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I Feel Like The Only One - Triggered By Movie/TV Content

hello invisigirl. welcome to the forum. sorry for what brings you here, but glad you are here.

i happen to believe that invisibility is a superpower and i am a card carrying member of the invisible justice league. i would show you my card, but it's invisible, too. my shrink calls my invisible justice league, "a delusion of grandeur." that's okay. the weak of faith are the easiest to work around. if you can't see me, you can't stop me.

attempted humor aside. . .

I've observed other survivors in the past and it seemed to me that no one else has the same feelings about this content.

i don't believe the common ground is in the content. a particular turn of phrase, action or whatever is going to affect everyone differently. one soul's trigger is another soul's catharsis. the common ground is in how we react to reminders of past events and/or fears of the future. there is often common ground in how we can manage the symptoms of those reactions.

just believing. . . would this be a good time to mention that i also believe i am a member of the invisible justice league?
 
Hi. I'm new here. I'm scared to type this post. My anxiety has gotten so bad but I have to.
I'm a survivor of abuse as a child and for years I have had a lot of trouble with certain content in movies, on tv, hearing peers talk. I get very upset and feel like I'm not human because I don't feel "normal" like everyone else seems to feel. I also get angry because as a female, I feel objectified and less than. I feel victimized all over again, I guess you could say. So I don't watch anything new, I don't go to see anything new. I'm buried in habit.
I've observed other survivors in the past and it seemed to me that no one else has the same feelings about this content.
I was just triggered recently completely out of the blue and that propelled me to do this. I'm trying to filter what I say, so I hope I'm making sense. Thanks.
There is comfort in watching things we have seen before.
 
I'm also new here. My trauma is related to betrayal by infidelity combined with domestic violence that escalated after "discovery". In addition to the cruelty of my ex-husband, a significant portion of my trauma came from a stranger (his lover) who stalked, harassed, and threatened my child and I until police intervention got her to stop.

You aren't alone. There is certain content I can't handle watching (or reading) anymore either, specifically love scenes that progress to sexuality. Whether it's in a book or on the screen, I skip/forward past the content. Before the betrayal this content didn't bother me at all. I can't stomach it now, not even for a second.

My aversion to romantic intimacy extends beyond the page or the screen. I no longer have any desire for romantic intimacy. I don't know if this will ever change. Time seems to take the "edge" off of it, but I can't imagine it going away.
 
'm also new here. My trauma is related to betrayal by infidelity combined with domestic violence that escalated after "discovery". In addition to the cruelty of my ex-husband, a significant portion of my trauma came from a stranger (his lover) who stalked, harassed, and threatened my child and I until police intervention got her to stop.
I built a media server a while ago so I could watch what I want at any time. There are things like screaming that can set something off for me (don't know why yet) and a few other things that set me off. Being able to flip on Wallace and Gromit, Looney Tunes, and more that I like and just watch with a few presses of a button is great.

But yes, controlling input is important because it helps control mood, anxiety, and more which really really helps when you are near the top of the scale to keep the worst symptoms away.
 
But yes, controlling input is important because it helps control mood, anxiety, and more which really really helps when you are near the top of the scale to keep the worst symptoms away.
Controlling the “feel”… whether it’s books, music, video, art of any kind… is incredibly useful in directing my own thoughts/mood.
 
this us an old thread but when it showed up today i wanted to share my take on video and how it can be harsher and harder to deal with than reality some times. I totally get the deep responses to video.
As a big tough first responder going to a scene with sirens and radio and the smell of salty turn outs in the truck I could handle whatever i landed in, mostly, at least while i was on scene. Pick it up, hand it off, take a shower.
Same or similar scene, on a training night watching slides, a video, maybe polaroids even, and I needed a break. Sitting in the dark waiting for the next image to go up I would find myself sweating silently dreading the next image. Its all about the framing, the lack of prep time, the jolt of seeing something that is so far removed from the reality you are in at the time.
Some nights, sitting on the couch kicked back and relaxed, I know a violent movie is going to kill the calm or worse. Other nights, after driving to town, stopping for a beer and some happy hour snacks and walking to the movie theater, Im good to go for just about any hollywood gore fest my company wants to endure. Not really my thing but good to go.
Its all about the framing, the suspension of disbelief, the mood and the prep. Its a spectrum and its good to know where you fall within it before proceeding into new territory.
 
I built a media server a while ago so I could watch what I want at any time. There are things like screaming that can set something off for me (don't know why yet) and a few other things that set me off. Being able to flip on Wallace and Gromit, Looney Tunes, and more that I like and just watch with a few presses of a button is great.

But yes, controlling input is important because it helps control mood, anxiety, and more which really really helps when you are near the top of the scale to keep the worst symptoms away.
I've recently wondered if content creators (books, TV, and movies) have considered the impact a lot of this trend towards "shock and awe" in explicit content has on society in general, specifically young people and those who suffer from anxiety and trauma. To me, it seems very inconsiderate that content has moved away from the "fade to black" approach in love and horror scenes that once allowed consumers to use imagination instead of exposing us to graphic truths.

Content today has normalized what used to be the exclusive domain of gore horror and pornography, and I don't think this has been good overall for society on a whole. We can't seem to filter it out by category at all, as it's included in almost everything now.
 
I've recently wondered if content creators (books, TV, and movies) have considered the impact a lot of this trend towards "shock and awe" in explicit content has on society in general, specifically young people and those who suffer from anxiety and trauma. To me, it seems very inconsiderate that content has moved away from the "fade to black" approach in love and horror scenes that once allowed consumers to use imagination instead of exposing us to graphic truths.

