Accommodation Thoughts?

[gaixtoak]

Hello,

So I've been having conflicts at work with a coworker who my management thinks is just brusque, I suspect maybe on the autistic spectrum, I'm starting to think that maybe his behavior is innocent and I am just being triggered.

I have not been diagnosed with c-PTSD, but I was with PTSD which AFAICT doesn't exactly fit as well (no visual flashbacks, longtime abuse, etc.). The source was persistent longtime childhood bullying and mobbing combined with a narcissist mother and brother and bipolar father and grandmother at home.

Monday I am going over the accommodation form my work provides with my psych but I really don't have much of a clue what would be helpful. I just wanted to know if people had any ideas.

[Three Roses]

Hi - first of all, welcome! Hope you find what you need here, whether it's support or whatever.

PTSD and CPTSD are two different things. Many treatments that are recommended and successful for PTSD are inappropriate for treating CPTSD.

Complex PTSD just means you experienced more than one traumatic event that has affected you. PTSD from a single event is "simple" PTSD. There's a newer book called "The Body Keeps The Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk, and is available to listen to on YouTube; past two explains dissent treatments that have been proven to be effective.

I'm not sure what is meant by "accommodation form", but hopefully the doctor you're seeing is informed about the difference between CPTSD & PTSD.

Happy hunting, and welcome to the forum! 

[gaixtoak]

Yes, I know they are different. My point is the original therapist who diagnosed me was a twit.
Like I said in my first message, I don't have classic PTSD symptoms and the origin was continual emotional/psychological trauma over an extended period.

And Complex PTSD means more than that.. just like your first paragraph says. The symptoms, causes, and treatments are different.

Accommodations is a legal term in the United States from the ADA. Employers are required to make reasonable efforts to accommodate an employee with a disability.

My employer has a form which my psychiatrist and I must submit. I want to be more informed come Monday when my psych and I go over because my bet is she'll say "what do you think would help you do your job better?" and I have no clue how to answer.

[Kizzie]

I wasn't clear as to what you were asking/saying either gaixtoak, but I think I see now.  In order to help with some suggestions though, it would help to know what is it that this coworker does/does not do that causes conflict?  And it's difficult to know what would be considered reasonable in your place of work - does the company have a booklet which talks about what accommodations are possible? 

Also, there is some info here (http://www.outofthestorm.website/cptsd-description/) and a download here (http://www.blueknot.org.au/Portals/2/Fact%20Sheets%20Info/Fact%20Sheet_Health%20Practitioners.pdf),  that may help your psychiatrist to see that you have Complex PTSD versus PTSD. 

[gaixtoak]

So here is the full story:

I've been having conflict with a teammate for a few months now. It started while I was out for medical reasons.
When I was out the teammate went to my 2nd-level manager and complained about my "lack of availability" while I was out and that what I had been doing was a waste of time (it was only things I had been assigned to do).

The teammate also put comments in his performance eval at the same time about me having poor judgement because I did what I was tasked to do and he thought the tasking wasn't a good idea.

There were a series of meetings when I got back with my Project lead, manager and 2nd-level manager about this and it ended up with a restructuring that made me report to the other employee.

Not long after that the teammate ambushed me at my desk, insulted my hair and then proceeded to pressure me into throwing out work I had been doing for the last couple of weeks because the teammate didn't like the design that the project lead had ok'd before the restructuring.

A few days after that I encountered a blockage which I brought up at a meeting with him. The teammate just ignored me. I brought it up again at the next meeting and the teammate ignored me again instead he shows up at my desk to berate me for incompetency before giving me a work around to my blockage that he had known about even before I brought it up the first time. Later in another meeting he blamed me for him withholding the information.

A few days later at a planning meeting the teammate openly criticized me for "wasting time" by working on tasks assigned to me. At the same meeting I proposed a new feature would make more sense as part of a shared library I had wrote months before. The teammate's response was that the teammate wouldn't put it in there because the teammate didn't want to use anything I had done.

Over the next couple of weeks the teammate started adding himself to my code reviews and leaving condescending comments and delaying my tasks. At one point the teammate goes to my 2nd level manage and claims I was ignoring his comments, I wasn't and then sends out a condescending email lashing out about appropriate use of code reviews to the entire project.

The whole situation to me seems like a violation of our anti-bullying policy. And my management seems to be viewing the problem as *me*. Making comments about "improving my productivity" and dismissing even the personal attack. All discussion about fixing things is worded to make it sound like the issue is not with the teammate but either me or at a higher project level. HR seems to be taking a similar tack and I the HR rep let it slipped that he knew the co-worker personally.

[Kizzie]

Apologies for the delay in answering but I have been recovering from surgery.  it sure sounds like your coworker is harassing you but HR and mgmt are not seeing it in this way.  Tough situation to be sure. 

Did you fill out the form with the psychiatrist and what did you ask for?  Was there a handbook available or something that lays out the company's policies about bullying/harassment, accommodations, etc?