Can you undo the desensitization and conditioning to violence?

[Rainman8772]

@Ronin is correct. Most people that try violent acts can not handle themselves and are not prepared for someone who can fight back. Confidence in how to carry yourself goes a long way for avoiding being a victim. Most criminals are predators and prey on the weak. Just like a lion does not attack the strongest wildebeest usually, you have less of a chance being attacked based on strong body language. However if weakness is shown then the attack will come.

 

[Ronin]

By all means @someo, weighting there are veeery low *realistic* chances of the kind of harm you are thinking of, and waiting till untangling the cognitive & emotional issues in some better time, are both smart ideas.

 

[someo]

I have to really thank you @Ronin and @Rainman8772 for getting me to think and gain some perspective. I will certainly get back to this but getting my life together in terms of work and you know the usual daily stuff is something I should make a priority, as t says.

I will also try to avoid triggering myself with violent content (like movies and video games). I'm now actually 100% confident I will beat this problem. It's sort of hard to put it in words but I think that I'm now realising what the actual remaining issues are and that putting some distance into this issue will be crucial.

I mean it's really not that long ago that I was thinking about these types of situations all the time and a year ago I would still be scanning my surroundings for any potential threats pretty much constantly (an issue which I had to varying degrees non-stop for eight years). It has definitely left me with many problematic habits and though patterns that need to be stopped exactly by stopping those thoughts when they come and focusing on the present.

But yes, thank you both, and also everyone else who replied to this thread.