#actuallytramatized

I hate it when my parents say “i know you better than you know yourself!” Like hon you only know personality #5 and #7 but good to know that my acting is convincing ig

A lot of people have an issue with "making your illness your whole personality" and here's my take on it. It's a good thing to accept that long term, treatment resistent, or otherwise impactful illness can and will change the way you view the world and interact with it and that's totally fine. What's not fine is acrediting your mental illness with your positive personality traits. You are not a deeper thinker because you're depressed, you were before and you will be after. that's not depression- that's you! You're not more intelligent because you have anxiety. You were always intellegent! You always will be! You are not more fun and spontaneous because you're bipolar- you've always been fun! You're wonderful. You're not tough and withstanding because you were traumatized. You were tough to begin with, and you wouldn't be weaker or more empathetic or soft without your trauma. they didn't make you anything. Your mental illness effects you, your perceptions, and is a part of you that doesn't deserve to be shunned. But it is not all of you, and there will still be a you there when you start to heal.

Hey, if you have triggers that seem tiny or stupid or weird, you are not being unreasonable by asking people to respect them. People can and will respect them. We have a trigger related to puppies. Not just puppies, but extremely specific circumstances with puppies. And we were able to tell our roommates and they didn't ask intrusive questions or tell us it was stupid. They only asked how they could help us. Those who are intrustive or disrespectful are assholes, and while they are the norm in some cases, they aren't everyone. People can respect your triggers, you deserve to have them respected, and you will find people who respect you and your trauma history.