Brad Schipke describes what it's like to live with PTSD: constant fear, hypervigilance, and being easily startled. People with PTSD often operate at a distress level of 7 to 10, avoiding triggers that set them off repeatedly throughout the day.
How does a person with PTSD feel? Most people with PTSD have come to me and said, nobody understands how I feel. And it's true, nobody does. Even if they logically understand the symptoms, that you feel scared, you feel jumpy, feel hypervigilant all the time, that you're always on edge, that you're terrified to leave your house, that you're terrified of basically everything, and that you can get triggered at a drop of a hat. Most people don't understand that because they haven't experienced it. But that's how it really does feel for a person with PTSD. They're just terrified. All the time. There's a scale called the distress level. 0 is no distress whatsoever. 10 is maximum distress. Most people with PTSD are operating at a 7, 8, 9, or even a 10 at all times. So all you have to do is imagine what that would be like, just being constantly stressed out all the time, tired, anxious, jumpy, all that. Not fun.
