Source: I still have trauma and panic attacks from one startup I co-founded. At the time the stress was so severe I got pneumonia, couldn't sleep etc etc etc.
Well, I think part of the criticism of the blog post is that it's written as if the person must actually have had clinical PTSD. Otherwise he wouldn't have any cause to get preachy about how terrible it is to joke about it and "knuckle through."
It's terrifying that you don't understand the difference between stress and traumatic events. That you don't understand that it's not cute to compare yourself to people who have debilitating flashbacks.
The difference between "clinical PTSD" and your "PTSD" is one is actually PTSD and the other is you need some help destressing. If you even had half an insight into how bad PTSD actually is, you would trivalise it. With nonsense claims such as "I got PTSD from being stressed".
Secondly focussing on whether or not someone has been diagnosed is kind of missing the point.
Startup life can be seriously fucked up and the long hours / low sleep / unhealthy routine it’s easy to fall into can really ruin your life. Coupled with founders fighting, drama boiling over months or years of invested time, etc.
What, it’s not traumatic enough for you because you didn’t get to hear a gunshot?
It is insulting to those of us who have it when someone says their stress and anxiety are anywhere close to the symptoms we have from PTSD. Just like it's insulting to say you have OCD when you like to have thing colour co-orientated.
Just because some people exaggerate doesn’t mean it can’t happen, and kindly, quit the whiteknighting when you’re doing exactly what you’re accusing others to do.
I pointed out it's very unlikely to get it from a startup and when someone said they had it I asked if it was diagnosed. They went on to say it wasn't.
> quit the whiteknighting
I don't think you know what that means. You're using it wrong.
Get more life experience before you declare what’s not possible.
Preferring one over the other doesn't take away what is and what is not a medical condition.
This is like saying "Having have fallen down some stairs and having climb a mountaing. I would rather fall down some stairs." in relation to someone the chances you got a head injury from just walking up a mountain isn't very likely. Realistically, you could fall down some stairs and not hit your head. You could walk up a mountain and fall down and hit your head - walking up the mountain didn't cause your head injury but was what you were doing when you did the thing that caused your head injury. You can be mugged and not even get Accute Stress Disorder (ASD) never mind PTSD.
> Get more life experience before you declare what’s not possible.
I highly suspect I have a lot more life experience than you. To the point that there is a reason why I know the difference between PTSD and C-PTSD. And that you can't even be diganosed with PTSD for 6-months after the event. Before then it's ASD.
What will you do with your identity after the next major revision of the DSM?
Seriously, this is the problem with today's world. We have a bunch of people who struggle so much they need to pretend they have medical conditions they don't to make themselves feel better. Are you going to pretend you got MS or ALS next? Or just stick with mental conditions in the hope that people don't understand how much nonsense you're spouting?
The fact you can't understand if you're going to have a blog post about psychology and mental health, starting it off with stuff that is complete nonsense about mental health really shows they don't know what they're talking about. But instead of realising this was a nonsensical blog post by someone who couldn't grasp the bare basics of mental health. You're too busy trying to claim that startups are soo hard you get PTSD from it. It's so traumatic the stress you endured you were terrifed. Aww poor you. In otherwords, you're a wimp. You went through some stress and it broke you. Something that didn't threaten your safety terrifed you so badly that you're broken. Except, it's all nonsense. You're just holding on to this PTSD as a way of saying you were very stressed because you literally don't know what you're talking about.
I wasn’t trying to claim anything. You came along and with your acres of life experience stated (in reference to someone else) not only that you couldn’t see how someone committing to a business above everything else could cause them to lose literally everything and require treatment, but that it was impossible.
The article trivialized it, I’ll agree with you there. But your absolutist perspective is uninformed, inaccurate and apparently reflective of fairly mundane ignorance.
Your need to have bigger traumas than other people is something I have encountered before and something you’re clearly attached to. I hope you’re able to get free of it.
There has been no name calling or insults. But considering you think it's wrong to gatekeep medical conditions to those who have the medical condition, it's understandable why you can't make out the difference from pointing out what a claim that you get PTSD from the stress of running a startup means. It doesn't mean you had a hard time it means you broke in a way that you shouldn't break.
> I wasn’t trying to claim anything. You came along and with your acres of life experience stated (in reference to someone else) not only that you couldn’t see how someone committing to a business above everything else could cause them to lose literally everything and require treatment, but that it was impossible.
No. You can need treatment for stress/fatigue/etc. Startups can be damaging to your mental health. But you don't need treatment for help dealing with traumatic events because you stressed out over your OKRs and how you're making payroll.
> But your absolutist perspective is uninformed, inaccurate and apparently reflective of fairly mundane ignorance. > > Your need to have bigger traumas than other people is something I have encountered before and something you’re clearly attached to. I hope you’re able to get free of it.
There has been no trauma talked about. Running a startup is not traumatic. It is stressful. The fact you haven't realised this shows how uninformed you are about a very basic thing such as what is trauma. It's a defined word.
As I said, you just want to act like you can get PTSD so you can act like you did something stupid hard that most people can't. You want to make yourself feel better. And you think anyone telling you that you're talking nonsense is gatekeeping and that you can get a medical condition even though all the medical advice would point to that not being true. But damnit, screw the doctors, you can diganose PTSD in yourself and others because you're a startup founder.