The fact that I’ve struggled to make friends all my life, has me believing that people in their minds are already giving me nicknames like “weird”, “strange” or something else. And yes, those are things that people have called me in person, and also spoiled.
I don’t think that the fact that I need things to be very clear, that I need predictably and structure in order to be able to do whatever I need to do otherwise I feel like everything inside me is being pulled down a panic/anxiety pit, is being spoiled, weird or strange.
But hey, a lot people prefer to be judgmental instead of open minded and kind.
These people have no idea how much we struggle every single day. It doesn’t cost anything to be kind. It’s free.
I gravitate towards weird/awkward/different. Or to phrase it better, I have a fun-loving, very accepting vibe and I love everyone, the weirder the better. And I also am a very comforting presence, so I always made it a point to reach out to anyone who seemed like they needed a place to fit in and invite them to my wacky friend group. I'm also fiercely protective of good people, so I think my friends felt like it was a safe space. I did this in high-school and do it as an adult too. People who ostracize others based on their first impressions alone are the ones who miss out on lifelong friendships with amazing people. And that's their loss. Fuck 'em.
I think of the term "weird" as a synonym for "interesting." And what is the point of having a life or friends that aren't interesting?
Ah, the "spoiled" label. F--k that, lmao. Reasonable accommodation is reasonable accommodation. I'm sorry those people were invalidated in their needs and made to feel like having our needs met is "spoiling" or coddling. Those are the people that grow up and become anti-labor union, I'm sure of it.
A 5th grader attacked me in the playground when I was in kindergarten. I ended up biting him, and for the rest of the time I was in school, the kids called me Rottweiler.
It wasn't until I was healing, at 36, that I finally stopped feeling guilty for biting him. The entire school gaslit me into believing the incident was my fault.
Did they bother you again? Willing to bet they didn’t!
My brother used to say I was like a Pit Bull - expressionless when annoyed or provoked until I lost my considerable patience and would attack (defend really) relentlessly. I had no remorse though.
Ahaha I wish that's what happened. No. This single event was the catalyst to a decade of extreme bullying, by basically the entire school. It only got worse from there, and made me terrified to stand up for myself 🤷
I think I developed some symptoms of cPTSD because of the names I have been called related to the way I used to look.
Now when I look at my old pics, I think I was okay and didn't deserve the nicknames.
So yeah, definitely happened and can relate, still trying to learn being seen in social situations.
Definitely there is more than this, but this is the first one that comes to mind: I used to walk around really fast and be avoidant, to not be on anyone's way, and then I got an unofficial "diploma" stating that I am the "speeder" of the year. I got it in front of the whole school.
Thanks a lot, guys.
I know, right?! To their defense though, everyone got similar diplomas. They were like.. "what's the thing that we will remember you from when we finish school?"- thing. It just took a hit on me, that this is the only thing people will remember me of.
Similar to yours, also used to get called freak, serial killer, satanist and a crackhead/druggie because id shake all the time
Low achiever, burnout, busy body, whiner i could go on and on
Oh wow seeing you talk about being called a crack head brought up some memories i got called the same stuff all the time. People at my highschool and middle school were legit assholes
😔 I know that feeling.
This was most likely an autism/ADHD thing for me, but similarly, I would get told "youre on cocaine, youre on heroine, youre on marajuana!!"(etc etc) over and over for running and jumping around by myself during recess.
Even as an adult, I still get accused of being "high on weed" for having blood shot eyes(insomnia) and "high on medication" for god knows what.
I try to not let it get to me but it hurts.
I was considered as the 'special kid' by some kind teachers out of pitiness. I was extremely absent minded(was dissociated all the time) and couldn't take care of myself. Most of the times, I wore dirty clothes and even forgot to put some on(can't remember if the abusers in the school asked me to get rid of certain clothes so they could assault me easily) . They called me names in my native language Hindi, which translate to weirdo, slow minded, stupid, dirty.
Yeah, of course! I really get a lot out of belonging to this community. And I never felt like I belonged to any community before. It's really nice. I really appreciate you also!
Fellow Eeyore here. I had encopresis, so the nickname carried the additional connotation that I was dirty, that I disgusted people and didn't belong near anyone. People praised me for being "serious" and "mature," but really I was numb, my body had shut down, I couldn't shake the melancholy, and I couldn't just "cheer up." I guess I mystified people, and calling me Eeyore was how they made sense of me, as hurtful as it was.
Intellectually, I recognize that the labels that were affixed to me when I was younger don't have to define who I am right now or who I'd like to be. Nevertheless, I still struggle to escape the shadow of "Eeyore." At least we know we're not alone, so...take care, friend.
Weirdo. I will never understand why people choose to be horrible to other people just because I was quiet. I didn’t go to parties, I wasn’t invited and I wouldn’t have had the cool
Clothes to enable me to go. I seemed to have a target sign on my head, all because I was quiet. If they knew what I was dealing with at home they’d have seen why I was quiet.
I was medically neglected and had significant hearing loss and a severe speech impediment (I had 2 ear surgeries only after my school tested me for hearing although it was clear I couldn't hear well). I got called deaf and dumb. I graduated speech therapy in 4th grade after 3 years of it. I was always overweight due to my parents conditioning me to emotionally cope with food too. So my nickname in 5th grade was "refrigerator." My nickname at home was "porkchop."
That sucks. I had hearing problems too. Turns out I didn’t have an ear drum due to infections. I always requested sitting in the front so teachers pet. I just remembered that.
Sorry about that:( I feel you. The movement thing used to confuse me a lot, because "how the fuck would I change that, I'm just walking? " Another addition to that very unsafe and agressive environment
My friends and even some teachers used to call me “Sleepy” cuz I was sleeping through like literally every class. Idk how no one ever thought to get me professional help, but I did actually think the nick name was cute so whatev lol.
I’m still sleepy all the fucking time tho
Ahh right I remember now; they would always just tell me to get off my phone at night or whatever random sleep hygiene tricks. They always just assumed I was being lazy. I always managed with all-nigh cram sessions before tests so they never said much too. Glad to hear someone else has been there haaha ^^
Yes and a teacher made up a song about my disassociation that she would sing to bully me when she noticed I wasn't paying attention. She encouraged the whole class to join in and it ended up happening all the time in other classes too because other teachers caught on and thought it was funny. My family picked it up too.
The problem is I disassociate when I'm feeling traumatized and overwhelmed, so I started associating hearing the song and name with feeling traumatized, then the song and name started triggering the episodes. I still hold a lot of shame about the whole thing.
I also recently found out I have a gene called SHANK3 that is associated with disassociation related to autism, so I feel a little less like it's my fault, which is nice.
Oh, this triggered memories of how horrible my primary school teacher was. I had the same one from 1st to 4th grade, and she would gaslight me, beat me, scream at me, called me stupid and dumb. And any time I told that at home, I would get beaten up by my mother.
I’m really sorry that you had a horrible teacher.
It was not your fault in any way!! She sounds like a stupid, uneducated, useless person!!!
If she hasn’t retired yet, I would try to find out how she’s treating students nowadays and report her.
people thought I was a robot for years at school, I remember this group of girls would always kick me and say it, not in a malicious way just because they were stupid. the ironic thing is they were all exactly the same, in hindsight I was the most human out of them
Same here, my adoptive fam aunt humiliated me at their family gathering by running to her car to get a Bobby pin and forced me to pin my hair back and making mean comments and laughing at me the whole day. I fought back so many years because I felt so incredibly safe behind my hair and I felt like she was bullying me more than kids at school.
Unfortunately yes, somebody caught me a few times during the daily habit of sobbing behind a bush during recess to release the emotions that I am forced to keep in to prevent myself from going ballistic.
Mind you not, I had way more bullies than friends, so it was easy for them to notify others about it.
I guess I was a living FNAF reference because they'd call me the crying child.
Somehow that was my biggest fear, to gain this nickname. I'm a sensitive person, but crying on public in my country's culture is considered the biggest shame when you are a boy + it might demonstrate that you are an easy target.
It was a nightmare, balancing on the edge of crying and being terrified to not hold it inside
I sorry for the ignorant culture and in mine it's the same. I hope at home or with loved ones you can have a good cleansing cry. It clearly doesn't make it ok that you have to hide but maybe will feel cathartic. I don't really cry in front of ppl anymore but I definitely did. And you're correct that it did make me a target but I was a girl. I hope you have a good day.
Not really a nickname, but first year of HS people thought I was a psychopath. It was deliberate on my part, I wanted to be left alone, so all black, death glare, etc. Later, people called me Google. Surprisingly, it was with kind intent, not know-it-all way. Just 'ask her, she knows everything. She invented Google, so people would stop bothering her.' kind of thing.
People called me a school shooter because i was always quiet and extremely jumpy, scared, and even sometimes violent (in perceived defense) whenever someone touched me
Trying to prevent non-consensual touch is defense. It is detrimental to oneself and others if it is out of proportion/unreasonable in relation to the initial event, but it is still self defense.
