Tom, once again you've given me much to chew on, and no easy answers (but that's not what you were looking for, anyway). All people crave a sense of safety and security; people with PTSD crave/need it intensely and at the same time are particularly vulnerable and prone to feeling un-safe. It's the dealotrons, or lack thereof. Where can we find that sense of safety, when we can't control the world around us? For me, it's a quest to be "
comfortable with uncertainty", to understand and to trust that what I need will be there to get me through the bad times -- whether that's something within myself, or whether it's the compassion of my fellow human beings, or a blessing from the universe in the form of a ray of sunshine. When you're feeling helpless, hopeless and isolated, it is just about impossible to believe that help is there, within you and without you. But that's the key.