How did you find the courage to open up about your condition?

I'm not sure that "courage" had anything to do with it. Actually, it took friends who saw that something was wrong and built a "place" where I felt safe in opening up. Once the wall was penetrated, like a tiny leak in a dam, the rest burst out.

Unlike most I actually had PTSD from traumatic issues in my childhood. I never have really opened up about it, I just stood off to the side to see what others were doing to cope with it. My family sees any mental defect as a weakness and they are worlds worst at taking advantage of a person any time they can, so I tried my best to hide this from all of them. It wasnt until I discovered this site that I finally admitted that I had been suffering from this issue for decades. Rallypoint has given me an outlet to get this out into the open and there are some here that are truly here to help through those times when you just need someone that has been there to talk to. I'm not really sure how this site came to be but to whoever created it I would like to say thanks.(there are a couple of folks here that know who I am thanking also). I have discovered that a grounding exercise seems to work the best for me at least, others will have different methods, but if anyone would like to try grounding just ask, Its a very simple thing and seems to bring reality back into focus fairly quickly.