PTSD Trying hard to avoid developing one, right now failing at it?

[paltatomate]

As I told in another rather prosaic threat, I was assaulted at home by for armed guys. They wanted to rob the neighbors and broke into the wrong house (mine). Though I myself didn't suffer any harm and only little losses (my old, broken phone) I witnessed how the neighbors were treated rather roughly. None suffered serious physical damage.

For whatever reason, my problem isn't facing armed strangers. It's that when they got in, the hammered through the front door, which sounded at first like some inconsiderate neighbor doing repair works, and the suddenly like a big explosion.

This happened about ten days ago, and I'm barely thinking about anymore. UNLESS someone asks me about the incident. Then I lie in bed at night and more or less EXPECT someone to break in.

Might this be the beginning of PTSD?
Or just a normal reaction, intensified only by the lack of support from few people I considered friends that made me suddenly feel very alone?
I mean, am I afraid of robbers or rather of being lonely?

 

[Jabberwocky]

It sounds like a rational fear given the situation.

Statistically, it is even less likely to happen than before it happened.

 

[gordonliddy]

It sounds like a rational fear given the situation.

Statistically, it is even less likely to happen than before it happened.

I like this assessment. My guess would be that OP is having a series of anxiety attacks.

He sounds too rational for it to be systemic. But without examination a diagnosis would prove difficult. OP should appreciate that he's descended from cavemen who....probably would have lived with constant anxiety that their neighbors would have tried to kill and eat them. So in other words most humans have a fantastic capability to move past things like this. Most stress-relieving activities should provide relief.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Yeah definitely something that can be overcome by the OP - sounds like a reasonable person.

I mean worst case scenario.. just because we all know it isn't rainbows and butterflies.. if the area starts turning into a crime hub, consider moving. It's that simple. Maybe not even moving far. Or get a baseball bat and bolt the door.

However, again, the likelihood of it happening twice is extremely low.

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

if we are going by the clinical definitions, it could not be PTSD yet, but acute stress disorder or something, possibly (but I am making no diagnosis).

I don't know HOW to go about treating it, but I condone giving the situation appropriate attention. I have good and bad experiences from psychotherapy, which is inevitable, I think. And I could recommend it. But I doubt my recommendation. There is research that pointed out that mandatory debriefing after accident or such in workplace, actually makes the prognosis worse. So, you need to listen to your gut feeling, and not take my word of it blindly.

I think that early intervention (on terms of the "patient") decreases the possibility of developing persistent mental disorder in these cases. There might be some studies about it, I am no sure why I have this belief.

 

[paltatomate]

It sounds like a rational fear given the situation.

Statistically, it is even less likely to happen than before it happened.

That's wIhat I'm telling myself, too. I am a rational person, and therefore experiencing such irrational fears (like being scared of a tapping sound knowing it's a cat on next door's garage roof) are more disturbing.

I think that early intervention (on terms of the "patient") decreases the possibility of developing persistent mental disorder in these cases.

I tried to talk about this with someone who considers himself a good friend and has lived through similar situations. I said to him "just need to rationalize what's happening to me now and I need a sounding board, and maybe some advice, because I don't want this to become an issue." Turns out he's one of the jerks I mentioned in the other thread.
---

I upped my benzo intake a little, though I will start going down again tomorrow. Otherwise I just put some music on, or listen to a documentary, or watch a movie until I fall asleep. This way I don't hear any normal noises, and everything's fine. I hope.

 

[paltatomate]

OP should appreciate that he's descended from cavemen who....probably would have lived with constant anxiety that their neighbors would have tried to kill and eat them

I just wished I had like my cavemen ancestors a tribe to help me through the irrational part of the process.

 

[snmfmy]

As I told in another rather prosaic threat, I was assaulted at home by for armed guys. They wanted to rob the neighbors and broke into the wrong house (mine). Though I myself didn't suffer any harm and only little losses (my old, broken phone) I witnessed how the neighbors were treated rather roughly. None suffered serious physical damage.

For whatever reason, my problem isn't facing armed strangers. It's that when they got in, the hammered through the front door, which sounded at first like some inconsiderate neighbor doing repair works, and the suddenly like a big explosion.

This happened about ten days ago, and I'm barely thinking about anymore. UNLESS someone asks me about the incident. Then I lie in bed at night and more or less EXPECT someone to break in.

Might this be the beginning of PTSD?
Or just a normal reaction, intensified only by the lack of support from few people I considered friends that made me suddenly feel very alone?
I mean, am I afraid of robbers or rather of being lonely?

No, it's just a reaction to an acute trauma.

What country do you live in?

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

That sucks. People shouldn't have to feel in danger at home. It's the one place where R&R is supposed to be consistent. I can't imagine anyone feeling normal after having something like that happen to them.

I think it's been asked, but can you move?

If not, maybe get some pepper spray or something, if it wouldn't have repercussions on you to use it. Or having an alarm. Or asking for more of a police presence in your neighborhood.

Do you know why they broke in? Like were they looking for drugs? If so, probably best to get out the game.

I will say that getting off benzos while this thing is still fresh in mind isn't a good combination.

At the very least can you talk this over with someone? Not necessarily a therapist if you don't want, but maybe a trusted friend or family member?

Good luck.

 

[Jnowhere]

As I told in another rather prosaic threat, I was assaulted at home by for armed guys. They wanted to rob the neighbors and broke into the wrong house (mine). Though I myself didn't suffer any harm and only little losses (my old, broken phone) I witnessed how the neighbors were treated rather roughly. None suffered serious physical damage.

For whatever reason, my problem isn't facing armed strangers. It's that when they got in, the hammered through the front door, which sounded at first like some inconsiderate neighbor doing repair works, and the suddenly like a big explosion.

