A reader asked:

I know that sometimes there aren’t words for a thing but it’s still a thing. I was just wondering if trauma response to, well, trauma and abuse counts as a disability/mental illness even if you don’t have PTSD? Or is it like breaking your arm so does not count? I’m confused on where I stand on things so even though I’m starting to identify a thing as abuse and I know I’m having reactions I’m not sure if it’s okay to look at stuff meant for disabled people to deal with it, I guess.

realsocialskills said:

You are welcome here.

It’s ok to look at stuff made for people with disabilities and mental illness. If you’re having enough trouble that those resources help you, then you’re having enough trouble that it’s ok to use them.

You don’t have to have an official justification.

And also – labeling stuff appropriately can take years. And you need help now. Not later once you’ve figured out a justification for why you need help. It’s ok to focus on learning as much as you can about what’s going on and what’s helpful to you.

Hardly anything is completely unique to one group. Almost everything has applications much broader than what whoever wrote it had in mind. It’s ok to learn from people who figured out something to cope with something else.

You are not alone. And you don’t have to be in this alone. Dealing with abuse is terrible. The last thing I would want is for you to feel like you’re unworthy of support in dealing with abuse. It doesn’t matter whether you have PTSD or something else or even nothing diagnosable. What matters is that you’re being hurt and you are having trouble, and there is knowledge avaiable that can help you.