Are you saying that people may commit suicide because they are remembering something tragic that happened to them while in a room decorated in a certain way?

LOL, no goldust I'm referring to using the disorder in the thread name.

Is that different from saying something like, "I was so shocked by the price of that sofa, I nearly had a heart attack!" ?

Oh, I don't think it's making light of a serious disorder at all. It's applying the concept of the disorder to a lighthearted topic, perhaps - but I'm sure nobody would take the serious side of the disorder and poke fun at it.

Lighten up. ;-)

As someone who has dealt with PTSD for years, I was not at all offended by what plntmgr wrote. I will say that there have been stressful moments when I can't decide on a paint color that I'll say "just shoot me now" but of course I'm not really serious. Most of the time.

AuntJen I like the way you put it, using the concept and applying it to decorating-just needed to know if I was being a little sensitive about the issue.

Excuse me while I go shoot myself. (lol)

Posted by roobear: AuntJen I like the way you put it, using the concept and applying it to decorating-just needed to know if I was being a little sensitive about the issue."

Yes, I think so, but there is nothing wrong with being sensitive.

I appreciate the fact that you let your viewpoint on the matter be known. I am now much more aware of the sensitivity in the use of the word, (or rather the phrase), where as before I was not, and will double think before the next time I use it.

On that note I DO think people can have a PTSD reaction to a decorating style. I think part of vintage decorating is trying to recreate that happy environment and good feeling a room evoked. And avoiding having a room decorated like what a room with bad memories was.

dilly_dally "On that note I DO think people can have a PTSD reaction to a decorating style. I think part of vintage decorating is trying to recreate that happy environment and good feeling a room evoked. And avoiding having a room decorated like what a room with bad memories was."

And on your note...PTSD is a 'real disorder', and unless you can provide evidence that 'room decor' results in the same trauma as getting your ass blown up by a roadside bomb or a child with a bomb strapped to their body, detonates and you have to pick up the jigsaw puzzel of body bits that was your buddy...I suspect you could and should count yourself lucky your Mother's crappy taste was all you've had to put up with. There are memories and then there is the reality of hell.

I've been wondering if this was what the issue was, around using the term lightly. That things like PTSD weren't and probably still aren't always considered 'real' or taken seriously. I can imagine that people who are suffering, esp if they're not even taken seriously, would have a hard time appreciating hearing their condition tossed around like some sort of a joke, even if they do understand it's being used out of context for dramatic effect.

Being the original perpetrator of the PTSD thread, I would like to humbly apologize for causing any sort of discomfort to anyone, anywhere. I did not consider the many and varied ramifications of such a post. Bowing to the sensitive nature of the visitors of this forum, I would humbly like to propose the following sensitive material to be avoided at all measures, lest we subject any more innocent people to such damaging content.

Domestic Violence:

This is a very common and horrible practice that destroys the lives of people all over the world on a daily basis. Perhaps we should not treat this so lightly. Many times I have seen phrases such as "My husband will kill me when I tell him I want to repaint the house!" This could potentially be hurtful to someone who has suffered from domestic violence in the past.

Again, I apologize to any discomfort that I may have inflicted upon anyone, anywhere. Perhaps we could band together and start a support group to deal with this issue?

"Survivors of Distasteful and Insensitive Posts On A Decorating Forum" has a nice ring to it.

PS, I also suffer from PTSD, but not the "getting your ass blown up by a roadside bomb or a child with a bomb strapped to their body, detonates and you have to pick up the jigsaw puzzel of body bits that was your buddy" variety. So I bow to you, dakota1783. Your PTSD beats my PTSD.

Wow dakota1783, your very first post here and you decide to come out of lurkdom just to tell me off.

I suppose we could all have contest to see who has the worst PTSD.

I still stand by my opinion. If a person was severely and repeatedly molested as a child, and it always happened in a certain room, one would not decorate a room to recreate memories of that experience. This has nothing to do with avoiding "crappy taste" in furniture. Maybe the room had exquisite taste. Or was just average. Maybe it was just the color of the walls. When I was house shopping I actually crossed one house off the list that looked nearly identical to a certain relatives house. I did not want to live with that architecture and floorplan.

And since you bring up wartime PTSD, let me share with you an experience my friend had. We were shopping in the warehouse district. We entered a furniture store that was cramped and stacked to the ceiling with Asian imports, most of them antiques. My friend went into a horrible state and had to get out of there. He started having 'Nam flashbacks and was physically getting ill and hyperventilating. He kept trying to apologize and I kept saying it's, OK I understand. Yes, this was over furniture. It was furniture that set it off. Furniture. You can choose to believe me or not. I don't think this person will ever decide to decorate in an Asian motif for their home.

