At first I had symptoms for a few days. I read that this was normal but not really PSTD, For a long time I did not think very much about what had happened. This is a summary:
There was an environmental protest and about 150 people participated. There seemed to be almost as many police there as protestors. They were in vans and cars, on horseback and on bicycle with helmets and visors and shields, even the horses had visors. They were ready with tear gas and rubber bullets and had real guns. I saw two people roughly thrown to the ground, another protestor had a wrist broken. We were turned back and circled and forced to go into a small dark area near a tall office building and stay there for an hour. We were about 30 people including someone from the media who was treated like just another protestor. There were media helocopters above filming us and some of us had photos in newspapers. People looked at us like we were crazy dangerous people because we care about the planet. This was several months ago.
Now, since I had to write a report of what I personally recalled, I have had some strange dreams, a lot of anxiety, a feeling of hypervigilance (no I do not have combat training but running away was not allowed as an option), and because of lack of sleep I suffer from insomnia. I did not tell my family doctor about the PTSD - I want to find non-medical therapist so I will not be stigmatized or have problems getting work in future. I am coping but I would like to hear from others with similar experiences with police or even combat experience that I can relate to. The group I was arrested with has been somewhat supportive but we do not meet that often. I thought after a couple of weeks that this would just go away but I still feel tense, distrustful of all police, today, for example, I saw a white taxi cab that looked like a police car and I was checking to see if I was being watched by driver.
I will not have a criminal record - this is more like an expensive traffic ticket with a lot of over-the-top police harassment. We call it political profiling in my city. I am suprised by my reactions to the event. I still have to go through a long collective defense process - in the end I will probably have to do community service.
There was an environmental protest and about 150 people participated. There seemed to be almost as many police there as protestors. They were in vans and cars, on horseback and on bicycle with helmets and visors and shields, even the horses had visors. They were ready with tear gas and rubber bullets and had real guns. I saw two people roughly thrown to the ground, another protestor had a wrist broken. We were turned back and circled and forced to go into a small dark area near a tall office building and stay there for an hour. We were about 30 people including someone from the media who was treated like just another protestor. There were media helocopters above filming us and some of us had photos in newspapers. People looked at us like we were crazy dangerous people because we care about the planet. This was several months ago.
Now, since I had to write a report of what I personally recalled, I have had some strange dreams, a lot of anxiety, a feeling of hypervigilance (no I do not have combat training but running away was not allowed as an option), and because of lack of sleep I suffer from insomnia. I did not tell my family doctor about the PTSD - I want to find non-medical therapist so I will not be stigmatized or have problems getting work in future. I am coping but I would like to hear from others with similar experiences with police or even combat experience that I can relate to. The group I was arrested with has been somewhat supportive but we do not meet that often. I thought after a couple of weeks that this would just go away but I still feel tense, distrustful of all police, today, for example, I saw a white taxi cab that looked like a police car and I was checking to see if I was being watched by driver.
I will not have a criminal record - this is more like an expensive traffic ticket with a lot of over-the-top police harassment. We call it political profiling in my city. I am suprised by my reactions to the event. I still have to go through a long collective defense process - in the end I will probably have to do community service.