Unexpected Trigger

[Eliza]

Hi folks,

I just wanted to share something with you, and hope that some people can relate/reassure me it’s normal!

I was in training for a new job at a tourist attraction, and they were talking about customer feedback. And suddenly they showed an image from a terrorist attack. It was to show that a family who had been affected by the attack were grateful for the help provided by the staff. The attraction is nowhere near any attack sites, so I wasn’t expecting any kind of trigger. Then suddenly I was right back on the bridge. It threw me into a huge panic attack.

I haven’t had an attack like that in over a year so it was really out of the blue and has kind of knocked me for six. Suddenly nowhere seems safe.

Has anybody else experienced this? How did you get through it?

 

[Kubash16]

The only thing that has helped me has been doing some grounding/breathing exercises and trying to get an appt with T to talk it out.

 

[Friday]

Has anybody else experienced this? How did you get through it?

Many times. It’s the surprise factor, more than anything, that seems to set the stage.

If I know something is likely? It might be stressful, hard, and difficult... but it’s not boom! that happens, knocking me off my feet and on my ass like a sneaker wave, where one moment I’m standing in the shallows just fine, the next I’m ass over teakettle being churned in a wave and drug face first along the bottom with no air in my lungs and no idea which way is up.

Part of that everything/everywhere nothing/nowhere reaction? Aside from the whole symptom spike thing, I’ve come to realize is my own self trying to prevent another surprise trigger. Because, again, it’s the surprise factor more than anything that knocks me out. So it’s protective, if exhausting, and wears off fairly quickly. Within a few days to a few weeks. I basically just thank my brain for trying to do me a solid, even if it’s methods suck, and ignore it.

 

[Eliza]

Thanks guys. I’m glad it’s not just me. I was ok once I’d sat outside the room and did some grounding exercises. Annoyingly I don’t have a T to talk it over with anymore as I thought I was pretty well recovered.

I spoke to the woman who did the training afterwards though and just said, maybe it’s worth having a bit of a trigger warning before showing it, and she was super nice about it. I felt kinda stupid going up and saying something, but I figured if it affected me this much, you never know when someone could be in the room who has lost someone to a terror attack, or was injured etc. Because in all honestly, it was monumentally insensitive the way they did it. She was talking about customer feedback, and then suddenly showed an image from a terror attack, and asked the room what it was. Then when someone pointed out it was a terror attack, she then went on to explain why she was showing it. So at least if we can remove the surprise factor, it could prevent someone else from suffering.