to feel quite shocked that DH has PTSD from teaching?

Unless you’ve been there it’s hard to understand. It’s hard to walk away from something you’ve been doing for 25 years because it’s all you know. Teachers went on strike last year and got a social media flaming because we “had two years off for Covid” - we didn’t. Many teachers are voting with their feet and leaving for lower pay to save their mental health. There is a culture of fear in schools and the unions are overwhelmed with case work. We are told to soldier on “for the children” and we do care about students, often to the detriment of our own health and our own children. I left three years ago and I couldn’t imagine going back.

If you read what many teachers go through, day in day out, it IS textbook abuse - just because it happens in plain sight doesn't make it anything less than abuse. Indeed, the fact that it happens in plain sight probably adds to the trauma many teachers clearly feel. That many are unable to "just resign" contributes to the feeling of being trapped and not being able to get away from a situation that is deeply, deeply traumatising. I'm not a teacher but I witnessed my own teachers being subject to such abuse for hours every day. And this was in the 90s when things were supposedly nowhere near as bad they are today. And at one of the best state schools in the country. I saw them pelted with missiles (coins etc) that could have blinded them had they been hit in the eye and god knows what else. Things thrown at them - chairs, tables, etc. Threats made, racist nicknames given, their (fictional) sex lives discussed in loud voices for other teenagers to laugh about so they felt humiliated for being older women with greying hair and a little weight on their bodies. Horrible. Why anyone would think that wouldn't cause trauma in at least some is strange to me.

@Yousay55 , entirely feasible to get PTSD from teaching, it can be a perfect 'breeding ground' of adverse conditions which could trigger PTSD. It's not necessarily about a single, dramatic event or assault but rather the regularity with which teachers are placed in 'impossible' situations where each of the possible courses of action will have dire consequences, having to chose the least detrimental and live with the consequences, often under immense pressure and coercion. A bit like in an abusive relationship.

@FriendlyRobin "...always having more work than you can do" is the killer. The relentlessness of never really being able to finish a 'project' or deliver on an assignment, but always having to tap out before you've got to the end of the list, because you've got to catch sleep as it's 2 o'clock in the morning.

@DrinkFeckArseBrick your poor relative should not be routinely prescribed ADs. This is heartbreaking. Teachers are pathologised for buckling under unreasonable pressure: it's not individual teachers who are sick and requiring medication, it's structural, systemic and cynical mismanagement of education at policy level.

Nurses, doctors, police etc are all at risk of developing it so I imagine some teachers will be too. Not surprising unfortunately for the public sector these days, especially after Covid.

I've met several teachers with severe MH issues just from trying to do their jobs.

Imo in the same way as for other public services, nobody should have to deal with the abuse that teachers are forced to put up with. The children displaying the abusive behaviours that make everyone's lives a misery for 7 hours a day should be excluded and the parents punished and forced to take responsibility. Instead, the abusers with no respect are facilitated and encouraged to achieve 100% attendance.

So sorry to hear about your DH, OP. I hope he makes a full recovery and can find some peace of mind and enjoyment of life.

DD y8 just yesterday told me a teacher was bullied so hard by the abusive little shits in her class (the "top set" in a sink school) that he walked out in tears halfway through a lesson and has now left the job.

Caring? Teaching is based on years of power abuse, control, physical abuse.so it’s not as straightforward as “all teachers are good and suffering ptsd.” Plenty of them are out there causing it.

School was made compulsory to try to tackle child labour. And existed “to prepare people for life, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to contribute to a thriving society.” (ie be a cog in our machine, thank you signed the government.)

it’s an institution riddled with problems.

This country is riddled with problems.

there are very few industries where people aren’t treated like shit or overworked or underpaid (not necessarily by their company, but our “leaders” who have brought a growing number to poverty).

but your husband faced the public and the public are shit - another consequence of poverty and people not giving a shit and lack of resource (and shitty schools often). It’s exhausting to deal with entitled people all day every day.

many people don’t come out with ptsd though.

how did he get emergency emdr - I know people who have had traumas which caused ptsd that are undeniably ‘traumatic’ and are still sitting on waiting lists years later! Who decided that he needed it and who decided it was from teaching? Need to know this doctor because most just shrug!

Why not try teaching @BossMadam ? Then you’ll understand and empathise.

Not surprised at all

People don't give a shit about teachers

Also interested to know if he was diagnosed by a psychiatrist or qualified psychologist.

I have no doubt people can experience extreme stress and mental health issues from their job (not sure why you wouldn’t just resign though) but unless he was in fear of his life, being abused or tortured, or witnessed extremely traumatic events happening to other people, it rather denigrates PTSD sufferers who have experienced that and live with true lifelong trauma.

