'You experience these kind of tragic events in a way where it's almost first person'
“You experience these kind of tragic events in a way where it's almost first person, you view it and see it and watch videos over and over,” said Ryan Scott PhD, owner and licensed psychologist at Vista Counseling. "It's just difficult.” (SBG)
EUGENE, Ore.- A local psychologist explains how to cope with the trauma of recent shootings and the emotional scars they leave.
“You experience these kind of tragic events in a way where it's almost first person, you view it and see it and watch videos over and over,” said Ryan Scott PhD, owner and licensed psychologist at Vista Counseling. "It's just difficult.”
Scott said the constant wave of trauma makes it hard for many to process the events in a healthy way.
“If something bad happens to us, we want it to go away, we don't want to have to sit with it," he said, "and so we kind of push it away, but it doesn't go away."
He said it tends to stick around - but you can't let it get to you.
“If we start changing our life around, worried that something bad is going to happen to us, our world gets very, very small and that causes increased anxiety, increased difficulty with us long term," Scott said. "So watching for avoidance patterns and trying not to do that as much as possible."
That's why Scott said that the best way to prevent going down that rabbit hole of dark thoughts is to stick to your routine.
“Healing and taking breaks from triggers, connecting with what's good in the world, getting out in nature, all kinds of ways that can help you connect to what's really important to us,” Scott said.
Scott acknowledges these things aren't a "fix all" but they help.
“It's a psychological burden to work through," he said. "It's just a weight that we have to work through."
