13:41:40 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-43299 In reply to Helen Grant.

Hi there Helen –
Thank you for reading.

I’m going to suggest a group that I belong to over on Reddit. r/CPTSD
As in all things, take a look and see if you like it first, you don’t need a profile to visit.
There are a lot of on-line CPTSD related groups out there, some good, some bad, some plagued with ‘trauma tourists’, some genuinely supportive.

They might be able to help you find that ‘buddy’.

Best wishes.
::::Hugs:::: respectfully offered.

]]> By: Helen Grant https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-43107 Mon, 13 Oct 2025 20:40:29 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-43107 Oh my gosh… reading this has been emotional, enlightening and validating… I’m in my 60s and only recently have begun to identify the many different stresses that have shaped who I have become… I dearly want to peel off the layers and shed the mask but finding the ‘buddy’ isn’t easy… I’m in NZ and have been to counselling for decades, not once asked about my beginnings or early childhood…

]]> By: Stephen https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-27933 Sun, 22 Sep 2024 03:50:47 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-27933 For twenty eight years I stand at the busiest intersection in my home and each time she passes by I feel the nick of her scalpel on another part of my body. I watch each drop of blood fall to the floor and add to the growing pool without understanding the why. I grow weaker each year from the loss and lose so much of myself I withdraw from everyone and everything until in desperation I walk down to the creek with my pistol and great resolve.
Only my dog’s questioning eyes and my long departed parents voices in my head stop me and I call the V.A. Suicide hotline which saves my life. I understand after two and a half years of intense, painful therapy what a covert narcissist with sociopathic tendencies can do to an empath.
I’m 72 now and still struggling to sew up all those cuts in my “suit”.
My eyes are now wide open but the trust in people may be gone for a now short lifetime. I hope for the best as I am fortunate to have one of the few therapists nationally recognized in this cptsd world.

]]> By: Mari Stewart https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-27683 Sat, 14 Sep 2024 14:12:42 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-27683 In reply to Colleen.

Thank you for reading. I’ve had to peel myself out of a wetsuit. And, yeah. CPTSD is just as hard. Best wishes for your continued shedding. 🙂 Mari

]]> By: Colleen https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-27467 Fri, 06 Sep 2024 20:58:58 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-27467 This was so very powerful. For so long I’ve tried to get my head around cPTSD and this is perfect. I’ve had 2 occasions to put on a wetsuit and that thing is hard to get into…but infinitely harder to get off.

]]> By: Marilyn https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-23709 Sun, 18 Feb 2024 17:28:25 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-23709 In reply to Elizabeth Woods.

Mari I enjoyed your story. It’s true…one doesn’t realize one is wearing a ‘wet suit’ until a part of it comes off and you know something feels different.

]]> By: Mari Stewart https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-17479 Sun, 27 Nov 2022 14:26:04 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-17479 In reply to Elizabeth Woods.

Ah, what it looks like when you first take that wetsuit off, speaking from my own experience, I suddenly saw all the places it had bound my limbs, I saw all the impressions it left on me, I saw and felt all the places it rubbed me raw, I even felt a good bit of pain in places I couldn’t see or didn’t know I had.
The good news is that with time, and a good bit of work, those places are healing, a new surface is growing and the places which had been compressed, even to almost nothing, are starting to fill out.
Keep peeling as you can. When you find an injury, help it heal or find someone who can help you.
Rather like applying aloe to the center of your back. Always helps to have a buddy.

]]> By: Elizabeth Woods https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-17476 Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:22:17 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-17476 I like the wetsuit analogy. It makes a lot of sense in many ways. That wetsuit saved us but now years later it needs peeling off. It makes me wonder, will it ever fully come off? If it does, what will the “inside” look like?

]]> By: Mari Stewart https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/03/03/an-analogy-to-explain-cptsd/#comment-17451 Wed, 23 Nov 2022 23:15:14 +0000 https://cptsdfoundation.org/?p=239922#comment-17451 In reply to Jason Mark Yates.

Hi Jason – Let me start off with an apology. I am so sorry I have taken this long to respond. I love the idea of a big wet heavy blanket that weighs us down.
Thank you so much for your kind words.
Now, to go fix my email filter.

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