Three things: PTSD

There's this thing that keeps coming back to me since the election: you can develop PTSD from an earlier instance due to a second instance.

That is not a good way of explaining that, but I can make it seem worse.

I first read about it many years ago in an old Soap Opera Digest, a magazine I really enjoyed. 

If I remember correctly, Hope on Days of Our Lives had developed another persona -- maybe a cat burglar? It was related to one trauma, but there had been a much bigger trauma a few years previously.

One of the magazine features I enjoyed was when they would check with various experts to see how realistic plot points were. Often the events were not, but the emotional responses were. 

Having been suspended above a vat of acid and apparently falling in, then being presumed dead for a few years until  coming back with amnesia (but really it was Greta who fell in the acid, and that just led to some light scarring on her face that plastic surgery resolved) was not realistic. 

Having one near-death experience and seemingly handling it all right, but then not being able to handle a second incident later, even if you did not come as close to death... that was pretty realistic.

The underlying principle is that multiple traumatic events increase the likelihood of developing PTSD. Maybe that can be true even if you have successfully assimilated the earlier trauma, but it is also possible that the assimilation wasn't complete. Maybe parts of it were dealt with, or maybe it was pushed aside and compartmentalized and held off. When when additional trauma happens, the existing restraints can't hold anymore.

Since the election, I keep thinking about mental health. I keep thinking that there are people who have been pretty functional, despite the hate and the deaths and destruction, but that doesn't mean that they came through unscathed.

Now it is happening again, and it will be happening worse. It will be worse not just because of the court appointees and worse departmental picks and legislation on state levels happening since Roe v. Wade was overturned, but also because of the behavior that has been seen from neighbors and friends and family members.

I worry about how some people will fare. 

Sure, the loudest lamentations now are coming from people who did vote for Trump (or a third party) and are starting to realize it was a mistake. Good for them. I'm sure more will follow. That they were able to think that was a reasonable course indicates to me that they were pretty sheltered the first time around.

I am more worried about the people who are still carrying wounds from last time.

I don't have much in the way of good advice. If you can get treatment, great. There are a lot of factors that can affect what you need most, but there are options. 

Healing when the trauma keeps coming is harder. If there are some steps you can take to protect yourself, that's worth thinking about.

I feel I learned a lot from reading The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk. There may be something in that for you.

Regarding helping others, I strongly recommend not telling anyone that we survived last time. Some people didn't. No, you're not going to be talking to those who died, but you may be talking to those who mourn them. 

Obviously, I recommend being kind to each other. More than that, I recommend being alert and being brave. If there is a chance to step in and make a difference, do it.

I could be recommending that to people whose PTSD makes it very hard. I do not have a solution for that conflict. 

Do what you can to extend healing. Do what you can to be healed. Maybe not in that order but it's really not a linear process.

See, expensive eggs was the easy part.