This happened about ten days ago, and I'm barely thinking about anymore. UNLESS someone asks me about the incident. Then I lie in bed at night and more or less EXPECT someone to break in.

Might this be the beginning of PTSD?
Or just a normal reaction, intensified only by the lack of support from few people I considered friends that made me suddenly feel very alone?
I mean, am I afraid of robbers or rather of being lonely?

Can you get legally get a good gun or two? I am usually a light sleeper but I sleep easier knowing that if someone tries or does break in, I am prepared.

 

[paltatomate]

What country do you live in?

Chile.

Do you know why they broke in?

They wanted to rob the neighbors, the dumb fucks!

I will say that getting off benzos while this thing is still fresh in mind isn't a good combination.

On some occasions I regretted not having been totally on benzos while it happened, so maybe I wouldn't remember? But now I see the incident as a life experience I that taught me a lot of things. or maybe it;s just me who decided to take advantage of it instead of letting the event affect me negatively. But I did take a lot of clona after, until it was too much (accumulated, I think) and haven't taken any since Monday evening.

At the very least can you talk this over with someone?

I tried. Parents, they were more practical about it. Talking to my landlord, and buying me a new phone because mine got sacrificed during the robbery (the phone was a surprise, I didn't ask for it).

Good luck.

Thank you

Can you get legally get a good gun or two?

That would be so cool! Unfortunately I can't even get a trained police dog.

 

[Juicewrldfan]

As I told in another rather prosaic threat, I was assaulted at home by for armed guys. They wanted to rob the neighbors and broke into the wrong house (mine). Though I myself didn't suffer any harm and only little losses (my old, broken phone) I witnessed how the neighbors were treated rather roughly. None suffered serious physical damage.

For whatever reason, my problem isn't facing armed strangers. It's that when they got in, the hammered through the front door, which sounded at first like some inconsiderate neighbor doing repair works, and the suddenly like a big explosion.

This happened about ten days ago, and I'm barely thinking about anymore. UNLESS someone asks me about the incident. Then I lie in bed at night and more or less EXPECT someone to break in.

Might this be the beginning of PTSD?
Or just a normal reaction, intensified only by the lack of support from few people I considered friends that made me suddenly feel very alone?
I mean, am I afraid of robbers or rather of being lonely?

I think you’re afraid of being lonely based on how stoic you sound about it. Very matter of factly means you are not being lead by emotions. Loneliness can show up in some weird places.

I get it there is such thing as vicarious trauma but just doesn’t sound like it. Sounds very much like you have little to no fear over it but rather it emphasized feeling lonely and that my friend is keeping you up at night.

 

[paltatomate]

I think you’re afraid of being lonely based on how stoic you sound about it. Very matter of factly means you are not being lead by emotions. Loneliness can show up in some weird places.

I get it there is such thing as vicarious trauma but just doesn’t sound like it. Sounds very much like you have little to no fear over it but rather it emphasized feeling lonely and that my friend is keeping you up at night.

You are totally right about me being afraid of being lonely. It's kind of woven into my biography, and my way to deal with it was to become stoic. If you don't allow feelings to be a big part of you, then they can't hurt you, right? And thinking of it, while I was there with four to fice robbers, at least two of them with guns... I wasn't afraid. It was kind of fascinating. So no potential for trauma there. But when I wanted to talk about it to avoid that non-potential trauma, I found that I was lonely, so the traumatic event was not the fear of being robbed, shot, raped (I'm female btw), or whatever. It was finding out that after all, I'm still lonely.

Ok. I need to let this this sink in before I start to write nonsense.

 

[deficiT]

I was robbed at gunpoint when I was 17. Saw my friend get pistol whipped basically. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt. My friend was selling weed and got set up by some douchebag. So they just stole weed, laptops, credit cards, phones, etc. Fuckers. And then my friend went to court for a weed charge because he had like a bong or some shit Justice is great yeah. Of course nothing happened to the dudes. They went and got like $60 worth of Wendy's first thing afterwards.

It did fuck me up for a while. I dropped out of school, started drinking even more heavily than I did before. But eventually, it began to fade. Maybe enough other fucked up shit happened to me that I started to just forget about it. I'm not sure why. But it doesn't really bother me anymore, I don't really think about it often. Granted it's been like 14 years now.

Hopefully given some time, the incident will fade. Therapy could help too. But some things, nothing fixes but time. It's unfortunate but that's how it is.

 

[Jabberwocky]

@lecroute Maybe go the other way with it?

Go window shopping for a new living room to bust into? Wait for the owners to get home then have some casual banter?

But seriously: I'm glad that the post about loneliness resonates with you. I am confident things will come together for you.

 

[paltatomate]

Justice is great yeah. Of course nothing happened to the dudes.

That's why I never even thought of reporting this whole thing. My step dad, who is a lawyer, never even suggested I did. It was like: All you'll get from it is a lot of paperwork and waste of time.

I was robbed at gunpoint when I was 17.

That was quite a young age, and depending on your experience it must have left an impression on you.

 

[paltatomate]

I'm glad that the post about loneliness resonates with you.

That post came out of of the blue while I was answering to some other post. It caught me by surprise, and something made click in my head. Have to figure it out, but not now after a bottle of wine (have gone off the benzos since Monday and the wine is just a leftover of a virtual meeting with a far-away acquaintances)

 

[Jabberwocky]

Yeah sure, pop off by all means, we'll all be here, it's nice about a forum

 

[paltatomate]

And why is it so hard for me to click on the heart icon????
Another thing to think about.

 

[Jabberwocky]

You mean technically? Because sometimes when I try to give custom emoji reactions I get an error as if I'm doing a right-click on a mouse