An effect of trauma

Being traumatized by what you witnessed happen to someone else

Your nervous system does not always distinguish between being the person something happened to and being the person who watched it happen to someone else. Secondary traumatic stress is what forms when witnessing harm leaves you with symptoms that look and feel like your own. Intrusive images, hypervigilance, numbness, difficulty sleeping, not wanting to talk about it. The wound came from being there, not from being the direct target. That is still a real wound. It counts. You are allowed to be affected by it.

It can sound like

“I keep seeing it.” “It was not even me it happened to but I cannot stop thinking about it.” “I was just a witness.” “Why can I not get over this.” “It was not my trauma but it feels like it is now.” “I see it when I close my eyes.” “I do not understand why I am this affected.” “It was not even about me.”

If any of those sentences live in your head too, you are in good company here.

Experiences this often follows

Effects do not come from nowhere. These are some of the experiences that people who carry this one often describe. You do not need to have been through any of them for what you feel to be real.

Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.

You do not have to carry this alone.

Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.

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