Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Special Notice: Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors will be on hiatus throughout the month of December. I’ll be taking the time to regroup and recharge, and hopefully complete some projects that have been whispering in my ear for awhile. Thanks so much for your support year-round!

Photo Credit

@wwpinc “Thanks for all the Veterans Day wishes today!
It’s an honor for us to serve America’s veterans!” ~
Wounded Warriors Project

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@Tamavista “Why do so many question kindness but remain silent in the face of evil? One needs no explanation, the other has none.” ~ Kitamori

@Carlolight “The most valuable gift you have to offer another is the gift of your presence.” ~ Leonard Jacobson

@soulseedz “Anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.” ~ D Whyte

@BipolarBatesy “No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.” ~ Taoist Proverb

@PsychDigest “The person you were always meant to become is waiting for you just on the other side of the things you fear.” ~ Tom Wright

@karenkmmonroy “Love. How you define it — defines you.”

Linked Tweets

Suicide Prevention and Aftermath

@800273TALK Print this cheat sheet to keep in your wallet so you’ll know when you (or a friend) need to call the Lifeline (PDF)
[SEO: A wallet-sized foldable aid in case of crisis. Lists 12 signs that someone who experienced trauma needs help, and provides the toll-free lifeline number.]

@NAMIMass 11/19 Sat.-13th Annual Internat’l Survivors of Suicide Day. A Day Healing for Bereavement After Suicide
[SEO: “Survivors of suicide loss gather at hundreds of simultaneous healing conferences around the world every year on International Survivors of Suicide Day to connect with others who have survived the tragedy of suicide loss, and express and understand the powerful emotions they experience. If you don’t live near a participating city, or you find it difficult to attend in person, you can watch online and join in a live chat immediately following the program.”]

Veterans’ Day

@drcherylarutt Check out this new mobile App “PTSD Coach” to help manage symptoms
[SEO: “Together with professional medical treatment, PTSD Coach provides you dependable resources you can trust. If you have, or think you might have PTSD, this app is for you. Family and friends can also learn from this app. PTSD Coach was created by the VA’s National Center for PTSD and the DoD’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology.” Now available on Android, and a free download from iTunes. (By the way, it’s not just for veterans.) Look for PTSD Family Coach coming soon.)]

@psychcentral Healing Together: The Writing of Warriors: Viewing War From the Inside Out
[SEO: “In a project called Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families (Amazon link to updated research edition), they reached out to the 2 million active military and their loved ones and invited them to write about their personal experiences of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while the events were happening.”

“The result was a total of 2,000 submissions and over 10,000 pages of diaries, poems, emails, letters, fiction and autobiographies from which a final compilation was chosen and edited as a book by Andrew Carroll. The goal of the final manuscript was to be as faithful as possible to the heart and soul of the writings – ‘no matter how jarring or upsetting they be.'” (Warning: The poem included in the post is quite graphic, in a necessary way.)]

@HealingPTSD U.S. Losing the Battle Against Military Suicides
[SEO: “While the report credits the military and the VA for taking a number of steps to stem suicides, it also finds fault with myriad policies and calls for improvements in mental health screening and treatment. It raps the ‘prevailing wisdom’ in the military that suicides are not linked directly to deployments to war.” …

“The report also finds flaws in the mental-health screening process following deployment, in which troops are asked to fill out a health-assessment form that asks questions about their physical and psychological status. A 2008 study found that when Army soldiers completed an anonymous survey, their reported rates of depression, PTSD, suicidal thoughts and interest in receiving care were two to four times higher than the responses on the official forms. The CNAS researchers said that many returning troops lie — and are encouraged to lie — for fear that if they admit to mental health problems, they will not be allowed to go home.”]

@HealingPTSD An important read by a recent veteran, a Marine captain: “On War and Redemption”
[SEO: “When I returned from Afghanistan this past spring, a civilian friend asked, ‘Is it good to be back?’ It was the first time someone had asked, and I answered honestly. But I won’t do that again. We weren’t ready for that conversation. Instead, when people ask, I make it easy for everyone by responding, ‘It’s fine.’ That’s a lie, though. It’s not fine.”]

@heykim Veterans Day: 8 Online Ways to Thank Our Troops (via Mashable)
[SEO: “Today, Veterans Day, we honor those who defend our country. Our service members remind us that there are few things more important than doing what we can to make a difference in the lives of others.”]

Child Abuse Prevention

@mjdub Molesters Usually Don’t Look Like Molesters
[SEO: “But true or not, the accusations against Sandusky, spelled out in great detail in a 23-page grand jury report, bring to mind many proven cases in which a molester occupied a position of trust, identified and gravitated to children who were especially vulnerable, made them feel special and was by all outward appearances their champion, which many molesters indeed believe themselves to be. In their own minds these molesters aren’t predators. They’re people whose affinity for children just happens to have a sexual element, the satisfaction of which they’ve convinced themselves isn’t such a big, harmful deal.”]

@SarahEOlson2009 How adults justify not reporting child abuse
[SEO: This is so disheartening, as well as infuriating. If doctors don’t get it, somebody has to step up on behalf of children. Don’t be one of those people — doctor or otherwise — who rationalize not reporting child abuse.

“A report out of Boston this week revealed that when doctors were confronted with clear signs of child abuse, they often did not report the injuries to protective services. … ‘They found that reporting was warranted in 13 of the 63 cases doctors chose not to report to authorities. Most of those cases involved leg fractures or bruises to the face or ear, and in six cases the physicians themselves had identified a high likelihood of abuse.’ The researchers concluded that the doctors had adequate training in recognizing abuse, but were not as well informed about why they should report it.“]