Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

Well I know what we're supposed to do but if that doesn't work ?... WHAT ???


Sometimes people post unpleasant videos or news that I do not need to see. This can involve people or animals and there is nothing I can do to alieviate the situation, whether it be at home or abroad.

If there's a warning first, then there's the opportunity to avoid it.

As an artist, I tend to have visual images in my head and they can last for decades

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

I sympathise as i suffer similarly, it's horrible when the story, scene or image plays in your head, especially those we can do nothing about. I get very upset when it's animals and avoid sad stories and then berate myself for being such a coward snd not doing something.

I just know i will continue to avoid things that upset me as i just cant cope with the sadness.

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

I do this, I have a very vivjd imagination which doesn't help, either.

I read a book about Baby P some years ago and the pictures of that little face and the suffering behind his eyes is with me still.

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

I agree it's really terrible to not be able to rid your mind of a horrific event that happened, and there have been many. The one that I have never been able to get out of mind was from many years ago during the Vietnam war. It was a picture taken of a tiny little girl no older than six or seven running along the road screaming, naked with her clothes completely burned off her little body from napalm bombing. Even after all these years, it is still there as clear as daylight and still affects me. A truly horrific flashback each time it hits me.

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

One of my FB friends posted a horrific image of animal cruelty and I felt sick! I was tempted to put up a general warning that the next person to do this would be blocked/unfriended. I wondered whether to send a PM to the guilty person, saying how the photo upset me.

I have not been able to get rid of it in my mind since, and I just know I will be lying in bed awake tonight and will keep seeing it, and the consequences.

I agree. A warning first that the post contains graphic content so you have a choice whether to see it or not. I didn't want to see this one! And it's the impotence you feel, knowing you can't do much to help or stop it.

I'm now afraid to scroll down my FB posts. On second thoughts, I'm going to block that person putting posts on my timeline.

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

Just sent her a PM saying that.

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

That image of Kim Phuc, aged 9 running toward the camera of Nick Ut on June 8th 1972 will stay with those of us of a certain age to our graves.

Ut used his pass to take Kim to a local hospital, where she was treated for over a year for her horrific burns.
Kim & Tu kept in touch & Kim in time went off to go to school in Cuba, where she fell in love with another Vietnamese student. In 1992, coming back from their honeymoon, the newly married couple sought asylum in Canada. Today Phuc is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador living in Ontario with her husband and their two sons.


Now, 48 years after he started working for the AP, Ut works the agency's L.A. beat. He regularly returns to Vietnam to see Phuc's family and give money to the children there, but he says he's had enough of shooting war.

A sort of not "happy" but positive end

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

In the photography community its customary to put NSFW in the thread title, to warn others the images may be of a difficult nature for some.

It stands for not safe for work. Dont ask i have no idea.

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

Jazzi, I know sending indecent images is a criminal offence, I'm not sure if distressing images are too.
Either way, if someone sends or posts stuff knowing it will distress you, you're better off without them.

Re: Having a horrible thought and how to get it out of the head

Hi

Life is very horrific at times, I have seen and dealt with some horrendous things.

It does not affect me when I am working, the professionalism kicks in.

There is no room for emotion when working, that leads to mistakes.

It does affect me at random times when I am not working and can be very distressing and vivid.

It is termed post traumatic stress disorder.

There are a number of techniques which work, but all techniques do not work equally as well for all people.

I have an elastic band on my left wrist, I flick it when the flashbacks come.

It works for me.