Of course, I am going to be flamed by the large amount of teachers on here who are insistent that they have the toughest job in the world though……

I can totally understand it. I'm a youth leader for a certain youth group. I had a 14 year old tower over me, very aggressive and very angry. I kept my cool but I was shaking after. That was just one incident for me and it affected me for a couple of weeks and I didn't want to see the teen, I can only imagine if I had to teach them and deal with it week in and week out

He is not the only one. Hope he gets the time he needs to recover. Hope he finds something to enjoy and work in once he is well enough. Very likely he won't teach again, so will need to build a new life.

@NameChanged112 there is often a lack of support from management, unions and parents. Dare I say it - schools preach anti-bullying whilst employing it themselves.

Yes, you are missing something. Pack it in with your victim-blaming and derailing the thread. "Sorry but".. Pfft.

The OP's husband's experience was massively at the hands of management who for the most part, don't carry out their actions, or lack of them, in front of the children.

I am a teacher and am not surprised. I wish your husband the best and hope he recovers soon. Schools are tough places. Management can sometimes lack the courage to back you up. Some parents (not all) have little understanding of how their children behave and the impact this has on others. Schools preach kindness to the children, but managers can be quite unkind towards staff - unrealistic expectations, little flexibility, no appreciation, blame and more blame.
I am sorry he is going through a tough time.

It's shocking but i am not sure why the profession don't speak out as it appears to be a widespread endemic problem based on the comments. Whilst it is terrible for the adults involved, at the end of the day this is a job and they can leave. If schools are so toxic that the adults are this badly affected then I am probably more concerned about the impact on the well behaving children who witness this and don't have the same option to leave but just want a decent hassle free education. i think i am missing something here, but teachers soldiering on in these circumstances rather than standing up or lobbying their union sound like they are sadly also part of a systemic problem impacting the children they are wanting to support? sorry if this is offensive to teachers, but from an outside view it's worrying that people put up with this for so long and whilst traumatic for the adults to suffer abuse, this will also be traumatic for the children exposed to but not directly part of it too. the adults have more agency to do something about it surely?

Also, although my child has aged out of school I can tell kids must be a nightmare for their teachers because they’re awful in public and have no respect, they will literally say anything to or about anyone, and have no shame in the same way previous generations did.

I’m a teacher, being teaching for 12 years , I know three people who have had extremely bad mental health problems due to the job- two had mental breakdowns,. I also have had time off sick with anxiety and depression, I know many more colleagues who live with constant stress every day and every year at my school staff go off work to sort out their mental health for a couple of weeks

My husband and I both have PTSD symptoms from teaching, we're much better now after a few years out of it. It's appalling.

Not surprised. It used to be that some pupils would carry trauma from high school into adulthood from pupils/teachers bullying them, nowadays the kids are untouchable and they know they don’t have to adhere to the rules because excuses will be made for their bad behaviour.

No sadly this is not surprising given how frequently teachers are physically and verbally assaulted. I was a HLTA but I’m glad I decided not to train as a teacher and retrained in something completely different and now work in a joB with way less stress and greater flexibility.

I agree about lack of parent support being a factor. I’ve had to stop speaking to an old childhood friend because she infuriated me so much with her constant tales about challenging her children’s teachers. She says daft things like “I can tell when my children are lying to me “ when it’s obvious her children have behaved badly and are smug in the knowledge that their mum would fight their corner if they just lying through their teeth . Her youngest has hit TAs in the past too. She’s alway firing off critical emails to the teachers and gets angry when they don’t reply immediately. She seemingly has no idea of how overworked and busy they are
despite having 3 kids and the fact I’ve literally told her. Not saying she has to believe me but it wouldn’t be hard for her to research it herself using google if she apparently doesn’t know how hard teachers work. I feel it’s wilful ignorance at this stage.

Teachers aren’t perfect and some can unfairly pick on kids,so I get her being vigilant but it’s the fact she is ALWAYS defending her kids when it’s clear most if not all the times they are to blame.

Awful isn't it? One of my good friends is a secondary school teacher, and she is honestly hard as nails, never met a stronger or more resilient person. She broke down crying to us on a girl's night recently because of how much she's dreading September. It's a mess.

Wishing your husband all the peace and healing he needs and deserves 💐

@FunnysInLaJardin who actually diagnosed him with PTSD?

So sad. Expectations keep going up and schools are basically exam factories and have to resolve society issues at the same time. Teachers can not be a magical Jack of all trades that the government expects.

i hope he recovers.

I got out and my DC will deffo not become teachers as a result of watching me put other children first and never them.

I don't think that it is being taken more seriously I think the nhs is a massive postcode lottery and it's very dependent on where you live. I hate to say it but also being a male will also always be taken more seriously with these things then women are.

I've worked in a call centre where I was shouted at by angry customers for eight hours a day.

And I've Been a teacher.

Being a teacher was worse.

First of all: whoever came up with the bizarre idea that

One adult can control twenty five teenagers.

Was wrong.

One person can never control 25 people.

Teaching is unrealistic.