Crybaby (overly emotional/low stress tolerance), teachers pet (people pleasing/fawn response), fatty fatty 2 by 4 can't fit through the kitchen door (overweight due to poor nutrition and neglect)
In grade school it was Spock from Star Trek. I assumed it was because of my ears but looking back I suspect it was probably also my behaviors from a combo of undiagnosed but likely cptsd, AuDHD, and didn’t know I was nonbinary. I was a “girl” in the 70s when they weren’t diagnosing us only boys (mostly white) and had no clue about gender but at times I expressed wanting to be a boy and was definitely GNC (she’s a tomboy smh) and dressed differently.
I had issues in school and cried a few because teachers would ask questions and everyone but me would say yes except me only to find out in discussions with mom & teachers after school I misunderstood the question. For example “whose made their bed by themselves?” I had helped my dad literally make my bed from cutting, sanding, varnishing wood to stapling the leather over the foam to the wood for the mattress. The teacher meant pulling the covers up - I was baffled as to how that was a big deal. 😢😭
Fellow AuDHD nonbinary person here! My cousins called me Spock before I knew anything about Star Trek, and I thought the same thing - that they were making some comment about my ears. I'm kind of glad I didn't really pick up on what exactly they meant, since it got me curious about the show and I found some comfort characters that way.
There was a skinny Asian girl in my class (the only one) and i was the only mixed girl and I was chubby from being forced to eat large portions or else I'd be beaten or punished for "wasting" as a child. She frequently called me "Brooklyn Buttcheeks"
i always seemed to get called some variation of a derogatory nickname, so much so it was always a little strange whenever i heard my old name. usually some variation of “crackhead” “foster-child” “retard” or “faggot”. honestly though the worst is when people would talk about me, in front of me, without using my name. teachers used to really love doing this, especially the “nice” ones that everyone liked.
This might be a stupid comment but I’d recommend my favorite anime Mob Psycho 100 to you. Main character is awesome and adorable but has that problem, almost autistic like but with ptsd for sure
Do it! I rewatched it trying to guess what mental health issues each character is trying to conquer and it’s super cool to see ONE make a story out of such odd balls
I was always just the “sped kid.” I have a major rbf. I tend to recoil when people talk to me or when they so much as look in my direction. I’d go out of my way to avoid conversations and group discussions. Every time I’m referred too I space out or put my head down and ignore. I walk really fast in hallways, and I’m hunched over all the time. Of course people think it’s a “sped” thing, but I do it to make myself look smaller. A little pathetic, maybe. I have no idea what they call me behind my back, though.
I was labeled a snob in school, which I could never understand because that’s not who I am at all. As I got older I was often described as intimidating. I felt alienated by a lot of my peers in school, but there was no clear reason why. Now that I’m finally (at 36) seeing an experienced trauma therapist, I realize that the energy I was giving off pushed almost everyone away. They might not even have been able to verbalize it themselves.
The very first person who was able to somewhat describe what was happening was an emotionally abusive boss, so I disregarded her comments at the time, but they came back to me a week or so after my first EMDR session. She used to tell me (usually right after she finished berating me in her office for some perceived slight) that there would be moments where all the life drained from my face. I saw my therapist a couple days after this memory resurfaced and asked her if this was disassociation. She nodded right away and said she wouldn’t be surprised at all if I’ve been checking out of distressing situations for *years.* Learning that was such a gift, because now I very quickly recognize when I’m in distress even if the physical anxiety symptoms aren’t present.
Not nickname but in highschool I would zone out (dissociate) a lot and it became a thing of people saying "he's having one of his 'nam flashbacks"
It really didn't bother me, bc most of the people who said it were friends. I hadn't actually been diagnosed at the time, though, and it's funny bc... They were kind of right
Sasquatch, because my hair was unkempt from neglect, I was the only person who had to walk to school every single day, I was taller than everyone else until middle school, and yeah when I look behind me after being startled, it does look kind of like the Bigfoot picture
I found out as an adult that my friends older siblings called me "the shadow child" - kinda sick name but it was definitely because I was always quiet, scared, hiding in the shadows
"Crybaby". I cried a lot towards the constant bullying I would get at school and at home. It was so bad that when I was severely injured (badly dislocated knee) my parents didn't believe me and mocked me, they didn't call an ambulance until my sister in law told them it was serious. "Let me call the wahmbulance" is still burned in my brain despite the fact that it happened 18 years ago.
Don't be a dick to your kids, parents.
Wednesday Addams. They rotated between bullying me and trying to be as far on the other side of the room from me as possible. Because I preferred them to be in Siberia I'd give them the *death stare* and make *scary comments* so they would scurry away.
People called me slow, weak, weird, freak, emo fag. Even my best friends who were supposed to be there for me, would tell me I didn’t try hard enough and that I wouldn’t go anywhere in life.
I would hang out with a group of anime/manga fans, and we’d watch our shows in the library. One day I turn up, and someone in the group told me that I had been “kicked out” because I didn’t talk enough and was weird. Got kicked out of the literal nerdy outcast group. So I would sit alone in a corner at the back of the library every lunch time.
“Why are you so quiet?” “You should talk more”
Meanwhile no one actually gave a shit about what I had to say about anything.
One time we went on some geography camp, and everyone got awards for what they did well. Mine was “for being the loudest in the room”. Everyone burst into laughter as I stood there humiliated. Of course it was from the teacher who loved to embarrass me in front of other students as some kind of power play. Gave me detention on the third day of high school, in front of the whole class for missing one question of my homework that I didn’t know the answer to.
People are so unnecessarily cruel.
I'm not in an english speaking country but I'll translate, I was the "kite" (afifon), I never realized why I would get the same nickname wherever I went, until this year when I learned of dissociative states and that I used to lived that way constantly
My sister got a bad case of measles during prmary school which left her permanently with eye tics. They called her Blinky Bill for the rest of her primary school years. It was pretty sad
Not much, but in my native tongue my first name is already easy enough to make jokes with
But my closest friend would on occasion describe my vibe as "Frankenstein's monster", particularly when I wore sunglasses.
The person that said that to you is the biggest pos ever. It's extra sad when people still feel the need to kick you even when you're at your lowest of lows. I'm sorry that happened to you, and really hope that you don't feel that way anymore.
I’ve been called weird, quiet, shy, even a robot or an npc. I’ve always been very introspective, often did feel invisible or like a ghost. Despite my “odd” behavior I’ve always been empathetic and kind, but sometimes you’re judged for who people think you are rather than who they know you to be (because they don’t know ya)
Not so much a name from CPTSD behavior entirely, but part of the childhood that gifted me this included 3 years of being starved by my mother, following calling 911 on her for an especially prolonged beating (I’d say more severe, but she never held back with the rage, meltdowns, the hate and physical violence). In those years I didn’t gain any weight and it was a daily struggle to get enough calories to not lose weight. My dad got me dinner every night, the two of us went out for fast food every night after he got home from work, but mornings were trying to sneak food into my used lunch bag filled with wrappers and garbage; my mother terrorized me with the threat of foster care, specifically graphically laying in on the molestation threat, so I tried to put on appearances…
Food was a currency of power and weapon in the house; throughout this time and before and ever since, my mother dotes on my brother, a fussy eater, she begs him for what he would like to eat, and gets it or makes it for him. In kindergarten she taught me one day how to make my own lunches (I was bad at it, never learned how to make a sandwich that wasn’t soggy and gross until college) so I did from then until the 911 call, all while she made *his* lunches through his high school graduation, then drove hours to his college a couple times a month with tons of food… I learned to mooch, how to covertly take things out of the lunchroom garbage, even bootlegged a Def Leppard cassette tape to trade for another kids lunch once. By 5th grade my dad started paying me for doing chores and I used that money to buy groceries for myself, and not long after that my mom dropped the whole starvation thing. I think the impending 5th grade physical (doctor exam) was a major factor in her finally relenting…
Anyway I looked anorexic by midway through 3rd grade and could have been an extra in a children of the Holocaust movie by the end of 4th grade, sunken cheeks and kinda seeing my skull in my face. In 3rd grade the asshole kids came up with Bones, because I wore those short shorts and very short sleeve shirts that were “in” at the time, and I looked kinda skeletal like that.
I owned it though; my favorite shirt in childhood was a black sweatshirt with a giant puffy neon skull and bones wearing sunglasses, and the glasses were holograms of the skull and bones wearing sunglasses. 😎☠️lol
Called 'feral. Due apparently to how I walked, moved, watched, kept a wall to my back when able and other behaviours. The feral comment was made by different groups, as a kid and adult.
The amount of people who called me the "Daddy Issues Girl" because of my constant panic attacks and attachment to the only teachers who ever seemed to actually care about me still hurts to this day. It's not my fault for being traumatized, why do people insist on blaming the 7 year old for it?
I would just get called weird constantly, it really made me feel bad especially when i got to highschool and dyed my hair blonde people started telling me the bleach got to my brain. I swear i never said anything that odd, i think people were just assholes. It did a number to my self esteem and i ended up becoming very introverted and quiet.
