u/bluenmagenta

I was walking down the sidewalk today and a parked car was very badly hit by a car driving on the same side of the street. Honestly if the car hadn't been there I bet I would have been hit. Feeling bad about the woman who was in the parked car but no one was hurt.

I'm learning astrology and I think I can see why I ended up fine, but not sure if the accident itself would show up in my chart. I was so close it triggered fight-or-flight and I ran a little before calling 911. Home now but still feeling a bit spooked.

Mods, I'll remove if need be, but please consider leaving it up, even if it needs to be reposted with edits. In part this is a PSA, as there's likely to be high overlap between this and the other community, but also because there's a high possibility of encountering damaging and triggering behavior. I'm hoping to be able to warn others.

Several days ago, a user made the following post venting about the idea that friends can be a support system. As you can see, the comments are largely dismissive, aggressive, demeaning, and rude. A summary entails comments like:

• OP is speaking out of their own pain (so their opinion is invalid)
• OP should delete this, I don't even know why they posted
• That's simply untrue
• You're being a doomer
• You're fully wrong
• It's because OP must have shit boundaries
• OP just hasn't tried hard enough, they will come if you're good people

As the first rule of the sub is be a supportive peer, this was wildly surprising to me. I made my own follow-up post, echoing OOPs experience, as did many of the subsequent comments. Whether you agree or disagree with the opinion itself, the comments this time are much more measured, supportive, and most importantly, validating enough to disapprove the attacks from the original thread.

At that point the original thread had existed for about 20 hours. My follow-up post, meanwhile lasted for 1 before it was swiftly removed, with me being banned and muted in one fell swoop. The original post remained in its entirety for several hours until it, too, was removed, after another user complained to the CPTSD mods about my post being removed. The original post, which violated no rules, still currently has all the negative responses in tact.

It is my opinion that the nature of the response of users in that community, and the nature of the response of the mods clearly displays that r/ CPTSD is unsafe for many if not most of its own users. A so-called 'supportive community' for those with this condition does not and should not allow its users to attack, insult, and dismiss those in it's communities who are merely stating their lived experience. It does not and should not then further that behavior by silencing and removing the experiences of others in the same way a dictatorship silences its opponents.

Considering the nature of CPTSD, being silenced, ignored, misunderstood, dismissed, and scapegoated are all common occurrences for victims. Happening in a community believed to be supportive can be extremely re-triggering. Given what happened here, I can't help but see very clear similarities to general abusive behavior.

Let this be a PSA not just for that sub, but for any community you may be a part of, any friend, family, therapist, or otherwise you may have in your life. Anyone or anywhere who responds to your pain with outright denial, condescension, and silencing is not in the slightest in support of your healing and well-being.