Dealing with PTSD in class

[aeb0310]

So, I have pretty bad PTSD from multiple things but I haven’t really been easily triggered by most of them lately... except one. The worst case of PTSD I have is from some gun experiences and it’s hard enough already to avert my eyes everytime I see a cop carrying a gun because if I see a gun ANYWHERE, my mind goes to instant panic mode. So in history class there’s been a lot of talk about guns in the topics we’re covering and pictures of them and stuff and it makes me extremely uncomfortable and panicky but I can’t just ask to leave the class, considering it happens almost everyday and I can’t skip class. I also can’t just ask him not to talk about it or show pictures (for obvious reasons, I mean it’s relavent to the lesson). How do I deal with this to make it at least a little better? Like even in the slightest. Please help.

[Heather]

If it helps you feel a little less alone, I'm also someone with PTSD from a few things, and guns are one of the trauma cues that sets mine off, too. It's been harder than ever lately, I think, to deal with that one, in so many ways, including that it's basically impossible to avoid right now. I'm so sorry it's been such a struggle for you.

One thing I tend to do when I can is to help educate people about the impact of guns on those of us for whom what they can do isn't abstract. For instance, I'll try and remind people who publish things that publishing a piece about how awful gun violence is with an image of a gun pointing at our faces really makes them look clueless about how many people have been impacted, and really insensitive to use graphics that will tend to cue our trauma for us.

I actually think, if you're up for it, telling your history teacher that you are someone with this in your life history, and have PTSD as a result, paired with a request for better sensitivity for students in the same boat, is a good idea. They might not be educated about any of this, or may just lack the awareness because, again, it hasn't been an immediate part of their lives. I also think it's fair to ask for classrooms of all kinds to be more trauma-informed and to ask them to be safe places for traumatized students. Especially right now, you know?

Some tangible things you could ask for that would probably help you are:
• permission to go out of the classroom without asking when you need a break to take care of yourself
• fewer images of guns
• fewer days in a row discussing guns or other kinds/methods of violence in depth; breaking up those classes with classes without a focus on violence
• for a counselor at the school to evaluate all the classrooms and curriculums around all of this for anyone and everyone who may have trauma
• the ability to do a study hall instead where you can do work on this segment at your own pace and with less images and endless talk of guns

How do you feel about any of that? You do also have the option to talk to someone different at school about all this, like a different teacher you connect with more, or a counselor, who should be concerned about this in the first place for all students.