To think the "but there might be a terrorist attack" doomsayers should stfu

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Because they are in fact spreading terror. I've seen it on here and elsewhere loads. Christmas eve shopping, black Friday sales, concerts, tube journeys... basically, we can't do anything anymore because there might be a terrorist attack... oh no... wait.... that's not right is it?

I also don't think the preppers board is helping either

heightened anxiety in such circumstances is just a normal reaction.

No, I agree Itsmine. I said earlier that I find it ridiculous to expect people to carry on regardless as if having a wobble about Christmas shopping in Oxford Street was letting the terrorists win.

I work just off Oxford Circus and on the night of the Paris attacks I was wondering if I should walk to work. I can do it in 45 minutes but it's uphill and frankly, come Monday my laziness and need not to be horrendously late overcame my fear.

Whenever people talk about not letting terrorists win, I am reminded of

deliberately scaring people (like posting "Oxford Street, Christmas Eve, just sayin' ..." is twattish. So is being dramatically scared "oh, it's so much worse where I live, you don't understand ...

Those statements need an eyeroll.

As does anyone who takes them seriously.

Expecting people not to go on and on about a topic that bothers them is futile

Yes, on a site where people chat!!

I dont need to explain all the reasons why people would worry and want to talk about a terror attack.

People chat about things all the time that rile me,annoy me, irk me.

I am in control of how I respondsometimes.

With some people like me it helps to talk about it!

Should we all be quiet because some people choose to read stuff that makes them more anxious?!

If you are scared, stay at home, if you aren't carry on as usual, but stop either minimising or exaggerating anyone's fears

I am scared and I am carrying on as normal.

Which I imagine is a good presentation of the population right now.

Don't think I've ever been quoted across threads before

I think chilledwarmth has it about right really. If you're really, really anxious about doing something you would previously have considered, there's no point in forcing yourself to do it just to prove a point. Even with all my statistics I still found myself sitting in a bar the day after the Paris attacks, paying to not enjoy myself because I was too busy trying to work out how much of a target it might be - in retrospect I would probably have done better to stay home and watch Netflix for a night or two, then go out the next week once the panic had died down a bit. But equally, if it's having a major impact on your life and you feel like you're missing out on things you'd otherwise enjoy, that's something you should maybe think about getting help with - because it is irrational, regardless of whether there's a current threat or whatever. Even if something does happen, the chances that you personally will be caught up in it are tiny. (Obviously, if a situation like Brussels came about where the police advised people to stay home, I would follow that because they presumably know what they're talking about.)

The doomsayers don't particularly annoy me, I find it sort of interesting to see how people think about this stuff. But I can see how it would be difficult to read that sort of thing if you're already anxious. And I agree that to a large extent no-one's responsible for managing anyone else's anxiety, but at the same time there's having a chat and there's blatantly misleading alarmism about how it's REALLY REALLY UNSAFE TO SET FOOT IN LONDON, because it's demonstrably not.

Personally, though, I will be avoiding Christmas shopping on Oxford Street, because both of those things send me into a wibbling heap of stress and rage as it is without combining the two

We are on the highest alert we are told to be vigilant of course it makes people nervous

Just to be totally clear, we are NOT on the highest level of alert. We in the UK are on Severe, which is the second highest level. You can check alert levels here:

www.mi5.gov.uk/home/about-us/faqs-about-mi5/what-is-the-current-national-threat-level.html

You can also look at past threat levels here:

www.mi5.gov.uk/home/about-us/what-we-do/the-threats/terrorism/threat-levels.html

and it's noticeable that a couple of times not long before 7/7, the threat level rose to Critical, which is the highest level.

You can sign up for updates on the level, too, here:

www.mi5.gov.uk/home/about-us/what-we-do/the-threats/terrorism/threat-levels/receive-mi5-updates-by-e-mail.html

I think anyone altering their behaviour significantly (someone was talking about avoiding supermarkets on another thread, which seems really extreme) is probably feeding their own anxiety more than actually avoiding anything that might happen. Yes, people are anxious but changing their behaviour in this way is likely to actually increase that anxiety. My DD was actually diagnosed with anxiety not that long ago. It was making her life actively horrible. One of the things that has helped her overcome that is not to allow it to change her behaviour or stop her doing things that she would like to do if she wasn't worried about them, because actually doing those things is pretty much always less dreadful than she imagined. As the real level of threat to an individual is quite low, we would be only making our lives less pleasant if we avoided all the things we are being encouraged to worry about.

I am scared and I am carrying on as normal.

See, I can't get my head round this - scared. What of?

Crikey, I've been scared in situations that were happening to me, but I honestly can't imagine being scared watching the news about the events in Paris.

I can remember sitting there in a gas mask in the Gulf War as Scuds went overhead and landed around Al Jubail & being scared and I can remember being speechless and worried watching 9/11.

But I can't imagine watching the news over the past couple of weeks and being scared, it just seems bizarre and, TBH, more an indication of your state of mind than any increased threat to your person.....

Ffs. The reality is that another few attacks are imminent.
Why it is deemed irrational to not defy government warnings makes me go 'Nyaaaaaaaaaaa'

If your government tells you something in terms of national defence, they are not taking the piss.

I refuse to be frightened of living my life.

I'm going into London on Wednesday, terroists be damned. Nothing will happen. Except me seeing the Christmas Ideal Home Show and the Oxford Street lights.

And I don't care how fearless you are heading in to bank or Liverpool Street. Security there is tight. Terrorists won't go for heavy security.
Condescension.

But when do you stop being scared? Because they won't stop attacking and haven't for years.

If your government tells you something in terms of national defence, they are not taking the piss.

Sorry, I must have missed this announcement - what have they said that warrants being more scared than 2 months ago?

Honestly, stay in your house - please!!

It's not irrational to think that a terrorist attack might happen in the near future - it's irrational to think you yourself will be involved in one, to the point where you stop doing everyday things. Of course it's not impossible, but it's not impossible that you'll fall down the stairs and break your neck or a tree branch will fall on you or your house will blow up because of a gas leak, and most people don't spend time worrying about that. People aren't 'defying government warnings', because as far as I know we haven't been told to do anything - if the situation was like the one in Brussels where people were being advised to stay indoors I'm sure most of us would.

If it's really seriously affecting people's lives, more so than just being a bit twitchy in crowds or public places for the next few weeks, then that's possibly something you should be thinking about getting help with. I don't mean that to sound sarcastic or belittling - I've suffered from severe anxiety in the past (mostly about people I know being killed in traffic accidents, which is somewhat ironic given my previous post) and it really does ruin your life if you let it. But the irrationality of the worry is a fact, and that's something you can show statistically (again, I'm not talking about the likelihood of an attack happening at all, just about one involving anyone on this thread personally), and the nerves some of us are feeling show more about how the human brain works than the actual risk to ourselves.

I think anyone altering their behaviour significantly (someone was talking about avoiding supermarkets on another thread, which seems really extreme) is probably feeding their own anxiety more than actually avoiding anything that might happen

I can imagine lots of people did this after the attacks, but gradually forget about it, and carry on.

*If it's really seriously affecting people's lives, more so than just being a bit twitchy in crowds or public places for the next few weeks.

I think most people are feeling this ^.