Newbie saved a life but not dealing with it very well

[Ozmike]

Hi everyone.

A little while ago I saved a complete strangers life in pretty shit circumstances.

I was international news for a few days and everyone was heaping praise on me for the outcome. They have all moved on to the next thing to talk about and , on the surface, so have I.

Under the surface though I'm not doing so well.

The incident happened recently where i came across a crashed car in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. Inside was a man trapped  and the car on fire. 

While the outcome was good, my mind keeps replaying the preceeding 10 minutes where there were moments I genuinely thought i was about to watch someone who was perfectly aware of his surroundings and begging for my help get burnt alive.

Every time I let my mind idle just a bit it goes to replaying those moments and every time i drive past that spot at night I have to focus very hard on something, anything to stop me going in to a full blown panic attack thinking I'm going to have to go through it again.

Getting professional help out here is nearly impossible unless you are suicidal and even then you usually have to wait. I have spoken with the chaplains from the fire brigade and police a few times but they have people with bigger issues than me to worry about.

I feel better for getting this off my chest but i think i need some tips from the people here to help me help myself.

Thanks for listening.

[demonblaster]

Oz hi first up you did an amazing thing under extremely stressful circumstances. Good for you.

I would imagine what you're going through would be completely normal & what a terrible ordeal you too have endured but happily with a great result.

Have you spoken to your GP about your desparate need for help, jeez you surely should also be a priority too going through what you did.

Also are you able to talk to friends/family & Maybe print off what you said here could be easier

Another option that could help is ringing here to talk to someone & they maybe able to help get you onto help as well

1300224636 is the no: at top of page

Please feel free to open up as often as you want here

You've done a great thing but you need help too

Hope you feel you can return & let us know how you go

Best hoped for you

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Ozmike,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for being here.

I'm so sorry to hear that you were put in the situation but I'm thankful that you were able to step up and save this persons life. I can only imagine what that was like thinking that someone was going to get burned alive.

For what it's worth, I'm glad that you're here. It sounds like this happened fairly recently so I think it's good that you're able to talk about it and reaching out; dealing with trauma is hard but dealing with trauma and not talking about it is so much harder.

It's really disappointing to hear that you're not able to get the professional help that you deserve; one of the many frustrations of the mental health system!

One of the things I'm wondering is if things like phone counselling might be something you'd like to consider? There are many psychologists that do it around Australia and often follow the same policies as in-person ones (with the Mental Health care plan). If you're open to it go here -

http://www.psychology.org.au/FindaPsychologist/Default.aspx?mode=Issue

Click the issue which would be under Trauma and Harm > PTSD, enter your location, and a big radius. Or if you are truly rural perhaps the closest city, and search. There you'll see a list of psychologists and if you scroll right now on the left hand side of the page you can choose Phone Counselling and Skype, and contact them from there.

One of the other things that's important to mention is that you're mind is replaying only the first 10 minutes. This completely makes sense and I understand it, but it's blocking out the end - where everything went okay. Over time and with therapy this will get clearer, but whenever these situations play out remind yourself and finish the story in your head of how 'and then I did this and this happened and this happened and they were okay'. It doesn't matter how silly it seems but I promise that if you keep doing it it does make a difference.

Hope this helps,

[demonblaster]

Very good post Romantic, liking all im seeing

Oz i really hope you're ok & onto the help you need.

Would like to know how you're doing when you feel up to, also could help with release & processing

Thoughts