Surviving Social Media As Someone With C-PTSD / PTSD

Hey all.

So this is both a post to bring awareness, and for people to share their experiences / things they are going through right now too.

As someone who has C-PTSD personally, I just want to say that doomscrolling feeds right now has absolutely not been a good idea for me.

We all are aware of everything currently going on in the world right now but there is very little empathy for survivors of trauma.

The norm has been to publicize every graphic detail of violent events, for different reasons both good and bad.

It's great that awareness is being brought to certain things but also it's awful for people who are already experiencing issues with PTSD / C-PTSD.

First off, I want to ask if anyone else is having the same issues as a survivor?

Second, I want to say that if you are YOU ARE VALID. You are NOT selfish. You are NOT bad for it being hard right now to watch graphic and traumatic events being plastered on the media and social media and feeling horrible things flooding back to you.

First off, lets talk about retraumatization of survivors.

Yes this exists, this is 100% why C-PTSD is even a thing.

Can Retraumatization happen via media and social media? ABSOLUTELY!

If you have ever witnessed a violent event or had violence perpetrated against you, or anything that ever made you feel unsafe to the point you've developed PTSD or C-PTSD, it is 100% understandable if you have been scrolling the feeds lately and suddenly been shocked, terrified, panicked, felt that trapped / creeping hopeless / helplessness due to events going on right now.

If you've experienced any trauma ever in your life, absolutely you are valid for your feelings even if you've never had a clinical diagnosis for either of those.

Anyone who ever has gone through something traumatic is being "re-exposed" to traumatic events, even if they are not YOUR personal ones, these are very REAL sources of trauma and you are valid for what you feel.

I have repeatedly asked people to simply just try and put a Graphic Violence or TW on the posts so people with PTSD / C-PTSD / trauma can at least have some sort of warning because the sudden shock can be FAR too much to handle for us, and have been told that I am "selfish," "privileged," etc etc.

I want to stop right there. 

What?

There is no justification for retraumatization of people.

Is it awful that people are going through this stuff? Absolutely, is it awful that realistically they didn't ask / get a warning / deserve etc the stuff the pictures show happened? ABSOLUTELY. 

Does that justify hurting others who are sitting here being retraumatized? No. No. No.

I am sorry to have to even make a post about this honestly, but I know so many others have to be feeling the same way. 

When I ask people to post TW, it is not because of selfish motivations, it's because I at least would like a bit of a warning before I am sent into a full blown panic attack, night terrors, flashbacks, and horrible horrible things.

It is not because of selfishness, it is because I empathize with those people who went or are going through the violence. It's because for the rest of my life I will understand what many people see right now in the world. I didn't get a choice whether I "made it" or "didn't make it." 

To victim blame to try and justify this behavior is awful.

I don't care and even support people who are spreading awareness, but all I ask.. is a simple warning.

Realistically, we probably will never get that. None of us will.

So what I am going to recommend is please, limit your screen time.

If you are prone to going into severe instances of panic / hypervigilance / night-terrors / etc, please please please do not doomscroll. Do not interact with people who are going to blame you for things you had no control over. Do not put yourself through more trauma. You are NOT selfish, you are NOT bad. Please take a break if you need to because you are human. You deserve that. Your mental health is so much more important than likes, reposts, and... retraumatization especially. 

Much love to the entire C-PTSD and PTSD / Trauma survivor communities right now.

PLEASE talk / share your experiences if you need to.

Also please remember to tag (TW) something if it is especially triggering to others and yourself.

You are all welcome to share experiences / frustrations below.