Anxiety about possible work violence - ptsd reaction?

[whiteraven]

I am in lower management where I work, managing 6-7 people. There is an individual in my department who has been there just over a year. She tries hard, but she has a very hard time thinking through issues and asks the same questions over and over again. She also lies, is manipulative, and has a lot of other behavior issues. My manager has a "soft spot" for her. Even though I've been to her repeatedly, she just tells me to be patient.

Well, things went south today with her. It's much too long a story to tell here; I'll just say she made a couple of serious errors and then got mad when our director called her on them. She ended up blaming me for treating her like she is stupid and singling her out for everything and a whole host of other things that aren't true (and this was all in writing because she wasn't in the office), She IM'ed one of the other girls that she was gonna be in to pack up her stuff, said something inappropriate to me, then she disappeared off email for a time.

Even though I felt completely supported by our director (my manager was out) and I know that none of what she says is true, I was terrified when she disappeared and stopped emailing/chatting with us. I kept thinking that she might have just signed off and be on her way in to do something to us - like shoot everybody in the office or something. It sounds stupid when I say it now, but my anxiety level at the time just got higher and higher. I don't have any history of this particular kind of violence, although there has been violence in my past.

Think this can be a ptsd-related reaction?

 

[Sideways]

Yes, absolutely. It sounds like ‘catastrophising’, which is one of the super common cognitive distortions. So, tackling it with CBT strategies might help? Like, run the thought through a reality check: is there anything to indicate she’s violent, or planning something violent? Add in the reality that every day, thousands of people are leaving their job under strenuous circumstances and don’t go on to become violent towards their workplace...etc.

 

[whiteraven]

Yes, absolutely. It sounds like ‘catastrophising’, which is one of the super common cogniti...

Thank you, Ragdoll Circus. I guess not realizing what I was doing that's how I worked through it yesterday. She didn't show up today, so this is still not over. :-( I'm just breathing and trying to distract myself now that I'm off for a couple of days.

 

[whiteraven]

She quit yesterday. I checked email tonight and I got a forwarded email from my manager about her resignation (although I already knew) and she had included this big "thank you for all you've done for me." It upset and angered me, because I've spent more time and energy with her than anyone. And she is BLAMING me for trying to get rid of her.

 

[Sideways]

Bleh! I’m glad she quit, and I hope you never hear from her again. It’s perfect timing to have a couple of days off, hopefully squeeze in some self-soothing or an activity that you genuinely enjoy or at least get distracted by? Hopefully by the time you’re going back to work the worst of the distress from this will have passed:)