Something I Want Others to Know About CPTSD is ...

[Kizzie]

Absolutely Pisces, it's not something you can just do otherwise you would have done it long ago. I mean who wants to live with intrusive thoughts? It's ridiculous and no therapist with any solid training would suggest that. 

What we all need are tools and strategies that have been proven to work. If you Google  something like "managing intrusive thoughts" there's quite a bit written about this.  And of course if you're with a therapist it's something they can help you with if they're trained to deal with Complex Trauma and CPTSD.   

[Blueberry]

That when I say I 'can't' make the negative thoughts stop...that I literally can't. Its not a matter of willpower and just trying harder. My brain is programmed in a faulty way due to abuse from the entirety of my childhood and longer. You might as well tell a someone who's blind that if they just tried harder then they could see. All I do all day is try harder, hence the exhaustion.

Absolutely Pisces! I'm sorry people around you don't understand that, tho unfortunately I'm not surprised either, having had to hear and sense similar for years.

Welcome to the forum by the way.

[Matilda2]

What I most want them to understand, is that trauma doesn't come out in neat and orderly stories. But incoherent and chaotic. That this doesn't disprove my story. But exactly proves it.

[Chart]

That when I say I 'can't' make the negative thoughts stop...that I literally can't. Its not a matter of willpower and just trying harder. My brain is programmed in a faulty way due to abuse from the entirety of my childhood and longer. You might as well tell a someone who's blind that if they just tried harder then they could see. All I do all day is try harder, hence the exhaustion.

[Marcine]

This discussion thread is an amazing discourse— validating and truth-telling.
I'll add that I wish more people understood that CPTSD creates a seemingly paradoxical framework where the human natural state of relaxation/safety/connection feels deeply challenging and even possibly unattainable.