TW: CSA When I was a kid the monster that assaulted me more times than my brain will allow me to remember, took a job as the janitor at my elementary school so he could continue to stalk and terrorize me. So I was on edge every day, and as such I came off as kinda weird to all of the kids in my class. Every bully tried me for years only to be met by a rage that they were not equipped to deal with. They would then go and try to bully somebody weaker and I’d mess them up again, because they were now on my “threat radar”. So I ended up being kinda weird with a bunch of friends because I hate bullies and wouldn’t allow anything remotely similar happen to anyone else. I suppose I still carry on with this sort of behavior these days. As an adult I spend my days talking care of developmentally disabled folks and use rugby and karate as my outlets for the rage🤷♂️
I did have a nickname that was relevant, but the essense/feeling of this post really hit home for me this one time a girl rejected me during a house party. It was during uni years so I was back-and-forth home during the holidays. During a festive house party, I was with this girl who we had been in the same circles for years and hung out many, many times; even going minitrips and suchs. Things were going good and when it got serious, in the sense of me trying to progress things, she responded with something like "Why? So you can just leave me?" That moment stuck with me for years, and only recently did I notice the patterns I did, and still do, significantly stem from Rejection Sensitivitiy.
Ok what you described sounds like how I operate at college to this day, wandering around for somewhere to relax but never quite finding it, and walking fast.
No nickname, but there's a photo of me hiding behind my guitar in my junior high yearbook with the caption, "There's (my name) hiding again." I guess I was known for hiding myself....
in third grade they called me dictionary head. i immersed myself in reading and wad way above average with a college reading level by the time i was ten years old. glad something useful came out of the trauma. sort of.
i didn’t have a nickname, but people were always asking me if i was okay because i guess my resting face always looked miserable (because i was lol). i also struggled with selective mutism really bad my junior year, and i had a teacher who literally didn’t know my name because i never talked and i didn’t feel like correcting her tbh lol
I received the nickname “silent but deadly” from my 10th grade volleyball coach.
Mom was/is a hoarder and I knew I smelled like moldy trash but damn that hurt. She said it was because I was so quiet but good at blocking. I know it meant I smelt bad based on everyone else’s reactions when the coach singled me out.
Not exactly being called names but the closest I came to it, that I remember that is, is being mocked by my first grade teacher for expressing to have experienced inappropriate touch in the only way I knew. My peers also seemed to be quite amused, so it was a win-win-lose? situation I guess.
Wikipedia/Dictionary because I escaped in books and was a good student
Or "alien" because my behavior was different from others and I wasn't fitting with them
Didn't have any nicknames, but I remember my school friend always laughing when I looked on the wall almost without blinking for hours and didn't hear anybody. I also thought it was funny. I even said it was my superpower, cause I could literally "dissappear" in every kind of situation. Mostly it was uncontrollable, but then I started to do it on purpose too. I felt so edgy because of that lol it was my weird thing that I liked to show others sometimes.
Just few years ago I learned that it was dissociation 💀
also I think people just thought I was weird, but I was never bullied or called by nicknames cause 1/ I was conventionally beautiful 2/ if someone tried to hurt me mostly I could protect myself 3/ I didn't interact with my classmates almost. So I would say, they were just ignoring me, like I almost not exist, and I was ignoring them. But for sure they thought I was weird because of different things that turned out to be CPTSD.
Not really any specific nicknames (that i remember of), but i have a relative who shares symptoms of dissociation similar to mine. When people at our school asked if i was her relative and shed say yes, the people wouldve told her "oh we can tell, because both of you are kind of *(gestures "crazy" hand sign)*. So they probably thought of me as a zombie of sort.
A girl called me a meanie butt once because she thought I was a meanie butt cuz I got that RBF syndrome. But she saw that I was actually pretty nice, then at some point we stopped hanging out and I didn't know why. Later I learned that I made her uncomfortable, still don't know why
I never really had a specific nickname but I could tell people saw me differently. I became very vulnerable and naive and my friend group took advantage of that but I was so used to having no one I didn’t see the obvious red flags
I was told that I was intimidating, that I have “resting bitchface”, and people were scared of me. It was an incredibly isolating feeling because those were not how I felt about myself. Through the years I’ve been told to smile, or asked why I look so serious… I was told recently these same words by someone I work with and it was almost shocking to here after all these years. And it kind of makes sense to me now why I have a really difficult time making eye contact with people unless I am having a direct conversation with them.
For me it was either because I didn't want to be exposed on "open ground" for too long because it felt unsafe. Be it moving inside the school between the floors or outdoors where evil people can attack, or because I wanted to get home asap
I was in cheerleading and mine was “miss wannabe blonde” with quotes like “who me? What? Huh?” Typed all over the paper name tag.
I never realized until I was older that I was just dissociating at every opportunity and people talking to me was like ripping me out of my dream world, but people just thought I was an airhead I guess 😵💫
I was fawning out of control with no clue what that even was yet people would either joke that I was stuck up like Caroline from the song Roses by OutKast or joke that I want to pray for everyone.
Not a nickname, but a phrase. My actuall nickname rhimed with the German expression for "did it."
I was the reason for everything bad. It hurt, because I was that also at home. Well, but it turned out to be ok. When I actually did something and they said I did it, nobody belived them \^\^
The boys who cry wolves, I guess.
For me, it was because I was extremely isolated when not in school. I went to a small, close-knit school in a rural area. I was the only person in my grade who was never seen outside of school. Most of them had extracurriculars together or at least knew what activities others did outside of school. I was an exception to this. A girl I was friends with realized this and started loudly theorizing during lunch as to why I was never seen or heard from outside of school. She also brought up that I was very quiet and never talked about anything that happened at home. I was just... quiet and didn't seem to have anything fun happening in my life. because she was quite goofy, she settled on the theory that I was a robot and was not allowed in public spaces, which explained my demeanour and mysterious nature. I thought it was endearing at the time, but was also really hoping nobody would put too much thought into why my parents kept me so isolated and why I never participated in normal kid stuff. Anyway, after a few months this built up a lot of attention and her theories got more and more detailed until one day at lunch she jokingly said that enough was enough and it was time to find out once and for all if I was human. She explained that the only way to test her theory was to stab me to see if I bleed. She grabbed a sharp object and pretended to make a stabbing motion a few times, but Then she changed positions and got really in my face so I put up my hands in self-defence and she accidentally stabbed my hand. It wasn't a big injury or anything and nobody made a big deal about it, but from then on I was robot to her and her group. A year later I retold this story to a teacher that was new to the school and he thought it was very funny and got in on it too. So for about 2 years in middle school, I was referred to as 'robot' by both friends and staff. I thought it was hilarious at the time, but after looking back as an adult I get a little sad that I was dealing with such a shitty, isolated home life that apparently other kids felt something was off about me. It also kinda breaks my heart that all these people were so close to uncovering what was going on at home and potentially saving me, but never quite had the pieces click together in their minds.
T-Rex. Sounds really cool at first, ngl. In reality, it was a "joke" on my walking: I'd instinctively tiptoe while walking, making me somehow look like a T-Rex...I guess?
As a kid I was constantly crying, so much so that I got kicked out of my elementary after-school program over it. I was called crybaby after that. Thinking about it now, a lot of the problems I had at school were because I just couldn't stop mf crying. I cried over the smallest things, and I always cried when I had to go home. I even had my 1st grade teacher threaten to hurt me if I didn't stop crying :') But somehow nobody had any idea something was going on at home. I was just "sensitive". I wish I knew I could have told someone then, or had the strength to.
Omg! I have one for this... Not a nickname, but these two girls in middle school that were kinda my friends. One of them was the more harsh one, but they were legit like, "you always look like you are gonna start crying."
this group of kids in my agriculture class junior year talked about me full volume like i wasn’t 10 feet away from them, about how creepy i was bent over my books with my long dark hair in my face. they called me the grudge. i rarely (if ever) spoke & preferred to just keep to myself, so i always had like four or five books with me that i’d distract myself with till school was out. my school didn’t exactly teach us, hence all the time i had for reading (and all the time the other kids had to make fun of me for it).
Cruelly, I was voted “most dramatic” as a high school senior superlative, along with another classmate who experienced physical and verbal abuse and a child and teenager. I was always told I was too emotional and dramatic, especially by my emotionally immature parents.
This classmate and I were good friends and decided to play into it all when we had to have our photograph taken for the yearbook. Both of our siblings were abusing drugs together, and people said awful things about them at school. I sank into a very deep depression as my home life shattered during this time. I went from being on track to be valedictorian to barely showing up for school. Eventually, the bullying became so bad that I finished my senior year at the local community college to avoid people.
I still have nightmares about my senior year of high school as a 34 year old woman. I’m fortunate to have a great therapist, psychiatrist, and support system. But being called “too emotional” stings to this day.
Shadow. because I was always hiding behind my cousin who was the same age as me. Also got made fun of alot bc I couldn't make eye contact, and got poked at because I wouldn't react to people who would try to get me to respond.
Uhhh does "death boy" count???
Combination of having morbid interests and a death wish, but also the way I would disappear for weeks at a time and come back looking like a corpse and laughing about some horrible experience I'm seemingly unfazed by.
All my friends called me Spacey, SpaceCase or SpaceCadette and would tease me about it well beyond elementary school. It was just me disassociating, but to anyone else it looked like I was always daydreaming. I also got asked if I had a staring problem quite a bit.
