This PTSD Symptom Is Killing You and No One Is Talking About It

It’s not listed in any of the clinical literature. It’s not part of any diagnostic criteria. No doctor will ask about it. But it’s real. And it will kill you.

Matt Gangloff
7 min readDec 27, 2021
Photo by Anita Jankovic on Unsplash

I want to tell you about the most embarrassing moment of my life.

But when I look back at it now, I shudder a little bit. When I think about it, I just kind of shake my head. It’s one of those moments in life when I was the farthest off-course. When I was the most lost. When I believed something utterly untrue.

I was in College. Three years out of the Army and back-to-back tours in Iraq. I was an alcoholic. I didn’t know that then but I know that now. My life was shit. I was a pretty awful person all around. And, to be fair to myself, I was an awful person because I was suffering greatly.

Here’s the embarrassing part

One day, these words came out of my mouth. Well, not out of my mouth. I don’t think I said them out loud. But I said them in my head…

Why hasn’t anyone come to check on me? Don’t they know? Can’t they see how much I’m suffering? Why are they doing this to me?

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Matt Gangloff
Matt Gangloff

Written by Matt Gangloff

I teach the how-to’s of Post-Traumatic Growth: How to heal and grow, find a new mission, become your best self and build a meaningful life. www.mattgangloff.com