Crash scenes in TV shows hit different now — anyone else struggle with this?
So it's been about six weeks since my accident. The other driver blew a red light and t-boned me going pretty fast. I'm still dealing with the physical stuff — ribs, some soft tissue — but honestly the mental part has been sneaking up on me in ways I didn't expect.
Last night my roommate and I were watching one of those prestige crime dramas on streaming, totally normal evening. There was a chase sequence that ended in a pretty graphic crash. I knew something tense was coming — the music, the camera angles — but when the impact actually happened on screen I just... fell apart. Hands shaking, chest tight, eyes filled up out of nowhere. I had to leave the room and sit in the hallway for like ten minutes.
I wasn't in a full panic attack or anything. It was more like my body just remembered the real thing all at once. The sound design in these shows is so realistic now, that crunching metal noise just transported me right back.
I've been seeing a therapist for unrelated stuff for about a year, and I mentioned the accident to her but kind of brushed past it. Starting to think maybe I should bring this up more directly.
Has anyone else gone through this? Does it get better with time or does something need to actually change in how you're processing it? And is this the kind of thing worth specifically telling a doctor about, or am I overreacting to normal stress?
Feel kind of silly being derailed by fiction when other people are dealing with way worse.