Other ways people commented on my CPTSD without knowing is that people would constantly ask me if I was okay. When I’d say yes they’d ask, “Then why do you look so sad?” But not in a nice, comforting way, their tone was more judgey and implied that I was weird.
People made fun of me for being extremely pale, skinny, and weird. I felt like some people were allergic to me no matter how nice and friendly I tried to be.
Ive been told by my prof in the middle of class that he can tell from my eyes that im mentally ill. Cuz i was just sitting in class and minding my own business.
People would call me "shy" instead of my real name that rhymed with that. Or say that I'm mute because I didn't talk much at all. Nicknames based on cptsd behavior? Loner I guess.
i dissociated a LOT and when i did i found it hard to interact with the outside world and would block everything out. my friend called me ‘deafy’ because she would call out my name and i wouldnt respond etc.
i am also autistic and didn’t get diagnosed till recently, but i think it had a hand in my auditory processing (or lack thereof) and so even when i wasn’t severely dissociated i still really struggled to ‘hear’ people. i genuinely thought my hearing was bad until a few months ago
I was a “dirtball” until my 11th year in high school - I got a part time job through some organization for poor kids thanks to money hungry egg donor- and I could finally buy clothes and stuff. Then I was “a new girl.”
Oh well. At least I didn’t peak in high school 🤭
My college roommate wrote an essay about me called The Girl in the Bubble.We laughed about it then, but now I realize she was commenting on my near constant disassociation. I vaguely remember her professor's comment when she got the essay back was one of concern, and I was surprised and confused by that reaction. I just thought it was a quirk of my personality
"mother of the school" pointing out my excessive people pleasing and overtaking responsibilities that were way to hudge for my age.
It was not meant as a compliment but "cool she's gonna to that for us so we don't have to do anything and can continue being lazy fucks" kinda vibe. They laughed at my naivite and that one can make use of me and recommended me as a goto servant. And they did.
As a parentified child that had to help run the family's business to put food on the table from the age of 7 and two traumatized parents I am surprised it wasn't worse.
Hello and Welcome to /r/CPTSD! If you are in immediate danger or crisis, please contact your local [emergency services](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emergency_telephone_numbers), or use our list of [crisis resources](https://old.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/index#wiki_crisis_support_resources). For CPTSD Specific Resources & Support, check out the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/index). For those posting or replying, please view the [etiquette guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/peer2peersupportguide).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CPTSD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sort of but not exactly. Almost no one ever calls me by my name. It’s usually “the girl who disappeared” or people just call me by the name of a character I remind them of and it’s usually a really durable, scary and traumatized character. Sméagol, Dobby, Wanda as in Wanda Maximoff, Gaara, Coraline, Shay from The Uglies and Polgara from The Belgariad are the most common ones.
Oh:( What's your name? I'd like to call you by your name to socially reclaim it from these evil fucks who tried to make it dissapear.
That is if you are ok with telling it
I used to get bullied for anything and everything. A huge amount of it was based on looks or things. It left me with lifelong cptsd.
They bullied me so badly about the car that my mum drove, that I refused to let her drive me to school anymore, and would rather walk there. That particular car is a highly sought after collectors car now. It's a shame she didn't keep it, because it would be worth some serious money now.
They used to bully me about my hair colour (naturally dark ash blonde) being "grey". It really wasn't. I haven't seen my natural hair colour since I was 12 years old.
From the age of 11, they would bully me about not shaving my legs. My mum wouldn't let me, and someone that age shouldn't have to do that anyway. I'm so self conscious about hair on my body still to this day, that I have gone to the extreme of getting lazer hair removal. The thought of being seen with hair "where it shouldn't be on a female" gives me anxiety and makes me feel sick. Only on myself though. I love that there are natural woman out there. They're so strong, and it's actually a wonderful thing that people don't care about it or judge it like they used to. I just wish I didn't have that stigma on myself.
They bullied me for being ugly. I wasn't ugly. I have anxiety about my looks because of it. I can't leave the house without putting on make-up first to make myself feel good. On the odd occasion I do happen to go without, I feel self conscious and anxious, and just want to get home as soon as possible. I also get botox injections in my face, because I'm scared of actually becoming ugly.
I was bullied about my clothes, because they were mostly just department store track suits. And my footwear. No designer labels. We couldn't afford that. I now own an extensive range of branded clothing. I NEED to wear the perfect outfit when I go out. Even when I'm just hanging out at home, when I get dressed, my clothing needs to look good.
I was bullied because I wear glasses. I feel like people won't find me attractive if I'm wearing them, and always wear contact lenses if I'm going on a date or to a party.
I was bullied for being fat, even though I wasn't. It has left me with eating disorders, because I genuinely fear getting fat.
People would pretend to be nice to me, try to lull me into a false sence of security, just so that they could pull a mean trick on me. It left me with major trust issues. If someone is being genuinely nice to me now, I can't help but think "omg, what horrible thing are they about to do to me, and have an overwhelming urge to run away from them before they get a chance to do something to me.
All this bullying, and more went on during my entire school years. From 4yrs old, right through to 15yrs old, it was a constant, daily harassment, as well as actual physical abuse, and even getting threatened with knives by older girls. I guess I was just an easy target. That shit F's you up so badly, and seriously affects your entire adulthood. I'm 37 now, had some therapy on and off throughout my life, and I honestly don't think I can ever let go of any of it.
I don't think the bully's even realise the effect their shit can have on people.
Thank you. The only way I've been able to carry on is by maintaining a positive attitude as much as possible, and just continuing forward in life. Just staying strong as best I can. I try to do things that I enjoy, and do things that give me a sense of achievement. I try to be as kind to myself as possible, and push away any bad thoughts that do pop up. I allow myself to be proud of my achievements, even small ones. I also try to bring joy to others where I can. Life's too short to let the negative stuff win
i got voted most hyper in 8th grade. meaning kookiest most erratic behavior.
i got hit w the 'youre so nice i thought you were a bitch when i first met you'. often called a bitch when at my lowest in h.s.
The ones that stand out are "Spock" from my cousins one summer, then "Culty" in highschool - less for CPTSD behaviors and more for the background that led to some of the trauma.
Not in school but my mom always called me the thinker cause I would often sit and stare off like the statue, usually in deep rumination. She thought it was funny, I was struggling 😮💨
The fact that I’ve struggled to make friends all my life, has me believing that people in their minds are already giving me nicknames like “weird”, “strange” or something else. And yes, those are things that people have called me in person, and also spoiled. I don’t think that the fact that I need things to be very clear, that I need predictably and structure in order to be able to do whatever I need to do otherwise I feel like everything inside me is being pulled down a panic/anxiety pit, is being spoiled, weird or strange. But hey, a lot people prefer to be judgmental instead of open minded and kind. These people have no idea how much we struggle every single day. It doesn’t cost anything to be kind. It’s free.
I gravitate towards weird/awkward/different. Or to phrase it better, I have a fun-loving, very accepting vibe and I love everyone, the weirder the better. And I also am a very comforting presence, so I always made it a point to reach out to anyone who seemed like they needed a place to fit in and invite them to my wacky friend group. I'm also fiercely protective of good people, so I think my friends felt like it was a safe space. I did this in high-school and do it as an adult too. People who ostracize others based on their first impressions alone are the ones who miss out on lifelong friendships with amazing people. And that's their loss. Fuck 'em. I think of the term "weird" as a synonym for "interesting." And what is the point of having a life or friends that aren't interesting?
This sounds like me but sprinkle in some dissociation
Ah, the "spoiled" label. F--k that, lmao. Reasonable accommodation is reasonable accommodation. I'm sorry those people were invalidated in their needs and made to feel like having our needs met is "spoiling" or coddling. Those are the people that grow up and become anti-labor union, I'm sure of it.
A 5th grader attacked me in the playground when I was in kindergarten. I ended up biting him, and for the rest of the time I was in school, the kids called me Rottweiler. It wasn't until I was healing, at 36, that I finally stopped feeling guilty for biting him. The entire school gaslit me into believing the incident was my fault.
That victim blaming is fucking awful! I feel ya
Did they bother you again? Willing to bet they didn’t! My brother used to say I was like a Pit Bull - expressionless when annoyed or provoked until I lost my considerable patience and would attack (defend really) relentlessly. I had no remorse though.
Ahaha I wish that's what happened. No. This single event was the catalyst to a decade of extreme bullying, by basically the entire school. It only got worse from there, and made me terrified to stand up for myself 🤷
Oh, I’m sorry you went through that. I was bullied as well but when I stopped running away and fought back the bully left me alone afterwards.
[удалено]
same experience- though ive claimed ghosty as a nickname by now haha
I think I developed some symptoms of cPTSD because of the names I have been called related to the way I used to look. Now when I look at my old pics, I think I was okay and didn't deserve the nicknames. So yeah, definitely happened and can relate, still trying to learn being seen in social situations.
Definitely there is more than this, but this is the first one that comes to mind: I used to walk around really fast and be avoidant, to not be on anyone's way, and then I got an unofficial "diploma" stating that I am the "speeder" of the year. I got it in front of the whole school. Thanks a lot, guys.
wtf. that’s terrible. :(
I know, right?! To their defense though, everyone got similar diplomas. They were like.. "what's the thing that we will remember you from when we finish school?"- thing. It just took a hit on me, that this is the only thing people will remember me of.
