Volume 13, Issue 1
Page 17
blackandpink.org
My Experience with PTSD A member of Black & Pink’s family recounts their experience with PTSD while incarcerated By Mike P (CA) *Content warning: sexual abuse, torture, police brutality, medical neglect* My PTSD began early in childhood from sexual abuse but I was fortunate as I could keep it generally under control with sporadic therapy. I have never been afraid to seek out a psychologist. But all that changed the day the police carjacked and kidnapped me and threw me in jail. I had zero criminal history and being trapped in such an alien environment caused my dissociation to manifest full force. For me, dissociation causes me to “freeze;” It can be be difficult for me to think and make decisions. The world seems unreal, as if everything outside myself seems like a fake world. Before incarceration, I could easily snap out of it; in prison, I felt paralyzed. Because I had never been in jail before, it took me several months to stop behaving like a (continued page 21) by Mark B. (CA)
