Good morning all, (It’s 12am here, 2am now that I’ve finished writing)
I’m very sorry for not replying to your posts sooner. Sorry to hear some of you have been unwell. I have had such a crazy time since I posted last. I have been up to my ears in work and finishing assignments for uni. I’m in my final year of the social work degree completing two subjects (5 weeks to go and fast running out of time) plus I still have another 8 weeks until if finish my placement at the PTSD Unit. Although I have been on holidays for two weeks I have still been working and feel like I haven’t had a break between the two cohorts so I’m feeling a little drained at the moment.
I just wanted to tell you about an incident I recently assisted in a few days ago and also wanted to ask you a couple of questions to clarify a few things for my own learning. While you are reading or thinking about some of these questions please be very mindful about your breathing rate and your body responses. You should be able to control your breathing and feel moderately relaxed without feeling distressed. If you do however feel that any of these questions begin to upset or trouble you or you feel like you may need help, please stop reading take 5 deep deep breaths and you may need to walk away from the computer for a little while and drink some water. This is not intended to upset you but just in case, you should be prepared and know how to calm down…..think about what has helped you in the past….. Anthony’s suggestions about breathing and grounding may be helpful but if it continues let me know (send a private post) and if you need, call a therapist that you trust to talk about what may have come up for you. You may need some additional support other than this forum if this is the case. Again though, you should be able to control your breathing and feel moderately relaxed without feeling distressed.
Now that we’re all prepared, let’s start to think a little. I was called out to an emergency situation where a young girl was killed suddenly in an accident. As a counsellor I spoke to her friends and others who found her and some of the things they saw and experienced were quite shocking. I was very surprised that I was able to notice some people were already experiencing symptoms of PTSD, eg. Triggers they had associated with the incident and avoiding things that reminded them of the scene etc…. Being so recent after the event I could see that shock was still very severe for some of the clients and I could see that for some the grief or healing process could not and probably will not really begin for a while because shock was still in the way which leads me to some questions.
I can only assume that shock would be the initial feeling experienced by someone involved in a traumatic event and for some this may last for some time. Since you are the expert of experiencing your symptoms I have some questions to ask you.
How do you know that someone is in shock - what do they look like – their body movements, posture, speech patterns, their eyes, what do they say or what don’t they say, and what do you think they would be thinking etc……really think about it.
Have you experience shock at some stage? If so, was it sudden or gradual, what were the circumstances? Did you know at the time you had PTSD? How could you answer the above questions about yourself - What do you think you looked like when you were/are shocked etc.? How does that make you feel to think of yourself like this?
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts PTSD symptoms are experienced because it’s like having an alert switch left ‘on’ all the time. Do you think this alert switch is the same or different to shock?
I’m not quite sure about that answer because I’m thinking that shock is initially experienced but I don’t know if it is continuous (always on) or intermittent (flicking between on and off because of various triggers). What do you think?
For those with PTSD, is sock over time experienced at the same intensity as your initial experience of shock or does it eventually ease? Again I am very unsure of the answer to this question. It is a very recent question for me.
And a final question relating to shock. (This one is mainly for me to learn from you.) If you were to see me or another therapist for counselling would it be relieving or confronting to hear that your body responses were a sign that you may be experiencing symptoms of shock? Do you think your response would be different if the session was very recent after the event (within the first 2-3 weeks) or delayed (6 months or more after the event)? How would you respond at the time if I said this (angry, cry, shake, no response) and how would that make you feel (relieved, shocked, nervous, numb)?
I realise these questions may be confronting to you and I apologise for that, but I’m hoping that by talking through some of these things we could learn from each other and talk through experiences together by asking each other questions and supportively responding to each other.
I may have mentioned earlier but I think it would be very beneficial to start or maintain a journal in response to some of these questions regarding your individual trauma/s and maybe bring forward some of your thoughts you came up with and additional questions that arise because of this reflection. I find that sometimes when I use a journal that I’m able to reveal information that I didn’t realise was buried which actually produces more questions that I would like answered. This is a good thing. At the end of each of my journal entries I make sure that I leave on a positive note, even if it’s simply summing up what I have noticed I have said or something I have learnt and can do after I’ve finished writing. I never want to end my journal feeling worse than I did because journaling should be a freeing exercise. If both the journal and the forum are used for reflection I’m hoping that we can go through the roller coaster journey of healing together. I really believe in that saying “time heals all wounds†and I would add to that saying “provided you do good things in that timeâ€. I believe talking or reflection is the most valuable thing we can do to heal these wounds and thankfully we have this forum to assist and support us and it can really work if we take a risk and expose things to others and ourselves.
Again another essay post (sorry), but I have these burning questions that I’m hoping you could help answer. Good luck with your reflection and I look forward to hearing your responses.
