Insults don’t cause post-traumatic stress disorder

Re: Comedian’s Appeal Falls Flat, June 24.

After reading about the woman at the comedy club who is “to receive five figures in damages from a comedian whose performance she alleges gave her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSd),” I feel that my voice needed to be heard.

I have PTSd (actually I have complex-PTSd to be exact) and it took way, way more than someone swearing at me and giving me a shove to be diagnosed. I’m considered a victim of torture. I suffered for over 15 years, I’ve also been raped and held hostage at knife point for over six hours.

I’m in a support group. Most of the women there have PTSd and have suffered rape, been physically assaulted for years, were sexually assaulted as children or have seen war conditions or death as a result of a natural disaster.

This bar patron, who claims to developed PTSd after having suffered “‘lasting physical and psychological effects’ after [a comedian] directed a string of lesbian slurs at her,” makes a mockery out of a very serious illness. Having generalized anxiety disorder is serious, but you cannot say you have PTSd with a straight face in this circumstance. Her life was never in danger: that is one of the criteria for being diagnosed with the disease.

She makes people like me, and those in my support group, seem less legitimate. Shame on her.