Billy and others,
As has been said already there are as many answers
to the question 'who do you tell' as there are PWP. We
each have our own agenda and as long as our symptoms
are minor have only a decision in principle to make.
However, as our symptoms become more obvious the
decision about 'who to tell' becomes academic because
everyone knows we have 'something'. Now the question
would be better phrased 'whose (usually) unasked question
should I answer?'. Once more the answer varies from
individual to indvidual. My answer is that I tell:
Anyone who I am likely to have an ongoing
relationship with.
Anyone who is likely to be distacted from the
purpose of our meeting by wondering why I am
behaving the way I am.
Anyone with enough interest (and courage) to
actually ask what is wrong with me.
I arrived a this list by asking myself why I would want to
keep the matter private. Apart from my employer (a long
dead issue in my case, my current employer is me), I could
only think that the best reasons for not talking about my PD
were that many people would be bored witless by the subject
and that I have better things to do then raise the issue with
everyone I met.
It is not easy to come out of hiding but finding hiding places
consumes a great deal of energy which I would rather employ
fighting PD. It has been my experience that 'opening up' has
given me an informal community based 'support group' of people
who are part of the positive forces in my life.
Dennis.
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Dennis Greene 47/10
[log in to unmask]
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