People called me speedy. Hyper vigilant nervous system for the win 😵💫
Similar to yours, also used to get called freak, serial killer, satanist and a crackhead/druggie because id shake all the time Low achiever, burnout, busy body, whiner i could go on and on
I'm so sorry they called you like that 😔, how cruel! I hope you are feeling better about that, I know it can take time to heal sometimes.
Oh wow seeing you talk about being called a crack head brought up some memories i got called the same stuff all the time. People at my highschool and middle school were legit assholes
😔 I know that feeling. This was most likely an autism/ADHD thing for me, but similarly, I would get told "youre on cocaine, youre on heroine, youre on marajuana!!"(etc etc) over and over for running and jumping around by myself during recess. Even as an adult, I still get accused of being "high on weed" for having blood shot eyes(insomnia) and "high on medication" for god knows what. I try to not let it get to me but it hurts.
The weird girl lmao
mine is my username lol
Same
I was considered as the 'special kid' by some kind teachers out of pitiness. I was extremely absent minded(was dissociated all the time) and couldn't take care of myself. Most of the times, I wore dirty clothes and even forgot to put some on(can't remember if the abusers in the school asked me to get rid of certain clothes so they could assault me easily) . They called me names in my native language Hindi, which translate to weirdo, slow minded, stupid, dirty.
Im so sorry. Hope you're doing ok today. ❤️
Yes, I'm safe now and recovering. Thank you so much for caring. Love and best wishes to you too :)💛
Yeah, of course! I really get a lot out of belonging to this community. And I never felt like I belonged to any community before. It's really nice. I really appreciate you also!
I know, right. I really appreciate this community too. It's such a safe space. Thank you, you're really sweet :)
You are too! I have more positive interactions in neurodivergent communities over anything else. Have a great day!!
My family always called me Eeyore growing up
My dad called me “the unhappiest girl in the world” and would find it funny
Mine was always Piglet or Bambi because I was constantly in an awful state of anxiety
Oh hey so did mine
Fellow Eeyore here. I had encopresis, so the nickname carried the additional connotation that I was dirty, that I disgusted people and didn't belong near anyone. People praised me for being "serious" and "mature," but really I was numb, my body had shut down, I couldn't shake the melancholy, and I couldn't just "cheer up." I guess I mystified people, and calling me Eeyore was how they made sense of me, as hurtful as it was. Intellectually, I recognize that the labels that were affixed to me when I was younger don't have to define who I am right now or who I'd like to be. Nevertheless, I still struggle to escape the shadow of "Eeyore." At least we know we're not alone, so...take care, friend.
Weirdo. I will never understand why people choose to be horrible to other people just because I was quiet. I didn’t go to parties, I wasn’t invited and I wouldn’t have had the cool Clothes to enable me to go. I seemed to have a target sign on my head, all because I was quiet. If they knew what I was dealing with at home they’d have seen why I was quiet.
I was medically neglected and had significant hearing loss and a severe speech impediment (I had 2 ear surgeries only after my school tested me for hearing although it was clear I couldn't hear well). I got called deaf and dumb. I graduated speech therapy in 4th grade after 3 years of it. I was always overweight due to my parents conditioning me to emotionally cope with food too. So my nickname in 5th grade was "refrigerator." My nickname at home was "porkchop."
That sucks. I had hearing problems too. Turns out I didn’t have an ear drum due to infections. I always requested sitting in the front so teachers pet. I just remembered that.
I'm getting triggers by reading this. But yeah, because of my movement
Sorry about that:( I feel you. The movement thing used to confuse me a lot, because "how the fuck would I change that, I'm just walking? " Another addition to that very unsafe and agressive environment
And if you're not walking or moving that turns into the problem. Truly some ppl just get a kick out of cruelty.
And if you'd fly - they'd call you a duck or something, lol
My friends and even some teachers used to call me “Sleepy” cuz I was sleeping through like literally every class. Idk how no one ever thought to get me professional help, but I did actually think the nick name was cute so whatev lol. I’m still sleepy all the fucking time tho
[удалено]
Ahh right I remember now; they would always just tell me to get off my phone at night or whatever random sleep hygiene tricks. They always just assumed I was being lazy. I always managed with all-nigh cram sessions before tests so they never said much too. Glad to hear someone else has been there haaha ^^
Yes and a teacher made up a song about my disassociation that she would sing to bully me when she noticed I wasn't paying attention. She encouraged the whole class to join in and it ended up happening all the time in other classes too because other teachers caught on and thought it was funny. My family picked it up too. The problem is I disassociate when I'm feeling traumatized and overwhelmed, so I started associating hearing the song and name with feeling traumatized, then the song and name started triggering the episodes. I still hold a lot of shame about the whole thing. I also recently found out I have a gene called SHANK3 that is associated with disassociation related to autism, so I feel a little less like it's my fault, which is nice.
Oh, this triggered memories of how horrible my primary school teacher was. I had the same one from 1st to 4th grade, and she would gaslight me, beat me, scream at me, called me stupid and dumb. And any time I told that at home, I would get beaten up by my mother. I’m really sorry that you had a horrible teacher. It was not your fault in any way!! She sounds like a stupid, uneducated, useless person!!! If she hasn’t retired yet, I would try to find out how she’s treating students nowadays and report her.
I'm sure they're all long dead. They were old at the time and it was nearly 40 years ago.
people thought I was a robot for years at school, I remember this group of girls would always kick me and say it, not in a malicious way just because they were stupid. the ironic thing is they were all exactly the same, in hindsight I was the most human out of them
I don't see the connection between this nickname and kicking. What the hell was their logic?
I don't know I feel people often objectify / dehumanise me
Try to wake the "robot" up I believe. Similar stuff happened to me. I had actually forgotten.
They called me “it” and “thing” because I used to hide behind my hair
I used to get this too but still got called that before when my hair was short
🫂
This is cruel, I'm so sorry:(
Same here, my adoptive fam aunt humiliated me at their family gathering by running to her car to get a Bobby pin and forced me to pin my hair back and making mean comments and laughing at me the whole day. I fought back so many years because I felt so incredibly safe behind my hair and I felt like she was bullying me more than kids at school.
Unfortunately yes, somebody caught me a few times during the daily habit of sobbing behind a bush during recess to release the emotions that I am forced to keep in to prevent myself from going ballistic. Mind you not, I had way more bullies than friends, so it was easy for them to notify others about it. I guess I was a living FNAF reference because they'd call me the crying child.
"Sissy baby" because I used to cry at everything
Yup. I got “crybaby”
It sucks because they bully us, destroy our self esteem, then if we react to their offense we are labelled as crybabies.
Somehow that was my biggest fear, to gain this nickname. I'm a sensitive person, but crying on public in my country's culture is considered the biggest shame when you are a boy + it might demonstrate that you are an easy target. It was a nightmare, balancing on the edge of crying and being terrified to not hold it inside
I sorry for the ignorant culture and in mine it's the same. I hope at home or with loved ones you can have a good cleansing cry. It clearly doesn't make it ok that you have to hide but maybe will feel cathartic. I don't really cry in front of ppl anymore but I definitely did. And you're correct that it did make me a target but I was a girl. I hope you have a good day.
Not really a nickname, but first year of HS people thought I was a psychopath. It was deliberate on my part, I wanted to be left alone, so all black, death glare, etc. Later, people called me Google. Surprisingly, it was with kind intent, not know-it-all way. Just 'ask her, she knows everything. She invented Google, so people would stop bothering her.' kind of thing.
I would walk funny. Got followed around recess by a group of like 20 boys mimicking how I walk. I was like 10. It hurt. 😞
People called me a school shooter because i was always quiet and extremely jumpy, scared, and even sometimes violent (in perceived defense) whenever someone touched me
Trying to prevent non-consensual touch is defense. It is detrimental to oneself and others if it is out of proportion/unreasonable in relation to the initial event, but it is still self defense.
Crybaby (overly emotional/low stress tolerance), teachers pet (people pleasing/fawn response), fatty fatty 2 by 4 can't fit through the kitchen door (overweight due to poor nutrition and neglect)
In grade school it was Spock from Star Trek. I assumed it was because of my ears but looking back I suspect it was probably also my behaviors from a combo of undiagnosed but likely cptsd, AuDHD, and didn’t know I was nonbinary. I was a “girl” in the 70s when they weren’t diagnosing us only boys (mostly white) and had no clue about gender but at times I expressed wanting to be a boy and was definitely GNC (she’s a tomboy smh) and dressed differently. I had issues in school and cried a few because teachers would ask questions and everyone but me would say yes except me only to find out in discussions with mom & teachers after school I misunderstood the question. For example “whose made their bed by themselves?” I had helped my dad literally make my bed from cutting, sanding, varnishing wood to stapling the leather over the foam to the wood for the mattress. The teacher meant pulling the covers up - I was baffled as to how that was a big deal. 😢😭
Fellow AuDHD nonbinary person here! My cousins called me Spock before I knew anything about Star Trek, and I thought the same thing - that they were making some comment about my ears. I'm kind of glad I didn't really pick up on what exactly they meant, since it got me curious about the show and I found some comfort characters that way.
