Can a ghastly sight scar you for life?

[JonnyBoy12]

I am not sure if this is the right area but this issue has been bugging me for some time. Is it possible to be scarred for life by seeing a bad image? I had been advised against seeing our beloved Mum Puss for the last time when she passed away as it was not for my eyes. I was just wondering if you could be scarred for life by seeing something really gory.

Thanks in advance for your kind replies.

[grasscarp]

Things can stay with you forever. Pictures and words. There are some stories e.g. of child cruelty that if you happen to read them can haunt you for the rest of your life. I can only speak for myself of course.

[237SJ]

I wouldn`t call many situations gory and I wouldn`t feel that one could be scarred for life but I definitely think that one can be disturbed by visual images that can play on the mind. That is completely normal though. I was in the US when 9/11 happened and I watched it on the TV probably 100 times. It definitely left me traumatised.

[Prudie]

I'd have thought definitely but depending on how you deal with such things. Thank heavens I've never seen anything gory but if I did see someone knocked down and killed it would affect me badly. I was also advised not to see my mother after she had died by the funeral parlour and I've never regretted taking their advice.

[237SJ]

I remember when I was a new entrant in my company many years ago. We had a lecture from our company`s fire service regarding safety and evacuation procedures in hotels. They showed us a video of a man who had jumped out of an hotel window (15 floors up) Unfortunately, they zoomed in on his face. I can still see him on the pavement now. That image was quite disturbing

[askyourgran]

I often wondered that about our servicemen during the wars they have fought in........... the noise, the blood, the fear, how do they cope with that when it's all over.

[erin-x]

I'm sure some people can be scarred for life but i'm one of those who is good at blocking things out. Even when it comes to recalling embarrassing situations... my friends can tell me plenty about me but I can't remember any!

[rsvp]

different people react in different ways to the same situation. what will scar one person won't necessarily affect another in the same way. soldiers see truly horrific sights but most manage it - to be honest I may have mis-understood the question because I don't know who Mum Puss is.

[sherrardk]

On work experience at a solicitors office 26 years ago (god, that makes me sound ancient) I saw a photograph that was upsetting (but not gory) and I can still see it as clear as anything today.

[seadogg]

Can depend on the circumstances. Have scooped up a man's brains in a helmet and because we were a rescue team doing our job it was part of the work. Seeing somebody in agony and having to wait for the morphine was the worst thing, you dont forget the eyes of the poor bu****s.

[237SJ]

From everyone`s post, I take it they won`t want to hear my Pan Am jokes then.. Shame!

[grasscarp]

Bill there is no balance required. If you are a caring human being you will carry on that way. There are the other type, but I think they are in the minority.

[vodkancoke]

A year ago I saw a girl jump from the top of a hotel and she landed in front of me. That image I'm sure will live with me for a long time. I hope it won't stay with me forever but who can say.

[grasscarp]

Awful Vodkancoke. Poor you. I am glad never to have seen anything that bad. I am unable to forget things I have even read about.

[erin-x]

I'm sorry but blocking things out does not by any means equate to me not being a caring person or not giving a damn. I actually found that quite an offensive thing to imply...

[grasscarp]

Erin, you are no doubt a very caring person. We cant account for our own brains or our own ways of coping with life. Dont ever take offence for comments on here. We are all just putting our own views.

[Ray4yaR]

i think it depends on the person. How close you are to whatever it is (do you know the person etc) how you see it (a photo or right there as it happens) and your willingness to 'work it through' after. Can stay with you if you avoid dealing with it.

[Andyvon]

I've mentioned in the past on AB that my first wife was a violent alcoholic. She would drink a 1 litre bottle of Martini every night, and sometimes a 2 litre bottle. Every night she turned into a monster and she often smashed the house up and attacked me with anything she could lay her hands on. Her favourite trick was to boil the kettle and throw that at me. Twice I ended up in A&E - once with an 18" blister up my back and the police begging me to press charges! Best of all was the fact I was the one who had to go every night and buy her Martini for her! If I didn't she was worse than when she drank the stuff.

We separated and divorced many years ago but even now I can't walk down the alcohol aisle of the supermarket, nor can I look at an off-licence. I know where off-licences are in the town but I can't look at them. I can't go in pubs and hear the chink of bottle on glass and watch people drinking. In the past it's really shaken and upset me to see those rows of bottles and that green-and-white Martini bottle as it brings it all back.

Things like that do affect people very much. It affects me even now many years after I last saw my first wife.