If you have a sofa with only three legs and two cushions, would you consider it high-functioning? It sits up straight, for the most part, and even though you’re sitting without cushions while at an angle, life sitting on this sofa isn’t too bad. At the very least, you have a sofa. At the very worst, you don’t have the best sofa. You live with the sofa as it is, thinking to yourself it works and denying yourself any need to get a better sofa, sit more comfortably, or let go of whatever attachments to your sofa you might have. Interestingly, you observe two kinds of reactions in people when they encounter your sofa. One group of people looks at the positives, agreeing with all of your arguments for why you don’t need to make changes in your sofa life. The other group, on the other hand, are bewildered, shocked, and astonished, that you could live life at this quality level. You deserve better, they assure you. Life could be even better with a sofa which truly functions to support you. They emphatically try to make you see their perspective: you aren’t really living when you’re living this way. This is essentially the argument regarding high-functioning PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.
With what might be described as “high-functioning” PTSD, the deficits in the sofa’s functioning may not be obvious, making it more difficult for an observer to tell if anything is truly wrong with the sofa at all. What starts as a frayed thread, however, can overtime turn into a tear or an entire section of fabric missing. High-functioning PTSD can look good on the outside while hiding a multitude of fraying threads. Though many men and women carry their ‘functional’ PTSD for years without further damage, most people lose the ability to manage their functionality in life. Speaking to the metaphor, the legs break, the cushions wear, the fabric rips- though the pieces of the sofa are still present, the sofa still “works”, the sofa is not in its best shape, at its fullest potential, living its best life. People learn to live comfortably with the discomforts brought to them by the effects of PTSD for different reasons. Their lives may be high-functioning, but they are still living in pain. A great realization for anyone who encounters it is that life does not have to be lived in the pain of PTSD. Healing is possible. Recovery can happen.
Living a “high-functioning” life does not mean you don’t deserve the time to seek residential care for trauma, addictions, and related mental health issues. Call The Guest House Ocala today for information on our residential treatment programs, concierge level of customized care, and life on the estate: 1-855-483-7800