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Twitter gave me PTSD: Woman (feminist/atheist) claims mean comments and 'cyberstalking' gave her...
Daily Mail ^ | 17 April 2014 | Sara Malm

Posted on 04/18/2014 7:35:53 AM PDT by dead

A Washington woman has come under fire over claims her PTSD caused by online harassment and Twitter trolls is equal to that of military veterans.



Harassed: Melody Hensley claims online bullies and Twitter trolls has caused
her PTSD and that it is just as bad as that suffered by veterans of combat.

Melody Hensley was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 16 months ago following online abuse, which she says is the result of her being an outspoken feminist and atheist.

She caused upset to many military veterans and their families and friends when she claimed her PTSD from Twitter trolls was as bad as mental anguish suffered by those who do active duty.

Ms Hensley, head of an organisation promoting secular ideas, has suffered from PTSD for more than a year, according to her Twitter account.

In an interview with DailyDot.com, Ms Hensley says she became a target for 'atheist misogynists and men's rights activists' a few years back, following her open status as an atheist and feminist activist.

One man in particular has waged a two-year hate campaign against her by publishing her tweets using Storify, others have cut-and-pasted her tweets into YouTube videos, belittling her claims of PTSD.

She claims to be harassed by a cybermob of ‘more than 400 people’ which led to her diagnosis.

On her Twitter feed Ms Hensley outlines her history of PTSD in several posts, saying she was bedridden for the first six months following her diagnosis, and that she has been so distressed about the online hatred she fears leaving her house unaccompanied.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2605888/Woman-claims-PTSD-Twitter-cyberstalking-says-bit-war-veterans.html#ixzz2zFTBlY49 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
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To: WayneS
Your Dad was quite clever.

He,and my Mom,had that sly Irish wit.

21 posted on 04/18/2014 7:55:07 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Stalin Blamed The Kulaks,Obama Blames The Tea Party)
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To: dead
My brother in law (a former teacher who was fired for insubordination to the principal) says that Scott Walker gave him PTSD.

He believes it, and says he's permanently unable to work because of it.

22 posted on 04/18/2014 7:55:24 AM PDT by Mygirlsmom (No Mo (zilla). I'm going to the Opera instead.)
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To: dead

Wow... she’s far worse than I imagined.


23 posted on 04/18/2014 7:57:33 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Mygirlsmom

What’s a “disability” check worth these days?
A couple grand a month, tax free?


24 posted on 04/18/2014 7:59:03 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: dead

Then stay off the Interwebs.


25 posted on 04/18/2014 7:59:15 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The best way to control opposition is to lead it ourselves." -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin)
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To: dead

She caused upset to many military veterans and their families and friends when she claimed her PTSD from Twitter trolls was as bad as mental anguish suffered by those who do active duty.


It can be....for those with no coping mechanisms. As can almost any perceived negative factor focused on obsessively. The thing is, if your coping mechanisms are so lacking, and your mental strength so frail...there is already something wrong with you.

This is different from the combat PTSD, which even people with strong wills and good coping mechanisms can still overwhelm.

Stress is stress, with potentially major physiological symptoms even if it is stupid...and can even cause retarded brain development. The problem is why it causes you significant stress to begin with.


26 posted on 04/18/2014 8:00:54 AM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Thorliveshere

“Here we go... remember all of those bully laws states are putting into effect....”


Squashing the First Amendment, and keeping the “protected” from developing coping skills, and will without willfulness.


27 posted on 04/18/2014 8:04:12 AM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: lepton
This is different from the combat PTSD, which even people with strong wills and good coping mechanisms can still overwhelm. Stress is stress, with potentially major physiological symptoms even if it is stupid...and can even cause retarded brain development. The problem is why it causes you significant stress to begin with.

Yet another reason they still should call it "Shell Shock". Once they named it PTSD, they found other applications of the term, outside of combat.

28 posted on 04/18/2014 8:04:35 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dead

So all you guys here be careful. I’m very sensitive, too.

(Puts on flame suit, ;-) )


29 posted on 04/18/2014 8:06:50 AM PDT by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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To: dead

I have PTSD from looking at the her photograph. Where do I go to collect?


30 posted on 04/18/2014 8:11:45 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: dead; moose07

It was all the penis pics people sent her that drove her over the edge.
Her planet sized jealousy of what she could never have.
So next up she’ll have a pit in her basement and be telling men, “It puts the lotion on its skin..”


