I found this interesting site and wanted to share it.
This is the site’s introduction: “Welcome to PTSD Forum. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a life threatening, debilitating disorder that can break down a sufferer’s body through anxiety and stress. Further it poses a significant suicide risk resulting from the brains neurological imbalance and chemical depression. Sufferers often live in denial, thus this community is aimed at helping PTSD sufferers help themselves through others experiences, guidance and education. We are here for the sufferer, spouse and families surrounding PTSD. Spouses and family are too often forgotten in this equation, and often they receive all the worst that PTSD has to offer. If you’re involved in any way with PTSD, get registered and help yourself now.”
This Website asks for donations. They claim that the “PTSD Forum is costly to run and maintain. Your donations assist to keep this free resource online. All donations are gratefully received.”
I question the “costly” claim. I pay less than a hundred dollars a year to maintain several Websites, and the Blogs I maintain cost nothing but time. Blogs like mine on WordPress are free. The Soulful Veteran was created on WordPress and there was no cost except in the time writing and posting. It would be interesting to see an itemized list of expenses from the PTSD Forum. Maybe they pay a Webmaster to maintain their site. I don’t have that problem since I am the Webmaster for all my Blogs and Websites. The Soulful Veteran will never ask for money. If you see an error or mistake, I’m the responsible party. Let me know, and I may correct it.
The only way I could see that the PTSD Forum is costly would be if the staff paid themselves and running the forum was their job. Maybe I’m wrong. Regardless, there could be important information to help someone with PTSD on this site so do not ignore it.
Learn more about PTSD
_______________________
Lloyd Lofthouse, a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam Veteran, is the award winning author of The Concubine Saga.
His latest novel is Running with the Enemy. Blamed for a crime he did not commit while serving in Vietnam, his country considers him a traitor. Ethan Card is a loyal U.S. Marine desperate to prove his innocence or he will never go home again.
And the woman he loves and wants to save was trained to hate and kill Americans.
To follow this Blog via E-mail see upper right-hand column and click on “Sign me up!”
The Soulful Veteran's Blog 
I also question why it would cost a lot, unless we would be paying for staff people to run it! I think there are plenty of other outlets for this…
Lindsey Petersen
http://5kidswdisabilities.wordpress.com
It’s not only a question of that cost. There is another part more serious. I do personally not recommend any PTSD sufferer to _write_ in that forum. Exposure therapy is only allowed to practice by professionals in controlled circumstances and if the patient gives his permission. Doing it as hobby on the Internet is not an good idea.
Here is my thoughts of this:
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ab-ptsd&tid=371
I asked them to boot me and they did so. Happy to have that site behind me!
I read your post on the other forum. I agree with you that a PTSD sufferer should not be posting their experiences on-line unless they are aware that the entire world may read their pain. I post my experiences on the “Soulful Veteran” knowning that, but I am also an author/writer/journalist and my life is mostly an open book anyway since I plan to write a memoir or two soon. Next up, a novel about Vietnam written from my experiences there in 1966 and what I’ve learned since. My short story, A Night at the Well of Purity, was taken from that novel and was based on one night that I experienced in Vietnam.
My first 14 years after Vietnam was a black hole of anger and flashbacks and heavy drinking and one brutal divorce with a son who may have been damaged due to my PTSD.
After that divorce, I decided to fight what was going on inside my head and it has been and still is an unending battle.
Hi NN,
This is actually quite short sighted in context, and I believe maybe you have more a grudge than validity in such comments. Firstly, writing here, or on any website, is exposure therapy. Talking to someone in person, our daily relationships, work, driving, every single thing we do is exposure therapy. Second, actually exposure therapy is not isolated to a form of qualification, as your opinion has provided. Please provide such evidence to this statement, as #1 above is factually correct and cited within many journals and articles. Third, every member who writes on any forum, Facebook, twitter, name your medium, does so off their own validity. Nobody holds a gun to any of our heads and says, type! Just like my response here, this is my own doing, Lloyd is not instructing me that I MUST respond.
I feel your comments are more emotional based, most likely you attempted such anger and aggression when coming onto my forum, and quickly found such actions are not endorsed upon the community, as it is one for people to assert themselves, not be aggressive towards another.
Take care,
Anthony
Since you are author/writer/journalist and have had your PTSD for so long time now, you probably know how and what to write about your self and not. Yes, I would like to see people wait some years after their debut so they too have more control over their thoughts and feelings before they write about their experiences on the web.
I look forward to read your novel even if I’m not a combat sufferer my self.
“My first 14 years after Vietnam was a black hole of anger and flashbacks and heavy drinking and one brutal divorce with a son who may have been damaged due to my PTSD.”
I can somehow imagine the level of your suffering, but I think you are describing the hell here. And I believe it’s very common that we do hurt our relatives also. I’ve done that too. That’s a heartbreaking part of the illness.
“After that divorce, I decided to fight what was going on inside my head and it has been and still is an unending battle.”
Writing helps one to heal so you are doing what you can about it. Be strong and do not ever give up _this_ fight.
Regards
Hi Lloyd,
I am the owner of PTSD Forum, and I thank you for your kind words about the forum. As with regards to the costs, yes, WordPress is free and when you start out on the web, you can achieve things quite cheaply. I also started exactly where you are today.
The forum traffic alone requires more dedicated resources nowadays, has so for many years. When I ran Vbulletin software, that alone was very hectic on resources, let alone with thousands daily on the site. A good proportion of the money lay within the server itself to run the forum.
The forum does not run open-source software, ie. WordPress, as it is not a blog, nor does the open source forum solutions give adequate security or ability to handle the traffic. The largest forums in the world using free software such as PHPBB, have custom coded security solutions beyond PHPBB’s own making due to its lack of functionality and security.
So I have always used commercial software, which comes with a cost, then ongoing licensing fee’s. Then you have user enhancements, things they want, tools, chat, IM’s, etc. These cost $$$, and then as software moves forward, older versions of existing additions no longer work, so again, license renewals, upgrades, etc.
When I begun, I used to love have a $100 per annum shared server, free PHPBB software, and thought all was well. As the site grew over the years, I got a wakeup call to reality when traffic becomes involved. You must then provide reliability to the amount of users, so some shotty server company who spends as much time up as it does down, is not the option… $$$$ to provide ongoing uptime quality on high density traffic websites.
I appreciate your comments and insight here, though if you read a little further on the forum, such information is outlined in specific areas, always has been, for open disclosure.
Regards,
Anthony Parsons
Anthony,
You are welcome. I understand the cost issue.
However, since I have other sources of income, those expenses are not a burden for me and I have no intention of monitizing my Blogs.
Hi all,
I would like to give you some info about Talking2Minds, which is a charity with a unique approach established with the sole purpose of helping those suffering from PTSD or other severe stress related conditions.
Talking2Minds was established by people who have suffered from PTSD and been through the Talking2Minds therapeutic process in order to help other back to health. Because all their team have personal experience of PTSD and other severe stress related conditions, they have an unique understanding of what the clients are going through and are able to create a strong rapport with them.
Please have a look at just a few of their case studies, videos and interviews to see how they have successfully helped people overcome PTSD and severe stress related conditions with their unique program. All case studies are written in the delegates own words.
Best wishes,
Roxana