Also known as PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is affecting more and more people every day. Which tends to stem back to events from childhood but is more common among military combat veterans. Symptoms vary and some can include, night sweats and unwarranted thoughts of the occurrence.
Although PTSD causes a mental roadblock of sorts, it does not mean that life ceases to exist. Sure, this might take some time, yet you too can live a more well-rounded life with patience. One which you are in control of your thoughts and the ability to function within society.
The following collection of PTSD Quotes will provide you with the encouragement that you’ve been seeking. We hope they strike a chord deep inside and help bring you brighter days.
Quotes to Help If You’re Experiencing PTSD
1. “Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When it is ignored or invalidated the silent screams continue internally heard only by the one held captive. When someone enters the pain and hears the screams healing can begin.” — Danielle Bernick
2. “It’s not the person refusing to let go of the past, but the past refusing to let go of the person. When we feel weak, we drop our heads on the shoulders of others.” — Unknown Author
3. “There is nothing more dangerous than a woman who can no longer weep.” — Alfa
4. “The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma.” — Judith Lewis Herman
5. “Don’t get mad when someone does that. Be honored. For that person trusted you enough to, even if subtly, ask you for help.” —Lori Goodwin
6. “You are stronger than you think. You have gotten through every bad day in your life, and you are undefeated.” — Unknown Author
7. “When we feel weak, we drop our heads on the shoulders of others. Don’t get mad when someone does that. Be honored. For that person trusted you enough to, even if subtly, ask you for help.” — Lori Goodwin
8. “No amount of me trying to explain myself was doing any good. I didn’t even know what was going on inside of me, so how could I have explained it to them?” — Sierra D. Waters
9. “PTSD: It’s not the person refusing to let go of the past, but the past refusing to let go of the person.” — Unknown Author
10. “The problem with having problems is that ‘someone’ always has it worse.” — Tiffany Madison
11. “There is no timestamp on trauma. There isn’t a formula that you can insert yourself into to get from horror to healing. Be patient. Take up space. Let your journey be the balm.” — Dawn Serra
12. “Trauma is hell on earth. Trauma resolved is a gift from the gods.” — Peter A. Levine
13. “PTSD is a whole-body tragedy, an integral human event of enormous proportions with massive repercussions.” — Susan Pease Banitt
14. “We tend to forget that baby steps still move you forward.” — Unknown Author
15. “After a traumatic experience, the human system of self-preservation seems to go onto permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment.” — Judith Lewis Herman
16. “My past is an armor I cannot take off, no matter how many times you tell me the war is over.” — Unknown Author
17. “Bad things do happen how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.” — Walter Anderson
18. “Unlike other forms of psychological disorders, the core issue in trauma is reality.” — Bessel A. van der Kolk
19. “PTSD nightmares aren’t always exact replays of the event. Sometimes they replay the emotions you felt during the event, such as fear, helplessness, and sadness.” — Alice Cariv
20. “Most of us have unhealthy thoughts and emotions that have either developed as a result of trauma or hardships in their childhood, or the way they were raised.” — Steven Seagal
21. “Some people’s lives seem to flow in a narrative; mine had many stops and starts. That’s what trauma does. It interrupts the plot. You can’t process it because it doesn’t fit with what came before or what comes afterward.” — Jessica Stern
22. “Instead of being ashamed of what you’ve been through, be proud what you have overcome.” — Dr. Phil
23. “A lot of people who have experienced trauma at the hands of people they’ve trusted take responsibility, and that is what’s toxic.” — Hannah Gadsby
24. “I thought when the abuse stopped I could move on with my life. Instead, I am still running from Brian. The only difference is now I am running from him in my dreams.” — Erin Merryn
25. “we are threatened with suffering from three directions: from our body, which is doomed to decay…, from the external world which may rage against us with an overwhelming and merciless force of destruction, and finally from our relations with other men… This last source is perhaps more painful to use than any other.” — Sigmund Freud
26. “You’re never truly lost if someone cares enough to come to find you. Lost is waiting to be found.” — Barbara Claypole White
27. “Delusional pain hurts just as much as the pain from actual trauma. So what if it’s all in your head?” — Tracy Morgan
28. “Many survivors insist they’re not courageous: ‘If I were courageous I would have stopped the abuse.’ ‘If I were courageous, I wouldn’t be scared’… Most of us have it mixed up. You don’t start with courage and then face fear. You become courageous because you face your fear.” — Laura Davis
29. “The world is full of nice people. If you can’t find one, be one.” — Unknown Author
30. “Even in times of trauma, we try to maintain a sense of normality until we no longer can. That, my friends, is called surviving. Not healing. We never become whole again … we are survivors. If you are here today… you are a survivor. But those of us who have made it thru hell and are still standing? We bare a different name: warriors.” — Lori Goodwin
31. “Determine your core beliefs – Write them out and look at them often. If someone is violating them, evaluate and remove offenders quickly. Take control. Heal the PTSD and live the life you deserve. Be a SurThriver.” — Tracy Malone
32. “Healing from trauma can also mean strength and joy. The goal of healing is not a papering-over of changes in an effort to preserve or present things as normal. It is to acknowledge and wear your new life – warts, wisdom, and all – with courage.” — Catherine Woodiwiss
33. “The objective is for the past to become a very tiny part of your very large, confident, capable, and free self.” — Michele Rosenthal
34. “I survived because the fire that burned inside of me burned brighter than the fire around me.” — Unknown Author
35. “Feelings are not to be suppressed or fixed — they’re to be acknowledged.” — Jennifer Lane
36. “What we change inwardly will change outer reality.” — Plutarch
37. “Hold yourself back, or heal yourself back together. You decide.” — Brittany Burgunder
38. “Always remember, if you have been diagnosed with PTSD, it is not a sign of weakness; rather, it is proof of your strength, because you have survived!” — Michel Templet
39. “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have.” — Bob Marley
40. “Some people survive and talk about it. Some people survive and go silent. Some people survive and create.” — Nikita Gill
Related: Quotes about Being Ignored
Video: What is PTSD? (from the VA Administration)
This is a great short educational video from the VA about the signs and symptoms of PTSD.
You can learn more at the National Center for PTSD.
Summary
Like Nikita Gill suggested, when PTSD is getting the better of you conquer it with creativity. And Plutarch said it best in our 36th quote “What we change inwardly will change outer reality!”
Only until we go within ourselves and master our unwanted haunts from the past, can we achieve true peace.
If someone close to you is struggling, please feel free to share them with others. We wish you the best of luck and hope that these PTSD quotes were of inspiration.
I’m Alice Judy and AnQuotes is a fun hobby for me. We know that everyone loves a great quote and our mission here is simple – to be the best and most interesting quote site in the world! If you have quotes you would like us to cover, please contact us.