Content today has normalized what used to be the exclusive domain of gore horror and pornography, and I don't think this has been good overall for society on a whole. We can't seem to filter it out by category at all, as it's included in almost everything now.
Interesting take. I do think there is MORE of it in mainstream media. Take one of my favorite series streaming, The boys. Probably one of the most graphic currently running series out there. But that's sort of a black comedy deal. But there was very unsettling content even back in the 80s and 90s. Watership down (the 1978 version and childhood favorite of mine) Is literally a children's cartoon but has lots of death, rabbits being gassed to death, all sorts of really dark stuff. But its considered a children's classic. The day after (1983) was a mainstream tv mini series that tried to show a realistic nuclear war between the super powers and its ending scene literally has the main character dying of radiation poison in his obliterated house. And imo, fading to black can be just as traumatic as actually seeing it. Ex Machina (2014) has in its final moments the main human character trapped in a room while the sentient AI escapes to freedom. You see a few shots of the main character freaking out, pounding on doors and crying. And then it moves on. Its haunting and anxiety inducing because it DOESNT shot the dude slowing dying of hunger or thirst over the next couple of days. Its implied that's what's going to happen and your brain fills in the gaps, and my brain filled in the gaps with him slowly dying trapped in that room, but other people who haven't ever been trapped in a room might just tell themselves that someone rescued him or he found a way out. And that certainly triggered me. But I love that film so maybe that's why I'm protective of it.
I'm much more worried about how social media and how we have changed how we interact online and offline because of it. I'm actually more than a bit paranoid that stuff like the AI therapist we have been playing around with here might not be healthy in some aspects and might have unintended consequences later on. But I think there can be a lot of use to be had from it if we figure out how to use it in a manner that is responsible and ethical. And now ill get off my sudo intellectual soap box. :D
 
I've observed other survivors in the past and it seemed to me that no one else has the same feelings about this content.

If it's any consolation at all, I ended up being hospitalized because of a video game (Far Cry 6). I had a significant period of time in my life a year or so back where I literally could not seem to find any content that I didn't inevitably find objectionable or triggering to the point of lunacy. PTSD is hard, it sounds like you're having emotional flashbacks in the moment where it is bringing up the same feelings you held while being victimized.

Our TV these days is saturated with violence, particularly in the horror genre where violence against women is mainstream (and yet nudity of women is censured - you can see a woman get her head chopped off, but G-d forbid you show her nipples). So it makes perfect sense that modern content is distressing to you. I believe this will become easier over time as you gradually habituate to new content, and continue to pursue forms of treatment that focus on distress tolerance and prolonged exposure therapy.

You are not inhuman or an object simply because you have a trauma reaction to witnessing violence on television. I literally had one of the most intense emotional flashbacks I've ever had, over the movie "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." I kept repeating "Harry Potter was 11 years old when he first killed a man." Which, while hilarious, was also reflective of my genuine upset (as I was not joking when I said it -> in retrospect it is funny as f*ck.)
 
back to the future. A classic, funny, kid worthy movie, right? Rape scene. It has been right there under our noses so long that it goes largely unnoticed and not remembered as such. I tend to think of it all as patterns of light and air that has been sent into vibrating waves, pragmatically it can do no harm. Its the receptors and the brains connected to them that feel harm, feel damaged.
 
I've recently wondered if content creators (books, TV, and movies) have considered the impact a lot of this trend towards "shock and awe" in explicit content has on society in general, specifically young people and those who suffer from anxiety and trauma. To me, it seems very inconsiderate that content has moved away from the "fade to black" approach in love and horror scenes that once allowed consumers to use imagination instead of exposing us to graphic truths.

Content today has normalized what used to be the exclusive domain of gore horror and pornography, and I don't think this has been good overall for society on a whole. We can't seem to filter it out by category at all, as it's included in almost everything now.
Artists are always seeking “new” ways to express, & people selling things are always looking for better ways to hawk their wares. If you extend your search by about 5,000 years? You’ll see that modern Western media/literature/entertainment is roughly halfway between the two most extreme examples on the perpetual pendulum swing. Renaissance to Reformation to Libertine to Victorian <<< We’re still climbing out of THAT one, culturally speaking, where even a tables “nether regions” had to be covered, and it was lewd to refer to their (ssshh. Legs. Cough.). At least Victorian prudishness did not extend to smashing all the stained glass windows, painting over all the murals and frescos, burning/breaking anything beautiful, whether created modernly or in antiquity (very little Roman survived the stark demands of religious extremists). Victorian morals “just” wanted all the penises (and nether regions of furniture, and, and, and) stored away out of sight. But public executions? Dueling? Bear fights, & bull fights & cock fights? Still right good fun! Bring the kids!

A few times a generation archeologists are lucky enough to discover a city’s tragedy, that has kept them frozen in time / unaffected by the constantly shifting mores of the people. From the Penises in Pompeii, to stunning Roman mosaics England. Most art gets chipped away, burned, stolen, or “improved” during ethical shifts. It’s rare we get to see things as people 500 or 2000 or 5000 years ago lived it. But the occasional cranky volcano or building collapse saves bits and pieces for us.

Most of the West is still in the pantomime phase of entertainment, although there are some exceptions. (Spain & Bulls, is one of the better known normals).

As pantomiming sex & violence, where everyone knows it’s fictional/fake, instead of real sex & violence, or the absolute proscription against either/both.

We hit this sort of neutral-territory culturally speaking once every few hundred years. The pendulum swinging isn’t binary, more like one of those mandala makers, weighted on a string moving between 16 different points, so there’s no real way to tell which directions we’ll swing to, culturally speaking.

- Is the human body celebrated, normal, taboo, or shameful?
- Is sex celebrated, normal, taboo, or shameful?
- Is violence celebrated, normal, taboo, or shameful?

- In real life?
- In depiction?

We probably won’t live long enough to know the answers.
 
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