Wow. I'm exactly the same, right down to the 'considered a career as a therapist' bit. Except that I actually studied for some time to become a clinical psychologist. It was only half way through my clinical studies that I had a sudden realization I couldn't do this as a career.

Some things may best be left between you and your therapist.

I worked with vets and there is a guilt amongst the injured because "they should have died out there." There is a guilt amongst the dying, I heard of apologies.

I...what article are people reading here? There's enough self-awareness that it leans heavily toward self-deprecation and I was kind of reading it like, "Ok, I get it, your/my/our pain isn't shit comparatively...give me the meat though." But after reading the comments, I see why Tolentino erred on the side of being…

This was a really great interview, and as a trauma survivor w/ PTSD symptoms that have affected my own relationships, I am very interested in reading her book.

What I get from the negative reactions to this article: so many people are proud of their lack of empathy. No one is saying you have to feel for Jia or McClelland but by going out of your way (which you are doing by commenting negatively) to let the world know why they are wrong to have feelings and express those…

Yep, thanks for sharing this. My husband was emotionally and physically abused by his mom and both he and his sister tend to gloss over their abuse by pointing out that their older brother got the brunt of it and what they went through didn't compare. I always call BS when we speak of it. So, he got it worse, does…

But who is StonedReagan1?

Yeah I don't know what Jia was trying to accomplish by making fun of your name, but to answer your question: No I don't think the author was raped or experienced any trauma first hand. I get the sense that her PTSD was a result of being surrounded by people who have experienced really severe trauma and a combination…

I mean, she is a journalist, it's not like this book is the only thing she's ever written. Her job is to write about other people. The amount of material she's written about herself compared to other people is still probably pretty small.

I wonder if all the people on here bitching about narcisim would say this to someone who has PTSD from seeing the WTC on 9/11. Would you go up to them and say "it didn't happen TO you!". Or soldiers who have PTSD from being overseas (a lot of them never actually saw real action). My boyfriend has PTSD from military…

This is exactly what a friend of mine went through (I outlined it all above). After witnessing a violent episode, other stressors in her life combined and led to panic attacks. She sought help right away which I think is what helped her get her equilibrium back so quickly, but she went through all the…

I commented somewhere else that those of us who work in these situations are taught that "self care" is one of the most important parts of our jobs. If you are not okay, you can't help others. I don't know why wanting to do something to help other people means we should be superhuman and not experience any emotional/…

I really appreciate this article. I don't understand why so many people feel the need to pull the whole "well it could be worse" or "well at least xyz didn't happen." I understand the frustration of people feeling like McClelland is making this experience all about her, and parts of her first article came across as…

When you are in these types of fields you are taught that "self care" is one of the most important things you can learn to do. They teach you this in school for social work, etc. Obviously this is a widespread problem with care/aid workers. It's really sad to see this violent backlash. There must be so many people who…

I think one of the most important things from this is not debating whether she made it all about her.

I read McClelland's piece in GOOD in 2011, and had no idea she had received such backlash. I've worked for years with women who have survived some sort of sexual violence, and while I've never been assaulted myself, just the other day I burst into intelligible sobs when a character in a show I was watching was raped.…

This part struck me: We have to denigrate ourselves and invalidate our own experience. We can't help it. I was as susceptible to that as you are and as everyone else is. And most people I meet will say the same thing, no matter how much therapy they've been through. There's no acceptance for just taking someone's…

I'm one of those people that strangers will just start chatting with, even when I don't want it. They'll spill deep personal secrets to me. I don't know why. Really. I have to summon of my black cloud of fuck-the-hell-off to keep them away.

I think it's an excellent thing to talk about two things that many people who work who work in health fields or disaster relief or other types of international work involving violence and displacement have had to deal with—compassion fatigue and vicarious traumatization. I haven't worked in disaster relief but I have…