Oh geez. People are just horrible aren't they? At least you are dong the right thing by cancelling your credit cards and such. Man I hate people.. Why do they have to be like this? You are right though it could happen to anyone. I have had my bank card number stolen before. Have they found out who your pickpocket guy was?

Oh great!!!! And o just bombarded you with a not so wonderful question to add to your PTSD. I'm sorry for both.

Have you ever read Peter Levine's books?

He discusses trauma and I think it's this book where he talks about how to handle trauma when it happens so you're not traumatized so much:
http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Tiger-Peter-A-Levine/dp/155643233X

I haven't seen this video, but it looks like it might apply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un-eCY22T-E

I would say more about his ideas, but I think he likely explains it far better!

But there is a way, during these things that can traumatize us but are not abuse or war time types of things, to help our bodies regulate so that the experience is not absorbed as trauma.

I believe it was in this book where he talks about getting hit by a car. The ambulance came and they were all beginning to rush around him and he told them to stop. Instead he asked for someone to hold his hand and talk gently to him. A woman who was a pre-school teacher I think did just that. Once he was calmed, then he told them the emergency medical staff to talk quietly and work around him calmly.

He said he realized he would not be left with lasting trauma when his heart beat returned to normal fairly quickly.

I am sorry that this happened to you. Yes, could happen to anyone and while it's a hassle it doesn't mean the world is not safe. Just that some people are jerks!

I LOVE that, Reed. So positive.

After I made my phone calls canceling my credit cards so the thief couldn't use them, I went and thanked a conductor on the train. She held the train while I went and reported the theft in the station. It mattered to me that she cared, even though a stranger.

Then I went and had a glass of water in the cafe' car. There, I told the bartender and the bartender commiserated with me, too, and it was nice not to be alone coming down from the adrenaline.

Next, I called some friends of mine back in my home town and told them for the same reason, and so they could help me remember what to do about getting a new driver's license, etc.

I believe what Peter Levine is saying in that video--that in the moment we can ask for comfort and it helps our PTSD not be triggered in isolation.

Sorry that happened :(.

So sorry... sending big hugssssssssssss... Blessings!

Argh! What a pain! My condolences.

Way to handle it Muji. It can happen to anyone. I had mine stolen a couple years ago at Christmas and they got a lot of money out of my bank account because they use my card as a credit card. It was hard cause I didn't have any cash to back me up while I waited a few days for the bank to clear things up. I learned to always have some cash at home just in case for gas or a few groceries. I had to have a friend wire me some money at the time. I had nothing not even id to pick up money so we had to use a password cause of that. It's a scary thing but you are handling it beautifully. I can't say I was so graceful cause the police did nothing in my case even though they had proof of who it was. It crossed state lines so they wouldn't do anything.
Muji you are so amazing how you handle things. Give youself a huge pat on the back and rmind yourself just how amazing you are. Hugs your not alone

Three cheers (roars?) for you, Muji!

So sorry it happened, but you're coping amazingly!

That was not so "petty." You were invaded, violated, and it shook your view of your personal world.

Way to spring back. I bet you did as well as you did b/c you've been doing such a great job with those students...

It's all connected.

Hugs.

I woke up feeling grouchy about it, but mostly about having to spend the day at the DMV to get a new driver's license. "But, hey, look on the bright side, I said to myself. "It's a chance to have a do over on that ugly driver's license picture."

I could be feeling picked on, singled out, and that would take me into a depressing PTSD spiral. But reaching out and having you all reach back reminded me that I'm not that special. This happened to several of you, as you told me when I asked my question, "this could happen to anybody, right?"

So that PTSD feeling of being "always" bullied, "always" taken advantage of, didn't get set in concrete right at the start. Instead, the approach to take for me to avoid that is to look at it like a car accident. These things happen, welcome to the human race. It's a bad thing and I deserve comforting words, but it's not going to continue as if it were a pattern of persecution. I can feel safe again.

Thank you all for helping me take this approach so I don't have a PTSD episode over it. I'm grateful to you all.

Muji- preach it! : D

I think it's SO important to remind ourselves that Life does not entitle us to anything. Crap happens. Only by Grace do we stay grounded.

I need to remind myself of that the next time I get dealt a Sh!t Sandwich.

Hugs.

I am very sorry this happened to you Muji but so glad you were able to keep yourself from spiraling down into depression.

I do have a question for you.... I have to be honest and say that I do not ever use the label PTSD for myself except here on the boards. So when you say it triggered your PTSD it confused me. I see that it triggered a thought pattern that could have plummeted you into a depression and you prevented this from happening. You even said " that PTSD feeling of being "always" bullied, "always" taken advantage of" and I was reminded that I also had this "always" thought pattern. When I was in my 20's I had a therapist who didn't label this pattern of thinking other than to say "You have the habit of thinking things ALWAYS happen to you. Does this ALWAYS happen?" She made me think about it and 'no it didn't ALWAYS happen' so I changed this way of thinking. To be fair, I only remembered the abuse 3 years ago so it's possible that had I remembered in my 20's I may have been labeled PTSD but since I wasn't I never think to use that label.

I do not see every symptom I have as PTSD. Is that how people think of PTSD - all their symptoms are labeled PTSD? I know this sounds very nave to ask and I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask it but I am very confused by the label. Maybe this is another post altogether....

My stars Muji! May you get a license pic you like...congratulations on your mindful handling. I'd be a bit freaked.

Reed, I appreciate the information on Levine...

Thanks, everybody. Since I work weekends, Tuesdays are my day off. So tomorrow I do the police report, the DMV, the bank, all of that stuff. Hoping NOT to have a Kafka-esque bureaucratic experience. Ha! Thanks for your support through this for the approach I'm electing to take. It takes reaffirmation, and validation really helps that.

LuckyEmpath, it does sound like you've got material there for a good thread to explore the questions you raise. I got PTSD from in 3 trauma categories over my childhood, sexual, domestic, and combat. So for me all psych symptoms emerge from or will take me back to PTSD, or what they call now "C-PTSD." That's complex PTSD, PTSD acquired over a long period of time and in childhood development. Here's a link about it:
http://www.pete-walker.com/fAQsComplexPTSD.html

Anyway, your queries do sound like a good thread. If you feel like following up, I think it would attract a lot of good comments from folks here.

As for me, I'll be going forward with the police report and the lines at the bank and the DMV lines, etc., so wish me luck...... :-)