How to Handle Current Events? Trigger Warning

[sanmagic7]

thanks, ah.  this has been the most terrible news i think i've ever read.  i'm now blocking all news.  can't take it anymore.  i don't care if the world blows up, it's all crapola to me.  i've had it.

[LittleBoat]

Hey Littleboat, just wondering how you are doing with this whole situation now?

Hi Kizzie,  Thank you for checking in.  I am not doing well.  I am already going through deep grief and flashing back about how abandoned I was as a child.  A lot of sobbing.  A lot of isolating.  My psychiatrist tells me that I'm in an emotional flashback.  It's like a walking trance.  And the therapeutic inner work involved is exhausting right now.  (I am using the Pete Walker protocol and doing the best I can.)  That this heinous national situation, and the secrecy/vagueness surrounding it, is still a trigger.  What happened to me was done secretly and vaguely, so nobody could point to anything and say, THERE!  Stop it!  The vagueness also left me in a constant state of confusion and self-blame.   Bringing in the "law and order" rhetoric, along with Bible quotes also creates crazy thinking.  Turns everything on  its head.  And that such rhetoric is so calculated to mess with the heads of the citizenry, well I just fear for large-scale checking out (from sheer exhaustion) and falling into a mass stupor.  So, that's my answer to your question, Kizzie.  I follow you on Twitter.  You give me such hope for speaking out.  And I admire you so much for somehow holding it together, despite triggering, to do your good works.  Would you be willing to private message with me?   Thank you.

[Kizzie]

I am so sorry to hear you're really struggling LIttleBoat, I am too     Feel free to PM me.

I honestly have no idea how to get my feet back on more solid ground other than to turn off the TV again as I had been doing for a month or so (I ended up feeling better). It is all just insane and awful and I just can't follow it so closely anymore. What I will do is continue to tweet - I have a numerous articles about children and trauma I can send out and hope others retweet.   

What gives me some hope is that there are tons of organizations and people weighing in on this, some working directly with the children and others pushing back hard against the Trump administration.  I hope the backlash will continue and has real effect In Nov.   

[Blueberry]

Thanks for tweeting Kizzie and disseminating information that way at a time that is triggering for you too, I think - -with the N ways of Trump.

I'm sorry to hear of so many on this thread struggling and in EFs. I'm thankfully not. i once read no news for the best part of a year after I started getting near panic attacks from doing so. It was a good decision, good for self-protection. And even now I read on here about the psychotropics and something in me refuses to take on this information on an emotional level. I'm blocking it automatically, I'm not taking it on. You could say I'm hard-hearted I guess, but I'm doing it out of self-preservation. There are other situations in daily life where I don't manage to block automatically, where the EF takes over. I guess in this case there was thankfully something missing in the abuse done to me so that I'm not triggered (anymore) by world news?      to those who are struggling atm.

[saturnine]

I've been feeling devastated all week too. Those poor kids, they have no voice to stand up for themselves and I think that's what makes it hardest. Earlier in the week, I donated to an organization that's been raising money (there's a kickstarter for reuniting kids with their families that has currently raised 20 million dollars for the organization RAICES  ) and I used RESISTBOT to text my representatives and at least try and give a voice to the voiceless.

But the world does feel different since the news broke...if it was even possible, everything feels darker, more sinister, like people who support Trump's policy are lurking around every corner. Just a fundamental blanket of unsafety. I was wondering what was wrong with me the past two days - a lot of crying spells on the couch and fear of my surroundings. Now it makes more sense - this situation is probably STILL affecting me and I may still be experiencing EF's.

I have a goal to attend a protest in my area next week to keep taking action. I know I have to be careful because my anxiety goes through the roof in large crowds, and that combined with an EF would be way too overwhelming. But if I can manage, I know it would make me feel better to be surrounded by people who care.

I hope everyone else currently dealing with this is managing, too.