PTSD can be mild or severe, and can have different causes from different sources. There is not "just one kind". I was once involve in a major auto accident and could not drive or even get into a car for years. After being beaten and mugged in a grocery store parking lot by a gang for my purse, I would feel ill and anxiety ridden every time a man of that race would walk towards me. A person cannot help how they feel about things and cannot just "get over it". It is a gut reaction.

You are not being very understanding of other people who might have a PTSD over furniture. There might be a real good reason someone may not like a certain style lamp - maybe they got hit over the head with one like it.

Truly, you really can't say or do anything. I think we all should just roll over and die.

Good Grief.

Political Correctness gone amok.

Wait until a real tragedy befalls you--there will be no need to lecture good, well intentioned people about political correctness, you won't care about such things.

you won't care about such things.

Yup. You are so right.

"Or if were not going to be P.C. about it, can we at least recognize other serious disorders/illnesses as well? Maybe something like a "Cancerous decorating accents in a room" thread. I'm ok with making light of the disorder I have as a way of helping to heal, but I hate to be alone in it."

As another person lugging around her own backpack-load of psychiatric disorders - a long enough list that I can even bore myself with it - I can tell you you're NOT alone with your psych issues being "made light of" in casual conversation. "I'm sooooooo depressed I didn't win that painting on eBay." "Totally panicking because the painter we're hired to do our entire house is coming in 12 hours and I don't have a single color picked out!" "I have a phobia about shag carpeting." "My kitchen remodel is such a disaster that I just want to shoot myself." I try to take these things in the goofy or exasperated spirit in which they were intended, and laugh at the ridiculousness of our language. Not to say that's the route you need to take, just where I have to go with it to keep from going even further off the deep end and deprive myself of what is often a valuable social outlet (since at times I can't leave my house for days). I'm always working hard at learning not to take myself and my various physical, mental, and emotional disorders so dang seriously - sometimes I do better than others.

And then there's always the "paralyzed by too many choices"...

I doubt people with serious decorating PTSD issues would be hanging out on the Home Decorating thread at GW. We all have our own issues to deal with and they are all different, I'm sure.

Singing loudly (and out of tune as usual), 'I get by with a little help from my friends...' And if we're all invited to ttodd's beer party, 'I get high with a little help from my friends...'

I just have three little words: Oh, holy crap!

Auntjen, you have to say more than that! Else, you'll leave everyone of us feeling like you are saying we're all full of crap. LOL!

Maybe this thread should die a slow and wordless death...

LOL! Golddust, I'm just astonished at the overreaction because someone dared to use "PTSD" in reference to decor. Good grief ... Squirrel's right - ya can't say anything anymore without somebody freaking out and blowing things completely out of proportion.

The thread was started in a humorous way, the OP explained it well; it's still going strong and is funny. Exagerations are often used to convey a humorous view on a topic, and poke fun at ourselves; that's all I read into it.

I have no problem with the fact that the OP of this thread brought up the sensitivity issue, this section is the place to vent, and agree or disagree,
A psychological disorder seems less offensive to use as a funny reference as opposed to an illness such as cancer, but it's still a serious condition, no doubt about it.

Peopl with decorating issues can be a little crazy at times, lol...... oops sorry.

The fact that people are even aware of PTSD is a good thing. That someone can lightly (and I do mean lightly) joke about it is a sign that people are comfortable with the concept and acknowledge its existence.

I have a son who struggles with Attention Deficit Disorder. These transition years to adulthood are proving to be extremely difficult for him. Many, many times I've heard people laugh off their spacey mistakes by saying, "I must have ADD." This usually leads to other people chirping in with, "oh, I KNOW I've got ADD because [insert goofy error here]." Now, their occasional slip-ups are nothing compared to my son's ongoing difficulties stemming from a whole range of executive functioning impairments. Still, it's good that people are aware of ADD and ADHD, even if they joke about it. I hope as my son enters the adult world of work that people's awareness and familiarity with ADD will be a help to him. That's much better than struggling alone with an impairment that nobody knows about or understands.

It's human nature to make light of serious things. It's a healthy mechanism to keep us from going crazy or getting completely and debilitatingly depressed over all the ills that surround us. Imagine what our lives would be like if we couldn't laugh at the bad stuff.

Just about anything that can be said has the potential to offend someone. When you think you're offended by someone's remarks, you might step back and evaluate their motives. If it's directed at you personally or meant to be a personal affront, then it might make sense to react. If it's just the vernacular someone used in a casual manner, why bother getting your panties in a wad over it?

People who expend a lot of energy looking for things to be upset about are essentially just hurting themselves. As someone above said, Lighten up! Living a happy life is so much easier!

I think someone must have come over from Hot Topics.