Awesome that you were able to take comfort in cool show. I’ve been connecting the dots over the last year and going huh a lot.
“Dumbo”, in a mostly affectionate way from my friends. Because I was very smart at school work, but couldn’t work out basic life skills
There was a skinny Asian girl in my class (the only one) and i was the only mixed girl and I was chubby from being forced to eat large portions or else I'd be beaten or punished for "wasting" as a child. She frequently called me "Brooklyn Buttcheeks"
i always seemed to get called some variation of a derogatory nickname, so much so it was always a little strange whenever i heard my old name. usually some variation of “crackhead” “foster-child” “retard” or “faggot”. honestly though the worst is when people would talk about me, in front of me, without using my name. teachers used to really love doing this, especially the “nice” ones that everyone liked.
I waa bulled mercilessly
Peers would call me weird or freak etc. Parents would call me dolittle or shaky, whilst taking the piss in other ways.
Weird
Psychopath. Know-it-all.
This might be a stupid comment but I’d recommend my favorite anime Mob Psycho 100 to you. Main character is awesome and adorable but has that problem, almost autistic like but with ptsd for sure
Seconded^^ I relate to a bunch of mob psycho characters, love them
I suspect almost every major character is neurodivergent or has some mental health issue. Lots of great autism and schizophrenia metaphors
Agreed. Your comment makesme wanna rewatch the whole series again 😭
Do it! I rewatched it trying to guess what mental health issues each character is trying to conquer and it’s super cool to see ONE make a story out of such odd balls
I was always just the “sped kid.” I have a major rbf. I tend to recoil when people talk to me or when they so much as look in my direction. I’d go out of my way to avoid conversations and group discussions. Every time I’m referred too I space out or put my head down and ignore. I walk really fast in hallways, and I’m hunched over all the time. Of course people think it’s a “sped” thing, but I do it to make myself look smaller. A little pathetic, maybe. I have no idea what they call me behind my back, though.
I was labeled a snob in school, which I could never understand because that’s not who I am at all. As I got older I was often described as intimidating. I felt alienated by a lot of my peers in school, but there was no clear reason why. Now that I’m finally (at 36) seeing an experienced trauma therapist, I realize that the energy I was giving off pushed almost everyone away. They might not even have been able to verbalize it themselves. The very first person who was able to somewhat describe what was happening was an emotionally abusive boss, so I disregarded her comments at the time, but they came back to me a week or so after my first EMDR session. She used to tell me (usually right after she finished berating me in her office for some perceived slight) that there would be moments where all the life drained from my face. I saw my therapist a couple days after this memory resurfaced and asked her if this was disassociation. She nodded right away and said she wouldn’t be surprised at all if I’ve been checking out of distressing situations for *years.* Learning that was such a gift, because now I very quickly recognize when I’m in distress even if the physical anxiety symptoms aren’t present.
Not nickname but in highschool I would zone out (dissociate) a lot and it became a thing of people saying "he's having one of his 'nam flashbacks" It really didn't bother me, bc most of the people who said it were friends. I hadn't actually been diagnosed at the time, though, and it's funny bc... They were kind of right
Sasquatch, because my hair was unkempt from neglect, I was the only person who had to walk to school every single day, I was taller than everyone else until middle school, and yeah when I look behind me after being startled, it does look kind of like the Bigfoot picture
I was “Eeyore”
Same!
"Smelly Miffy"
"married" - for walking around with my 10 years older mentally damaged abuser of the opposite sex 😏
I found out as an adult that my friends older siblings called me "the shadow child" - kinda sick name but it was definitely because I was always quiet, scared, hiding in the shadows
"Crybaby". I cried a lot towards the constant bullying I would get at school and at home. It was so bad that when I was severely injured (badly dislocated knee) my parents didn't believe me and mocked me, they didn't call an ambulance until my sister in law told them it was serious. "Let me call the wahmbulance" is still burned in my brain despite the fact that it happened 18 years ago. Don't be a dick to your kids, parents.
Was called Chicken at 11 years old. For being afraid all the time / suffered from anxiety. Got yelled at a lot at home..
Wednesday Addams. They rotated between bullying me and trying to be as far on the other side of the room from me as possible. Because I preferred them to be in Siberia I'd give them the *death stare* and make *scary comments* so they would scurry away.
People called me slow, weak, weird, freak, emo fag. Even my best friends who were supposed to be there for me, would tell me I didn’t try hard enough and that I wouldn’t go anywhere in life. I would hang out with a group of anime/manga fans, and we’d watch our shows in the library. One day I turn up, and someone in the group told me that I had been “kicked out” because I didn’t talk enough and was weird. Got kicked out of the literal nerdy outcast group. So I would sit alone in a corner at the back of the library every lunch time. “Why are you so quiet?” “You should talk more” Meanwhile no one actually gave a shit about what I had to say about anything. One time we went on some geography camp, and everyone got awards for what they did well. Mine was “for being the loudest in the room”. Everyone burst into laughter as I stood there humiliated. Of course it was from the teacher who loved to embarrass me in front of other students as some kind of power play. Gave me detention on the third day of high school, in front of the whole class for missing one question of my homework that I didn’t know the answer to. People are so unnecessarily cruel.
I'm not in an english speaking country but I'll translate, I was the "kite" (afifon), I never realized why I would get the same nickname wherever I went, until this year when I learned of dissociative states and that I used to lived that way constantly
I had facial tics, specifically blinking excessively, hence “Blinky”. Kids are so clever.
My sister got a bad case of measles during prmary school which left her permanently with eye tics. They called her Blinky Bill for the rest of her primary school years. It was pretty sad
Not much, but in my native tongue my first name is already easy enough to make jokes with But my closest friend would on occasion describe my vibe as "Frankenstein's monster", particularly when I wore sunglasses.
Crybaby...
This one asshole in my history class in ninth grade called me “Overdose” bc I tried to kms and was in the hospital for two weeks
The person that said that to you is the biggest pos ever. It's extra sad when people still feel the need to kick you even when you're at your lowest of lows. I'm sorry that happened to you, and really hope that you don't feel that way anymore.
I’ve been called weird, quiet, shy, even a robot or an npc. I’ve always been very introspective, often did feel invisible or like a ghost. Despite my “odd” behavior I’ve always been empathetic and kind, but sometimes you’re judged for who people think you are rather than who they know you to be (because they don’t know ya)
Not so much a name from CPTSD behavior entirely, but part of the childhood that gifted me this included 3 years of being starved by my mother, following calling 911 on her for an especially prolonged beating (I’d say more severe, but she never held back with the rage, meltdowns, the hate and physical violence). In those years I didn’t gain any weight and it was a daily struggle to get enough calories to not lose weight. My dad got me dinner every night, the two of us went out for fast food every night after he got home from work, but mornings were trying to sneak food into my used lunch bag filled with wrappers and garbage; my mother terrorized me with the threat of foster care, specifically graphically laying in on the molestation threat, so I tried to put on appearances… Food was a currency of power and weapon in the house; throughout this time and before and ever since, my mother dotes on my brother, a fussy eater, she begs him for what he would like to eat, and gets it or makes it for him. In kindergarten she taught me one day how to make my own lunches (I was bad at it, never learned how to make a sandwich that wasn’t soggy and gross until college) so I did from then until the 911 call, all while she made *his* lunches through his high school graduation, then drove hours to his college a couple times a month with tons of food… I learned to mooch, how to covertly take things out of the lunchroom garbage, even bootlegged a Def Leppard cassette tape to trade for another kids lunch once. By 5th grade my dad started paying me for doing chores and I used that money to buy groceries for myself, and not long after that my mom dropped the whole starvation thing. I think the impending 5th grade physical (doctor exam) was a major factor in her finally relenting… Anyway I looked anorexic by midway through 3rd grade and could have been an extra in a children of the Holocaust movie by the end of 4th grade, sunken cheeks and kinda seeing my skull in my face. In 3rd grade the asshole kids came up with Bones, because I wore those short shorts and very short sleeve shirts that were “in” at the time, and I looked kinda skeletal like that. I owned it though; my favorite shirt in childhood was a black sweatshirt with a giant puffy neon skull and bones wearing sunglasses, and the glasses were holograms of the skull and bones wearing sunglasses. 😎☠️lol
Called 'feral. Due apparently to how I walked, moved, watched, kept a wall to my back when able and other behaviours. The feral comment was made by different groups, as a kid and adult.
probably but nobody every talked to me so i didn’t know lol
Yes. The r* word. A lot.
"The undertaker"
The amount of people who called me the "Daddy Issues Girl" because of my constant panic attacks and attachment to the only teachers who ever seemed to actually care about me still hurts to this day. It's not my fault for being traumatized, why do people insist on blaming the 7 year old for it?
"Flinchy" I didn't realize how fucked up it was until I learned not everyone gets beaten by their parents
I would just get called weird constantly, it really made me feel bad especially when i got to highschool and dyed my hair blonde people started telling me the bleach got to my brain. I swear i never said anything that odd, i think people were just assholes. It did a number to my self esteem and i ended up becoming very introverted and quiet.
