EDIT: Right, I see your reasoning in another comment. So, if I understand correctly, you believe that due to having agency in that situation it lowered stress and fear levels below whatever your threshold for (severe) trauma is? That's sounds plausible with my understanding (but I'm also a layman on the subject).
Wordsmithing is hard lol.
---
I think it show great... something, but nobody is sure what. Maybe it's emotional resilience, or something neurological in how your brain processes fear and memories. Maybe it's a combination of those—and other—things (since they can be related).
I'm saying this because I think saying "because I stood my ground" is a dangerous message to spread around, though.
It also does a lot of people a bit of disservice because many who have PTSD didn't get it through inaction. Firefighters get it, soldier get it, doctors get it, etc.
Also, least time I read, current understanding—even if not great—doesn't support your claim that actions during the stressful/traumatic moments are relevant (at least not to the degree you make it seem). There's some small evidence that feelings of helplessness has an influence, but it's inconclusive since helplessness just manifests extra stress (but not the majority of it, and it's not universally present).
And finally a disclaimer for the above: I have zero qualifications on these subjects. I've always been curious of it because of my traumatic past having lived with CPTSD most of my life (not PTSD; they're different, but they have some "mechanical" similarities). So, I've read a few books on CPTSD and PTSD and healing from them, but they weren't academic literature.
I'm glad you came out okay from that situation, though.
PTSD is an all encompassing phrase that includes childhood sexual trauma, being beaten, disturbing visual experiences, survivors guilt and violent explosions. It is like calling it a human experience. The phrase is without reservation a piece of shit.
You shouldn't treat these things the same, yet they're grouped the same and often treated the same. You say firefighters and soldiers get it, have you spoken to them about agency or why they are troubled? I knew a marine and his sleeplessness was partially due to cradling his friend who was hit with an IUD and feeling helpless to save him and only watching him die.
I'd avoid academic literature on this since they group every bad traumatic situation and listen to why people have their issues or how they fixed them. This is deeply personal, and I'm not telling anyone any advice from my experience, it is just an story.
I've spoken about it generally with my therapists, and don't know many people with PTSD, but know some with CPTSD from a support group.
One person I know who had a "lesser form" of PTSD is a nurse. He worked in Zagreb in the wake of last year's earthquakes in Croatia (the hospitals were an absolute mess due to really unfortunate timing and everything happening at once: earthquakes, harsh winter and no/little heating and electricity, prime-time COVID). I say lesser, because his symptoms (nightmares, hearing sounds that aren't there, disassociating) receded on their own after a while. Maybe it wasn't lesser, but maybe his mind is just more resilient (for an unknown factor).
Yeah, I agree with with you that every PTSD is different (even within the same "subtypes" it's not very consistent).
I believe they're grouped together because of how they (or at least as far as experts know, which is also limited) has some common mechanisms in the brain. And I guess it helps to create a jargon for technical discussions too, even if not perfect.
But yeah I think the topic is too nuanced for layman like us to delve deeper into, since it's... A rabbit hole and a maze with lots of dead ends lol
Wordsmithing is hard lol.
---
I think it show great... something, but nobody is sure what. Maybe it's emotional resilience, or something neurological in how your brain processes fear and memories. Maybe it's a combination of those—and other—things (since they can be related).
I'm saying this because I think saying "because I stood my ground" is a dangerous message to spread around, though.
It also does a lot of people a bit of disservice because many who have PTSD didn't get it through inaction. Firefighters get it, soldier get it, doctors get it, etc.
Also, least time I read, current understanding—even if not great—doesn't support your claim that actions during the stressful/traumatic moments are relevant (at least not to the degree you make it seem). There's some small evidence that feelings of helplessness has an influence, but it's inconclusive since helplessness just manifests extra stress (but not the majority of it, and it's not universally present).
And finally a disclaimer for the above: I have zero qualifications on these subjects. I've always been curious of it because of my traumatic past having lived with CPTSD most of my life (not PTSD; they're different, but they have some "mechanical" similarities). So, I've read a few books on CPTSD and PTSD and healing from them, but they weren't academic literature.
I'm glad you came out okay from that situation, though.