Links: PTSD and bodily illness; a site for understanding the experience of PTSD

There's an article making the rounds by Kate Johnson that confirms the links between psychological trauma and physical illness. It's about time. When "anecdotal" (experiential) evidence from people who live with PTSD (and other "mental illness") is finally seen to be as verifiable and meaningful as studies and reports of hard science, we might get somewhere. To my mind, nothing trumps lived experience and our ability to articulate it for others who cannot understand it because they haven't been there. The true experts of any experience are those who have lived through it ...

I also found a blog via my Twitter page that focuses on support for people who are in intimate relation with someone who lives with PTSD. It's called Understanding PTSD. It's been composed by a person who has PTSD; the format is question-and-answer; many of the questions come from the blog's readers. Recent queries include how to help loved ones understand the experience of being triggered, how to deal with people whose behaviour is injurious to you as a survivor, and how a loved one might be of gentle help when things go from bad to worse.