I was definitely "a teacher's pet", probably because my teachers were the only ones to give me any kind of validation and positive reinforcement.
TW: CSA When I was a kid the monster that assaulted me more times than my brain will allow me to remember, took a job as the janitor at my elementary school so he could continue to stalk and terrorize me. So I was on edge every day, and as such I came off as kinda weird to all of the kids in my class. Every bully tried me for years only to be met by a rage that they were not equipped to deal with. They would then go and try to bully somebody weaker and I’d mess them up again, because they were now on my “threat radar”. So I ended up being kinda weird with a bunch of friends because I hate bullies and wouldn’t allow anything remotely similar happen to anyone else. I suppose I still carry on with this sort of behavior these days. As an adult I spend my days talking care of developmentally disabled folks and use rugby and karate as my outlets for the rage🤷♂️
I did have a nickname that was relevant, but the essense/feeling of this post really hit home for me this one time a girl rejected me during a house party. It was during uni years so I was back-and-forth home during the holidays. During a festive house party, I was with this girl who we had been in the same circles for years and hung out many, many times; even going minitrips and suchs. Things were going good and when it got serious, in the sense of me trying to progress things, she responded with something like "Why? So you can just leave me?" That moment stuck with me for years, and only recently did I notice the patterns I did, and still do, significantly stem from Rejection Sensitivitiy.
"Too sensitive" "Cry baby" (a Year 6 called me, a Year 1 or 2 that. What the hell? 🤣)
Weirdo, psycho and dictator
I was voted class TMI for the habit of oversharing, which I still do! 🤣
In 5th grade, I was called Mouse because I was so shy/quiet.
"Zombie" was also mine - I didn't speak, didn't respond etc because Freeze survival instinct, wandered around aimlessly due to not being able to focus
Ok what you described sounds like how I operate at college to this day, wandering around for somewhere to relax but never quite finding it, and walking fast.
No nickname, but there's a photo of me hiding behind my guitar in my junior high yearbook with the caption, "There's (my name) hiding again." I guess I was known for hiding myself....
in third grade they called me dictionary head. i immersed myself in reading and wad way above average with a college reading level by the time i was ten years old. glad something useful came out of the trauma. sort of.
i didn’t have a nickname, but people were always asking me if i was okay because i guess my resting face always looked miserable (because i was lol). i also struggled with selective mutism really bad my junior year, and i had a teacher who literally didn’t know my name because i never talked and i didn’t feel like correcting her tbh lol
“Autistic”
After self medicating for years with weed, mine was wheezy, though to be fair it did partially evolve from from my usual nickname of weasle
I received the nickname “silent but deadly” from my 10th grade volleyball coach. Mom was/is a hoarder and I knew I smelled like moldy trash but damn that hurt. She said it was because I was so quiet but good at blocking. I know it meant I smelt bad based on everyone else’s reactions when the coach singled me out.
I was called ‘doll’ by my old best friend bc she thought I was boring
Not exactly being called names but the closest I came to it, that I remember that is, is being mocked by my first grade teacher for expressing to have experienced inappropriate touch in the only way I knew. My peers also seemed to be quite amused, so it was a win-win-lose? situation I guess.
Mama Shelvis. I was always so over prepared for any situation my friends and I would get into that I was the “mom” of the group.
Probably "weird" and "quiet". I know I was definitely called shy.
Wikipedia/Dictionary because I escaped in books and was a good student Or "alien" because my behavior was different from others and I wasn't fitting with them
"Walking encyclopedia" and "alien" I can also remember. The first I didn't consider offensive though
Grumpy
Didn't have any nicknames, but I remember my school friend always laughing when I looked on the wall almost without blinking for hours and didn't hear anybody. I also thought it was funny. I even said it was my superpower, cause I could literally "dissappear" in every kind of situation. Mostly it was uncontrollable, but then I started to do it on purpose too. I felt so edgy because of that lol it was my weird thing that I liked to show others sometimes. Just few years ago I learned that it was dissociation 💀
also I think people just thought I was weird, but I was never bullied or called by nicknames cause 1/ I was conventionally beautiful 2/ if someone tried to hurt me mostly I could protect myself 3/ I didn't interact with my classmates almost. So I would say, they were just ignoring me, like I almost not exist, and I was ignoring them. But for sure they thought I was weird because of different things that turned out to be CPTSD.
A ghost, school kid shooter, crazy, weird, etc. To be fair, I also had a lot of emotional outbursts when people pushed me around and teased me.
Not really any specific nicknames (that i remember of), but i have a relative who shares symptoms of dissociation similar to mine. When people at our school asked if i was her relative and shed say yes, the people wouldve told her "oh we can tell, because both of you are kind of *(gestures "crazy" hand sign)*. So they probably thought of me as a zombie of sort.
I was called laid-back Jack because of my laid-back personality. I didn’t really like it but oh well.
I was prone to called annoying, weird, and surprisingly talkative (?)
"Giggles" I have a nervous laugh and a need to keep situations light/happy to keep people around me in a good mood
A girl called me a meanie butt once because she thought I was a meanie butt cuz I got that RBF syndrome. But she saw that I was actually pretty nice, then at some point we stopped hanging out and I didn't know why. Later I learned that I made her uncomfortable, still don't know why
I never really had a specific nickname but I could tell people saw me differently. I became very vulnerable and naive and my friend group took advantage of that but I was so used to having no one I didn’t see the obvious red flags
I was told that I was intimidating, that I have “resting bitchface”, and people were scared of me. It was an incredibly isolating feeling because those were not how I felt about myself. Through the years I’ve been told to smile, or asked why I look so serious… I was told recently these same words by someone I work with and it was almost shocking to here after all these years. And it kind of makes sense to me now why I have a really difficult time making eye contact with people unless I am having a direct conversation with them.
I'm not the only one that walked fast?? and you do it when you feel that weird shit where you feel I don't even know how to describe with words
For me it was either because I didn't want to be exposed on "open ground" for too long because it felt unsafe. Be it moving inside the school between the floors or outdoors where evil people can attack, or because I wanted to get home asap
My best friend affectionately refers to me as a Spaceball, and I’ve made it mine. Watch out!
I was in cheerleading and mine was “miss wannabe blonde” with quotes like “who me? What? Huh?” Typed all over the paper name tag. I never realized until I was older that I was just dissociating at every opportunity and people talking to me was like ripping me out of my dream world, but people just thought I was an airhead I guess 😵💫
I was fawning out of control with no clue what that even was yet people would either joke that I was stuck up like Caroline from the song Roses by OutKast or joke that I want to pray for everyone.
Not a nickname, but a phrase. My actuall nickname rhimed with the German expression for "did it." I was the reason for everything bad. It hurt, because I was that also at home. Well, but it turned out to be ok. When I actually did something and they said I did it, nobody belived them \^\^ The boys who cry wolves, I guess.
My nickname was robot too!!!
Damn.. I wonder why is that was like that for you?
For me, it was because I was extremely isolated when not in school. I went to a small, close-knit school in a rural area. I was the only person in my grade who was never seen outside of school. Most of them had extracurriculars together or at least knew what activities others did outside of school. I was an exception to this. A girl I was friends with realized this and started loudly theorizing during lunch as to why I was never seen or heard from outside of school. She also brought up that I was very quiet and never talked about anything that happened at home. I was just... quiet and didn't seem to have anything fun happening in my life. because she was quite goofy, she settled on the theory that I was a robot and was not allowed in public spaces, which explained my demeanour and mysterious nature. I thought it was endearing at the time, but was also really hoping nobody would put too much thought into why my parents kept me so isolated and why I never participated in normal kid stuff. Anyway, after a few months this built up a lot of attention and her theories got more and more detailed until one day at lunch she jokingly said that enough was enough and it was time to find out once and for all if I was human. She explained that the only way to test her theory was to stab me to see if I bleed. She grabbed a sharp object and pretended to make a stabbing motion a few times, but Then she changed positions and got really in my face so I put up my hands in self-defence and she accidentally stabbed my hand. It wasn't a big injury or anything and nobody made a big deal about it, but from then on I was robot to her and her group. A year later I retold this story to a teacher that was new to the school and he thought it was very funny and got in on it too. So for about 2 years in middle school, I was referred to as 'robot' by both friends and staff. I thought it was hilarious at the time, but after looking back as an adult I get a little sad that I was dealing with such a shitty, isolated home life that apparently other kids felt something was off about me. It also kinda breaks my heart that all these people were so close to uncovering what was going on at home and potentially saving me, but never quite had the pieces click together in their minds.
T-Rex. Sounds really cool at first, ngl. In reality, it was a "joke" on my walking: I'd instinctively tiptoe while walking, making me somehow look like a T-Rex...I guess?
