The thing about trauma, is that when something happens that reminds you of your trauma (a similar event, or a similar smell, or taste, or some other stimuli). It triggers a trauma response in you. This manifests in different ways for different people.

So, in terms of people in Melbourne freaking out about Sydney's seemingly lacking response to the current outbreak, coupled with the new cases in Victoria - this is going to trigger a trauma response.

The lockdown was traumatising.

How much, depends on the individual.
When you have a trauma response, it is physically terrifying. Your adrenaline might surge. You could feel afraid. You could feel angry. You might react by lashing out. You might shut down. You might have anxiety that it is all "going to happen again".
Or that you don't think you could survive another lockdown, because you barely survived the last one.

These are all natural and normal responses, and I know they are hard, and I am so sorry if you're feeling this fear.
I don't know what is going to happen.
I do hope that you can do your best to be safe. Try to take each moment as it comes, do the best you can do to get by.
Please find helplines below.
Beyond Blue Covid Mental Health call 1800 512 348 (also online chat)
https://t.co/aCTnXeOm32
While avoidance isn't a long term coping strategy that leads to the healthiest of outcomes, it is something that can help you when your distress is high. Distract yourself with TV, or a game, or go and install tiktok and watch (non pandemic) videos.
Definitely take steps to shelter yourself from media & statistic overload (if you need to know information, ask a friend to pass on information relevant to you). Doomscrolling fulfils the need to try and control (by having ALL the information), but it may not help how you feel.
Mindfulness is key. "I notice I am feeling...." and then validation "It is understandable that I am feeling...."
Remind yourself that you do not have to act on your thoughts.
And, my personal mantra, when things are spiralling,
Here is not there, now is not then.
Be safe, pocketfam.

More from Health

this simple, counter narrative fact keeps cropping up all over the world.

hospital and ICU utilization has been and remains low this year.

it's terribly curious that so few of these monitoring tools provide historical baselines.

getting them is like pulling teeth.


we might think of this as an oversight until you see stuff like this:

this woman was arrested for filming and sharing the fact that their are empty hospitals in the UK.

that's full blown soviet. what possible honest purpose does that

this is the action of a police state and a propaganda ministry, not a well intentioned government and a public heath agency.

"we cannot let people see the truth for fear they might base their actions on real facts" is not much of a mantra for just governance.


90% full ICU sounds scary until you realize that 90-100% full is normal in flu season.

staffed ICU beds are expensive to leave empty. it's like flying with 15% of the plane empty. hospitals don't do that.

and all US hospitals are mandated to be able to flex to 120% ICU.

the US is currently at historically low ICU utilization for this time of year.

61% is "you're all going to go out of business" territory as is 66% full hospital use.

can you blame them for mining CARES act money? they'll die without it.

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