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News Would You Consider This Inappropriate For A Ptsd Support Group

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Kas_Can_Fly

MyPTSD Pro
Someone shared a new PTSD Support Group link online today and when I stumbled on it through a non-ptsd source, I was surprised and visited the site. Obviously I'm pleased that a new group has been created for supporting those with PTSD but I found the site experience quite distressing.

I was browsing through the site, when on the personal help resources page and as scrolling down the page, one of their chosen images was a restrained woman screaming, being grabbed from behind the attacker with one hand over her mouth, the other with a large knife to her throat. I was so shocked and triggered that it brought on a flashback, which for me from this sort thing is very rare.

There is something disturbingly authentic (at least to me) about the photo. I am aware that it is a site for victims/survivors of rape and abuse with PTSD, so maybe this illustrative picture is perfectly apt and I'm just being over the top. Maybe it simply surprised me and as a result was more disturbing. To me the whole site seemed just a bit off, but maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea, but this image has really upset me. Am I being irrational? Would you find this upsetting in a place offering support to have such an aggressive image?

Edited to add: the site is for self-defense training of women who have PTSD. The woman in charge of these classes refers to herself as your personal guardian angel who will stay with you all of the time you are vulnerable and claims that their "hitmen" are the closest thing to real attackers as they "act and talk" like a real attacker.

Is it just my head this ring alarm bells in - I'm sure it could be very helpful if someone was in the right place but if someone wasn't ready for this (or thought they were and then weren't), this sounds really triggering.
 
I don't think you're overreacting at all. All sorts of things on the internet and tv trigger bad memories for me, and something as blatant as that picture shouldn't be on a forum where the people are specifically suffering from PTSD. You should email an administrator on the website about it.
 
This is the most uneducated thing a site could do. It is very wrong for them to use a victim in that manner. Not only what it doe for those who come seeking information but it also violates the victim of that photo and the rest of the people who have been victimized. Give me the ink and I will be happy to explain to them the ignorance in which they posted this image and make them take it down!
 
I'm having terrible nightmares, am unable to sleep properly and am massively on edge. I don't get triggered ever like this. I mean it, I might be upset/disgusted/angry at something but never triggered, I don't know why, because it's not that bad really, I don't think. Why did this affect me so much, did it really catch me that off guard?

For your own judgements: [DLMURL]http://www.victimnomore.org.uk/help-for-you.html[/DLMURL]
 
I think it would trigger me too. Just reading what you have wrote about the site. I understand to some that it may be fine to see images like that and maybe this site owner doesn't have to deal with ptsd so they don't know it's a trigger to see images like this.

Have you thought about just sending a quick message to the site owner about it being a trigger for some?
 
For a support site, an image like that doesn't seem to be supportive!

Am I guessing wrong, or is $$$ involved? It seems that an image like that would scare the $hit out of a victim so they now think "gee I better sign up so I'm not re victimized!"
 
Edited to add: the site is for self-defense training of women who have PTSD. The woman in charge of these classes refers to herself as your personal guardian angel who will stay with you all of the time you are vulnerable and claims that their "hitmen" are the closest thing to real attackers as they "act and talk" like a real attacker.

I wonder if the purpose of the image and the "hitmen" is to give women exposure to the situation so that they don't freeze if the situation happened for real. As hard as it was to be on this forum at first, the exposure I have had on here has helped me immensely in understanding what happened to me. I can talk about it now without totally dissociating. I don't avoid it as much as I used to.

In a situation where I would probably freeze, to give me strategies to defend myself it I could, would be invaluable. That includes putting me in a simulator. If you train enough it becomes second nature and automatically get past that "freeze" point. I think that is the theory.
 
I wonder if someone developed the website and very logically chose an image that graphically depicts what she does. And that because dealing with perpetrators is part of what she is helping others do (through exposure) that she has not thought through the lack of control of exposure to a trigger that a violent image such as this could represent.

I too think it would be a good idea to email her and tell her the affect it had on you. I am sure you are far from alone.
 
Perhaps the image had exactly the effect the owner of the site was hoping for. By making a viewer feel anxiety and panic, it would perhaps make them sign up for classes. It sounded more like a self-defense class instead of a support group.
 
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