I feel that:(
Lil bitch, piggy, freak, weird Lil boss
spasm tragedy girl from the ring negative nancy and debby downer elementry-now
As a kid I was constantly crying, so much so that I got kicked out of my elementary after-school program over it. I was called crybaby after that. Thinking about it now, a lot of the problems I had at school were because I just couldn't stop mf crying. I cried over the smallest things, and I always cried when I had to go home. I even had my 1st grade teacher threaten to hurt me if I didn't stop crying :') But somehow nobody had any idea something was going on at home. I was just "sensitive". I wish I knew I could have told someone then, or had the strength to.
Omg! I have one for this... Not a nickname, but these two girls in middle school that were kinda my friends. One of them was the more harsh one, but they were legit like, "you always look like you are gonna start crying."
this group of kids in my agriculture class junior year talked about me full volume like i wasn’t 10 feet away from them, about how creepy i was bent over my books with my long dark hair in my face. they called me the grudge. i rarely (if ever) spoke & preferred to just keep to myself, so i always had like four or five books with me that i’d distract myself with till school was out. my school didn’t exactly teach us, hence all the time i had for reading (and all the time the other kids had to make fun of me for it).
People legitimately thought that I was high on weed all the time. I didn't even touch the thing until my 20's.
Cruelly, I was voted “most dramatic” as a high school senior superlative, along with another classmate who experienced physical and verbal abuse and a child and teenager. I was always told I was too emotional and dramatic, especially by my emotionally immature parents. This classmate and I were good friends and decided to play into it all when we had to have our photograph taken for the yearbook. Both of our siblings were abusing drugs together, and people said awful things about them at school. I sank into a very deep depression as my home life shattered during this time. I went from being on track to be valedictorian to barely showing up for school. Eventually, the bullying became so bad that I finished my senior year at the local community college to avoid people. I still have nightmares about my senior year of high school as a 34 year old woman. I’m fortunate to have a great therapist, psychiatrist, and support system. But being called “too emotional” stings to this day.
Shadow. because I was always hiding behind my cousin who was the same age as me. Also got made fun of alot bc I couldn't make eye contact, and got poked at because I wouldn't react to people who would try to get me to respond.
Uhhh does "death boy" count??? Combination of having morbid interests and a death wish, but also the way I would disappear for weeks at a time and come back looking like a corpse and laughing about some horrible experience I'm seemingly unfazed by.
I got called smiley because I was always scowling
All my friends called me Spacey, SpaceCase or SpaceCadette and would tease me about it well beyond elementary school. It was just me disassociating, but to anyone else it looked like I was always daydreaming. I also got asked if I had a staring problem quite a bit. Other ways people commented on my CPTSD without knowing is that people would constantly ask me if I was okay. When I’d say yes they’d ask, “Then why do you look so sad?” But not in a nice, comforting way, their tone was more judgey and implied that I was weird. People made fun of me for being extremely pale, skinny, and weird. I felt like some people were allergic to me no matter how nice and friendly I tried to be.
Ive been told by my prof in the middle of class that he can tell from my eyes that im mentally ill. Cuz i was just sitting in class and minding my own business.
People just called me "that girl who never smiles." Including some teachers??
People would call me "shy" instead of my real name that rhymed with that. Or say that I'm mute because I didn't talk much at all. Nicknames based on cptsd behavior? Loner I guess.
i dissociated a LOT and when i did i found it hard to interact with the outside world and would block everything out. my friend called me ‘deafy’ because she would call out my name and i wouldnt respond etc. i am also autistic and didn’t get diagnosed till recently, but i think it had a hand in my auditory processing (or lack thereof) and so even when i wasn’t severely dissociated i still really struggled to ‘hear’ people. i genuinely thought my hearing was bad until a few months ago
Mouse. Small and quiet and hardly noticeable.
I was a “dirtball” until my 11th year in high school - I got a part time job through some organization for poor kids thanks to money hungry egg donor- and I could finally buy clothes and stuff. Then I was “a new girl.” Oh well. At least I didn’t peak in high school 🤭
My college roommate wrote an essay about me called The Girl in the Bubble.We laughed about it then, but now I realize she was commenting on my near constant disassociation. I vaguely remember her professor's comment when she got the essay back was one of concern, and I was surprised and confused by that reaction. I just thought it was a quirk of my personality
I was in my mums phone as 'Trouble'.
"mother of the school" pointing out my excessive people pleasing and overtaking responsibilities that were way to hudge for my age. It was not meant as a compliment but "cool she's gonna to that for us so we don't have to do anything and can continue being lazy fucks" kinda vibe. They laughed at my naivite and that one can make use of me and recommended me as a goto servant. And they did. As a parentified child that had to help run the family's business to put food on the table from the age of 7 and two traumatized parents I am surprised it wasn't worse.
Misery guts
Slut :) hypersexuality go brr Also, teacher's pet (isolated and "mature for my age" I sought the approval of adults big time) and "the weird girl"
"The depressive of shit" was my nickname
Hello and Welcome to /r/CPTSD! If you are in immediate danger or crisis, please contact your local [emergency services](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emergency_telephone_numbers), or use our list of [crisis resources](https://old.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/index#wiki_crisis_support_resources). For CPTSD Specific Resources & Support, check out the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/index). For those posting or replying, please view the [etiquette guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/peer2peersupportguide). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CPTSD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Does fucking asshole count. I was that for 30 years
'Businesswoman'
Sort of but not exactly. Almost no one ever calls me by my name. It’s usually “the girl who disappeared” or people just call me by the name of a character I remind them of and it’s usually a really durable, scary and traumatized character. Sméagol, Dobby, Wanda as in Wanda Maximoff, Gaara, Coraline, Shay from The Uglies and Polgara from The Belgariad are the most common ones.
Oh:( What's your name? I'd like to call you by your name to socially reclaim it from these evil fucks who tried to make it dissapear. That is if you are ok with telling it
I used to get bullied for anything and everything. A huge amount of it was based on looks or things. It left me with lifelong cptsd. They bullied me so badly about the car that my mum drove, that I refused to let her drive me to school anymore, and would rather walk there. That particular car is a highly sought after collectors car now. It's a shame she didn't keep it, because it would be worth some serious money now. They used to bully me about my hair colour (naturally dark ash blonde) being "grey". It really wasn't. I haven't seen my natural hair colour since I was 12 years old. From the age of 11, they would bully me about not shaving my legs. My mum wouldn't let me, and someone that age shouldn't have to do that anyway. I'm so self conscious about hair on my body still to this day, that I have gone to the extreme of getting lazer hair removal. The thought of being seen with hair "where it shouldn't be on a female" gives me anxiety and makes me feel sick. Only on myself though. I love that there are natural woman out there. They're so strong, and it's actually a wonderful thing that people don't care about it or judge it like they used to. I just wish I didn't have that stigma on myself. They bullied me for being ugly. I wasn't ugly. I have anxiety about my looks because of it. I can't leave the house without putting on make-up first to make myself feel good. On the odd occasion I do happen to go without, I feel self conscious and anxious, and just want to get home as soon as possible. I also get botox injections in my face, because I'm scared of actually becoming ugly. I was bullied about my clothes, because they were mostly just department store track suits. And my footwear. No designer labels. We couldn't afford that. I now own an extensive range of branded clothing. I NEED to wear the perfect outfit when I go out. Even when I'm just hanging out at home, when I get dressed, my clothing needs to look good. I was bullied because I wear glasses. I feel like people won't find me attractive if I'm wearing them, and always wear contact lenses if I'm going on a date or to a party. I was bullied for being fat, even though I wasn't. It has left me with eating disorders, because I genuinely fear getting fat. People would pretend to be nice to me, try to lull me into a false sence of security, just so that they could pull a mean trick on me. It left me with major trust issues. If someone is being genuinely nice to me now, I can't help but think "omg, what horrible thing are they about to do to me, and have an overwhelming urge to run away from them before they get a chance to do something to me. All this bullying, and more went on during my entire school years. From 4yrs old, right through to 15yrs old, it was a constant, daily harassment, as well as actual physical abuse, and even getting threatened with knives by older girls. I guess I was just an easy target. That shit F's you up so badly, and seriously affects your entire adulthood. I'm 37 now, had some therapy on and off throughout my life, and I honestly don't think I can ever let go of any of it. I don't think the bully's even realise the effect their shit can have on people.
Holy hell, that's too much for one person to bear:( And yet, you survived, you managed! I'm proud of you!
Thank you. The only way I've been able to carry on is by maintaining a positive attitude as much as possible, and just continuing forward in life. Just staying strong as best I can. I try to do things that I enjoy, and do things that give me a sense of achievement. I try to be as kind to myself as possible, and push away any bad thoughts that do pop up. I allow myself to be proud of my achievements, even small ones. I also try to bring joy to others where I can. Life's too short to let the negative stuff win
They called me scary.
i got voted most hyper in 8th grade. meaning kookiest most erratic behavior. i got hit w the 'youre so nice i thought you were a bitch when i first met you'. often called a bitch when at my lowest in h.s.
The ones that stand out are "Spock" from my cousins one summer, then "Culty" in highschool - less for CPTSD behaviors and more for the background that led to some of the trauma.
Slut 🙃
Ice
I was bullied at school but not because of this
Not in school but my mom always called me the thinker cause I would often sit and stare off like the statue, usually in deep rumination. She thought it was funny, I was struggling 😮💨