31 posted on 04/18/2014 8:19:50 AM PDT by Darksheare (Try my coffee, first one's free..... Even robots will kill for it!)
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To: dead
Feminist get “the vapors” from mean tweets...a real feminist would hate her for making them a joke...instead I'm sure they'll flock to her to hold her hand a pat her head...”there, there, those mean ole men were so bad to you...there ought to be a law...”
32 posted on 04/18/2014 8:40:37 AM PDT by fungoking (Tis a pleasure to live in the Ozarks)
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To: All

I have been concerned for some time with what I consider the promiscuous use of the PTSD label. Have these people been officially diagnosed? I haven’t gone to the Daily Mail article yet. I think that there could be an occasional civilian case, say somebody who has been in a hostage situation, a survivor of some horrible crime, maybe a rampage where others around them were getting killed, unusually bad cases of domestic or child abuse, survivors of natural disasters. For example this girl in the Oso mudslide who was literally hanging onto her baby for dear life—if she would say later she has PTSD, I won’t argue. But all that being said, I am really concerned about PTSD becoming a racket. At the risk of sounding mean, we know that people are trying for disability when their unemployment ends. Also a few years back, it was a big cause célèbre when people found out that drug addicts and alcoholics were getting disability checks, so as I understand it, a lot of them were pronounced mentally ill so they could still get the checks.

On a separate subject, why is their always so much ridicule of peoples’ physical appearance, especially women, it seems to me, here? Remind me never to post my picture on Free Republic.


33 posted on 04/18/2014 8:47:42 AM PDT by crazycatlady
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To: MrB

It’s a social security check. So it varies, but the average amount is considerably less than 2 grand.


34 posted on 04/18/2014 8:50:01 AM PDT by crazycatlady
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To: crazycatlady

Rats, I see that I used the wrong kind of “there” in my post. So now Ill have the grammar police on me, in addition to all the men who ridicule any woman who isn’t a perfect 10.


35 posted on 04/18/2014 8:54:42 AM PDT by crazycatlady
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To: crazycatlady
According to the article, she has a diagnosis from a quack Psychiatrist, which probably means she has some meds going.

Remind me never to post my picture on Free Republic.

Good move, and for the correct reasons. Being FR, someone's bound to disagree with you about something, and they'll make fun of your appearance, no matter how hot you are. I'm a not-hot guy, and I once had my picture on my profile. Someone linked it on a thread at another website (anti-FReepers), and made a few rude comments. Unfortunately, the picture was on my personal webspace, so I substituted a picture of some seriously discomforting porn in its place and they found themselves discussing a filthy picture that infuriated their moderators.

36 posted on 04/18/2014 9:03:55 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
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To: momtothree
Apparently Ms. Hensley is unaware that her Twitter and all electronic devices have a special button. It's called the "off/on button". On rare models it may say: "power". I suggest she try perhaps, just maybe turning the computer OFF and see if she feels better.

BTW, isn't it kind of ironic that a grown-ass, "strong, powerful, fierce, feminist" woman is so fragile that she can't have her views challenged or hear an opposing thought without going completely batty and rolling up like a pill bug?

37 posted on 04/18/2014 9:05:51 AM PDT by boop (I just wanted a President. But I got a rock.)
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To: All

So now Ive gone to the Mail article, where they also show her Twitter profile pic, and in it she looks quite different, for those who are interested.

I have little tolerance for this stuff, myself. Most people who haven’t been living under a rock know that the Internet can be brutal, especially if you jump into controversial topics. So if you can’t take social media heat, get out of the kitchen. But since she invoked PTSD, it can be useful to open up a conversation about the over-diagnosis of it. As I have discussed I here before, there are women in my building who claim that things like construction noise or other residents playing Scrabble outside her door aggravates PTSD. I don’t like to be rude or nosy and ask how you come to have PTSD—were you in combat? But one wonders.


38 posted on 04/18/2014 9:07:50 AM PDT by crazycatlady
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To: boop

I’ve observed this from a lot of feminists for years.


39 posted on 04/18/2014 9:10:08 AM PDT by crazycatlady
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To: dead
One man in particular has waged a two-year hate campaign against her by publishing her tweets using Storify

So, repeating what you said is hate speech?

Well, why not?

After all repeating what O-bummer said before he decided to waffle is racist.

40 posted on 04/18/2014 9:10:39 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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