I’m very sorry for not replying to your posts sooner. Sorry to hear some of you have been unwell. I have had such a crazy time since I posted last. I have been up to my ears in work and finishing assignments for uni. I’m in my final year of the social work degree completing two subjects (5 weeks to go and fast running out of time) plus I still have another 8 weeks until if finish my placement at the PTSD Unit. Although I have been on holidays for two weeks I have still been working and feel like I haven’t had a break between the two cohorts so I’m feeling a little drained at the moment.
I just wanted to tell you about an incident I recently assisted in a few days ago and also wanted to ask you a couple of questions to clarify a few things for my own learning. While you are reading or thinking about some of these questions please be very mindful about your breathing rate and your body responses. You should be able to control your breathing and feel moderately relaxed without feeling distressed. If you do however feel that any of these questions begin to upset or trouble you or you feel like you may need help, please stop reading take 5 deep deep breaths and you may need to walk away from the computer for a little while and drink some water. This is not intended to upset you but just in case, you should be prepared and know how to calm down…..think about what has helped you in the past….. Anthony’s suggestions about breathing and grounding may be helpful but if it continues let me know (send a private post) and if you need, call a therapist that you trust to talk about what may have come up for you. You may need some additional support other than this forum if this is the case. Again though, you should be able to control your breathing and feel moderately relaxed without feeling distressed.
Now that we’re all prepared, let’s start to think a little. I was called out to an emergency situation where a young girl was killed suddenly in an accident. As a counsellor I spoke to her friends and others who found her and some of the things they saw and experienced were quite shocking. I was very surprised that I was able to notice some people were already experiencing symptoms of PTSD, eg. Triggers they had associated with the incident and avoiding things that reminded them of the scene etc…. Being so recent after the event I could see that shock was still very severe for some of the clients and I could see that for some the grief or healing process could not and probably will not really begin for a while because shock was still in the way which leads me to some questions.
I can only assume that shock would be the initial feeling experienced by someone involved in a traumatic event and for some this may last for some time. Since you are the expert of experiencing your symptoms I have some questions to ask you.
How do you know that someone is in shock - what do they look like – their body movements, posture, speech patterns, their eyes, what do they say or what don’t they say, and what do you think they would be thinking etc……really think about it.
Have you experience shock at some stage? If so, was it sudden or gradual, what were the circumstances? Did you know at the time you had PTSD? How could you answer the above questions about yourself - What do you think you looked like when you were/are shocked etc.? How does that make you feel to think of yourself like this?
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts PTSD symptoms are experienced because it’s like having an alert switch left ‘on’ all the time. Do you think this alert switch is the same or different to shock?
I’m not quite sure about that answer because I’m thinking that shock is initially experienced but I don’t know if it is continuous (always on) or intermittent (flicking between on and off because of various triggers). What do you think?
For those with PTSD, is sock over time experienced at the same intensity as your initial experience of shock or does it eventually ease? Again I am very unsure of the answer to this question. It is a very recent question for me.
And a final question relating to shock. (This one is mainly for me to learn from you.) If you were to see me or another therapist for counselling would it be relieving or confronting to hear that your body responses were a sign that you may be experiencing symptoms of shock? Do you think your response would be different if the session was very recent after the event (within the first 2-3 weeks) or delayed (6 months or more after the event)? How would you respond at the time if I said this (angry, cry, shake, no response) and how would that make you feel (relieved, shocked, nervous, numb)?
I realise these questions may be confronting to you and I apologise for that, but I’m hoping that by talking through some of these things we could learn from each other and talk through experiences together by asking each other questions and supportively responding to each other.
I may have mentioned earlier but I think it would be very beneficial to start or maintain a journal in response to some of these questions regarding your individual trauma/s and maybe bring forward some of your thoughts you came up with and additional questions that arise because of this reflection. I find that sometimes when I use a journal that I’m able to reveal information that I didn’t realise was buried which actually produces more questions that I would like answered. This is a good thing. At the end of each of my journal entries I make sure that I leave on a positive note, even if it’s simply summing up what I have noticed I have said or something I have learnt and can do after I’ve finished writing. I never want to end my journal feeling worse than I did because journaling should be a freeing exercise. If both the journal and the forum are used for reflection I’m hoping that we can go through the roller coaster journey of healing together. I really believe in that saying “time heals all wounds†and I would add to that saying “provided you do good things in that timeâ€. I believe talking or reflection is the most valuable thing we can do to heal these wounds and thankfully we have this forum to assist and support us and it can really work if we take a risk and expose things to others and ourselves.
Again another essay post (sorry), but I have these burning questions that I’m hoping you could help answer. Good luck with your reflection and I look forward to hearing your responses.