A common unwelcome thought in many surivors of combat trauma is guilt. Statements that keep intruding the waking mind are: "I feel so guilty because i suvived and they died", things went wrong and I'm to blame".
When disturbing things like this have happened to us, its quite normal to have these unwelcome guilt thoughts.
There are two ways to deal with these.
1. "It was not your fault" - First, tell yourself it was not y our fault or you are not to blame. In most situations, even though we feel guilty, when we look at the hard facts, we discover we aren't to blame and in no way was it our fault. Give the incident or situation a reality check.
2. "You are not wholly to blame" In some situations once we've taken a hard look at the facts, we may discover the service person was to blame..to some extent. The question is then "were you 100% to blame?" You will find, in every case the answer is "no" because there's always someone else to share it.
For best results –“horses for courses” applies. Some might find one tool or technique helpful, others will experiment with another that proves helpful. All are available to try and it’s often about finding “what works” for you.
🖨 reprinted with permission @johnhendenauthor @wiley-publishing @beatingcombatstress
