How do you shake off 'scenes of a distressing nature'

[holidayhonesty]

I am usually pretty blasé about those warnings they give at the start of tv show saying that it contains scenes of a distressing nature, but yesterday I watched something that has really stuck with me and left me feeling on edge. I actually had a 'nightmare' about it last night and was awake for ages in the night thinking about it. Today I've been on edge being home alone whereas normally I love being in the house by myself.

So if you find things stick with you, how do you shake them off or put them to the back of your mind?

Ahh thank you all so much for these replies. Honestly just reading them has really helped. @zippalippa - really interesting about Tetris, I'll look at

What I saw was a recreation/dramatisation of something that might have actually happened - it was a scene in The Staircase dramatisation on Now TV. I've watched the documentary and was totally fine, but this particular scene really got to me.

Thank you all again 🙂

I feel like this today aftet watching the Tsar and family's murder on The Crown.

Also meant to say I'm sorry you have all experienced this.

And to those of you who have to face awful things in real life.

This happens to me now and then. Recently I read someone describing an awful thing from the Ukraine war- she'd watched a video and described it graphically. It really affected me, it was horrific. The feelings lessen with time but I also have to stop myself every time it pops into my head.

@zippalippa how interesting about Tetris!! Will definitely try this in the future.

I, like other posters have said, am a bit hardened/numb by work scenes and I do tend to watch horror/thriller content so I'm not usually phased.

But boy did I get the shock of my life the first time I watched the movie Trainspotting recently...could not shake a particular scene with a baby in the cot...had to talk to family/friends about it.

For me it just takes time.

The migrant crossing scene in Years and Years upset me terribly, and I still think about it from time to time, particularly because it's something that happens in reality.

Oh no! I've into watched 2 so far, the first one and the 'beauty product' one. Was it one of those? 😬 I'd appreciate a hint otherwise like episode number 😁

I completely understand. I will never forget the undercover videos of what goes on routinely in the dairy industry which I saw years ago - broke my heart. I went vegan after seeing that (much to my surprise!) and that has helped me, that I know at least I'm not paying for that to be done to those cows and newborn calves anymore.

As pp said, similar in a way to the giving money to greyhound charities after seeing the video - at least some good can come out of it.

I also have found that I just need to not watch or be exposed to the news. I spent years feeling guilty about it, not being informed etc, but I can't recommend it enough - has helped my MH loads.

(Also for most of humanity's existence it would never be natural to be exposed to the amount of bad news we are today...!)

I saw a cat get run over once which didn’t kill it but was horrific, and it was later put down. This haunted me for ages but I kept telling myself that the cat is no longer in pain so there was no point in dwelling on it. I can’t watch ads for animal charities, my husband has to tell me when they’re finished. I ask him how can he watch them and he says it’s ok as they’re being helped, but all I can think of are the thousands which don’t get any help. Also as a pp said, if I come across something, I try to detach myself by saying there’s nothing I can do about it.

This really haunted me too and I think about it at least once a week.

Forceably shoving it away is not a very good strategy for this. The reason people get PTSD/C-PTSD is that intense memories/thoughts you repress are registered in your brain as a current threat and so will keep popping up and causing you physical 'fight or flight' sensations. The best thing to do, though it's really hard in the short term, is to acknowledge your feelings and accept that you are upset by the thought/memory, but that it can't hurt you, and breathe through it. Don't push it away, sit with it for a short while, then gently distract yourself and move on. In time, your brain will process the thought as 'unpleasant thing in the past' rather than 'bad thing happening right now' and it will become much more easy to tolerate.

I think talking about it really helps too - or even reading up on it to see how others felt about watching it. I think you can feel a bit lonely and isolated with these thoughts, and you internalise them. But sharing takes some of that pressure off and discussing with others takes some of the intensity away.
I sometimes think that’s why Game of Thrones violence, and more recently House of the Dragon, is not as hard hitting as it maybe should be. It has such a big following, there are discussions and memes around it, even jokes - not about the violence itself but more focussed around people’s reactions to it. It’s very openly discussed (spoilers everywhere!) you don’t feel alone in being shocked or scared. Watch a torture porn horror film that barely anyone has seen? No thanks! Watch worse violence committed on a popular tv show enjoyed by millions - count me in for some inexplicable reason!
There was a scene in the first house of dragon episode, and the last (birth related in both) which had I watched it and been only one of a few people watching it would have been tough and harrowing - but there was so much discussion around it, that in many ways it took the edge off.
It’s different obviously when it’s something based on real life, or something in the news. But I think the principle is the same - obviously it’s not something to joke about or take lightly, but sharing the load through discussion or reading a review on that episode or something similar can maybe take the edge off what you have seen.

@Shesasuperfreak

i was going to come in and say the same thing as you about this scene in the crown.

I’ve seen worse but this has particularly upset me for some reason. I knew anyway what had happened to them but it’s still so brutal to watch. It was way worse in reality but this scene omg.

I can’t stop thinking about it since I saw it yesterday.

I've not seen this scene yet but you've just reminded me of another one from The Crown, the Aberfan Disaster. I'd beer heard of it before and it was the first episode of the series to make me cry.

'Never', not 'beer' 🙄

It was the beheading videos/pictures for me.. felt visceral and odd for ages.