#FacesOfPTSD is a social media campaign that focuses on survivors of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and interpersonal violence who are living with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Despite evidence that non-combat related trauma is a leading cause of PTSD, online search engine results will lead you to believe otherwise. The #FacesOfPTSD campaign aims to change that, but we need survivors to participate to make it happen.
The campaign begins May 24, 2017 and will run through May 31, 2017. All living with PTSD, and those who identify with PTSD (but may have not received an official diagnosis) are asked to post a picture on any social media platform, along with the hashtag #FacesOfPTSD.
Through out the week, we will be sharing images, powerful stories and evidence based articles to increase and improve on the information available to the next survivor who goes looking for answers and validation. Feel free to share any images or information shared here throughout the week.
The images will be collected and a collage created to be presented on social media and in media coverage June 27th – National PTSD Awareness Day.
Right now, if a person uses an online search engine to search “PTSD”, he or she will be directed, almost exclusively, to sites offering information on veterans of war. An image search will lead you to believe only men in uniform get Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
What’s troubling is that if that person searching is not a veteran, instead a survivor of a different kind of trauma, she is possibly left feeling even more isolated and defeated.
If “women and PTSD” is searched, one is left believing a female with PTSD is in a constant state of falling apart.
That is another misrepresentation. Those who suffer with PTSD usually do so while raising children, working 9 to 5 and/or taking care of necessary day to day tasks.
Survivors are professionals at looking “normal” on the outside.
Anyone who goes searching for help deserves to see images that look like PTSD in the real world – faces of moms, dads, children, teachers, social workers, cashiers, nurses, etc. They need to see the real #FacesOfPTSD. Faces that look like ours.
The goal is to alter the current landscape of social media and search engines to include all trauma survivors, particularly women who are rarely represented, in order to reflect more accurately the #FacesOfPTSD.
It’s vital to accurately represent the women and men living day to day, while doing the best they can to manage flashbacks, constant triggers and the debilitating medical and mental health effects of this disorder. It’s time to recognize and validate the many #FacesOfPTSD.
Show your face. Share your knowledge. Make a change.
For resources and information about PTSD, visit http://www.facesofptsd.com.
If you are a parent navigating the challenges of living with PTSD while raising a family, visit www.parentingwithptsd.com
Sign up for the Parenting with PTSD newsletter and receive a FREE copy of our book on release day.
This campaign is a joint initiative of:
Dawn Daum and Joyelle Brandt of Parenting With PTSD ParentingwithPTSD@gmail.com
Christine “Cissy” White of Heal Write Now / How to Live On Earth When You Were Raised in Hell facesofptsd@gmail.com or 617-962-0036.
Arwen Faulkner of Lilacs in October
Jodie Ortega Breaking my silence: Healing thrives in communication
Parenting with PTSD 