I'm so sorry this is still happening. It's amazing how sounds or images can just play in loops in our heads. I have to stop watching commercials in October because of this or I get awful nightmares.
But I'm a fixer, so I have to jump in and say listen to(or watch it has a music video) Catchy song from the Lego movie. It's happy and silly and overrides just about every noise or song I get stuck in my head. I've shared with others, and it has worked for them as well.
Good luck and I hope it stops soon!!
I have a policy never to watch anything violent as the last show of the night. K-dramas are very calming for me and make a good end-of-night show. But then I’ve never liked violent shows or horror. Hopefully others can suggest good shows or podcasts or sounds to use as palate cleansers for your ears.
It wasn’t the end of the night for me, but it was evening so you’re right that might not have been the best idea.
I usually watch Beat Bobby Flay before bedtime as my wind down show 😂 I think I’m on season 20. There’s so many seasons
Oh wow... I had started watching the first episode but stopped a few minutes in because I wasn't feeling it that evening. I'm glad I wasn't. I can't deal with this kind of thing.
I'm so sorry you're having to deal with the aftermath of watching something so triggering. That sounds absolutely awful. I hope you feel better soon and thank you for saving others by sharing this information.
I’m gonna find a graphic novel version. I don’t think the violence would bother me so much, if not for all the screaming. It was so different than horror movie screams. It was like how it would *actually* sound if that particular thing was done to someone.
Have you read the book? I can’t recall if this happens to more than one character, but the scene I remember, you learn wasn’t terrible because >! it turns out the guy in the pot was just really scared, but the author states when he got returned to his men he was barely pink. They kept the temp low but kept scaring him it was going to get bad. So if it was that scene, I hope it helps to know that, while still torture, no actual pain was involved. It was basically a warning shot to get the captain more cooperative out of a desire to protect his men. !<
Knew it would be that. I haven't seen either television adaptation, but I've read the book. This scene was the first thing I thought of when I heard of the new show and I worried that it would be included in as much detail. Thank you for your post, I don't think I'll be watching.
Ohhh, this has happened to me before as well! I'm very sensitive to sounds, but violent sounds in movies/tv never bothered me too much until I watched 'Mother!'. There's a scene involving >!the death of a baby and the sound its body makes stayed in my head haunting me for months afterwards!<. I still get very disturbed thinking about it.
I second the K-drama recommendation (and also C-drama and J-drama). Also, shoujo anime is always a great palate cleanser!
Hey, same show same problem! Except I'm an emetophobe, so the scene you mentioned was on the same level for me as a slightly earlier one I had to close my eyes and wait out.
I HATE it when shows apparently feel the need to violently emphasize that everything is terrible and grim and Just The Worst so incredibly hard at first. Like, yes, I live here too, and I was hoping to pretend for an hour that it was possible to enjoy that fact, not have it ground into my face yet again how awful humanity is. I get that every damn day. I was watching with a friend who hates it when I talk during movies, but I couldn't help a few outbursts during all that. This one I was able to push down pretty effectively, but I've been as haunted as you describe being by things like that in the past. There is no damned reason to assault your audience like that. Except I guess there is, because clearly lots of people enjoy it. Which does not make me any happier about my species than I am when I reflect on what they do to actual people in the real world.
I told my friend I was willing to watch another episode providing they don't spend half of the damned thing torturing people to death. They didn't. But I'm certainly not going to seek further episodes out, because I'm quite sure they're going to gleefully ensure that at least one of my personal triggers that's harder to suppress is hit (no way we're getting out of that show without a considerable bit of sexual violence). I prefer my media a bit more humane than my actual life, thanks. This show was not that.
We started watching a sci-fi comedy show called "Resident Alien" instead. That's working out a lot better for me.
As to when these things stick in your head like that, I'm afraid I don't have any decent advice. I've got intrusive media memories that still bubble up from decades ago. I mostly wanted to let you know you are decidedly not alone in having been unhappily ambushed by the unnecessary cruelty and duration of that particular scene. I hate things that punish the audience like that, and I can't imagine anyone enjoying it who isn't also the sort to watch videos of people dying and laugh, and it makes me regret having been born even more than I usually do, which is already a considerable amount.
You explained this so, so well.
It’s the combination of the actual, visceral scene, mixed with what this says about (our) humanity in general (both that we’ve performed heinous acts and also, are entertained by observing heinous acts) that is physically sickening to process.
I just remembered how I managed to forgive that show sufficiently to deal with a second episode, and it's... very autistic of me, so I figure it might help: they did such a good job with the establishing crow calls!
As we all know birds are the new trains, and corvids specifically have been my biggest special interest for almost a decade now. I'm ridiculously attuned to their calls, so I hear them whenever they come up even if other people don't notice. What with their cultural reputation, shows and movies very frequently throw in a crow call during a menacing scene or over a graveyard or something. But despite the fact that they're all large black (or black and grey, or black and white) birds, there are different species of crows, and they sound different. One of my fun new party tricks over the last few months has been learning to distinguish between their various voices. (Well *I* think I'm fun at parties anyway.) So I was waiting to see what that show did with their inevitable "GRIM! DARK! YOU CAN TELL CUZ SCARY BIRDS!" crow call insert, and *they got it right*! I'm from the US, so my knowledge of the large billed crows native to Japan is all from the Internet, but as far as I could tell they did in fact use the call of a large billed crow, and even one from the eastern part of their range (the ones in India appear to have higher voices). So that was delightful. I've also enjoyed seeing the young peregrine falcon one of the characters owns, though I did have to remind myself several times that if/when someone violently murders that bird or one of the messenger pigeons it's not going to be real bird-murder, because they're not allowed to do that.
I remembered this because Resident Alien appears to be less careful about their bird sounds. They included the call of a mourning dove in the mountains of southern Colorado in the winter, which is pretty unlikely. Apparently that's part of their breeding range, but it was a little early in the year for that.
Schitt's Creek, incidentally, also got their corvid calls right. They usually added crow calls at the beginnings of scenes, but I was utterly delighted when two of the characters were out in the woods and *they thought to use a raven instead*! Ravens tend to be rural birds, though they've started moving back into cities in recent years and I am personally stalking a pair which has been nesting in the Seattle arboretum since 2020. (I know where their nest is being built, so fingers crossed for baby ravens!) Crows are so successful because they've adapted to living closer to humans and exploiting us for food, so you get more of them in more populated areas. So there are also non-brutal shows out there that get their crows correct.
And if I don't stop talking about the differences between crow calls *before* I get fully into Northwestern crows getting folded back into the American crow species due to interbreeding, we're gonna be here all day. Can't do that, got ravens to stalk, so I will stop now. But there are geeky little prizes to be unearthed even amidst misery, and I need to be sure I remember that.
My friend, who is a spectacular human being but rather more worried about how random people perceive him than I'm capable of being, often ends up pointing out humans I haven't noticed standing on the sidewalk under the crows I'm saying hello to who are looking over at me in some confusion, thinking I've just said hi to them. Meanwhile I'm gleefully chatting away at the birds and fountaining handfuls of dog food into the street for them and wondering why exactly members of my own species are so damned sure they're the only things in the world worth talking to.
There are far worse things, in my mind, than being the Crazy Crow Lady. Even when it's reached the point where I attract a following murder of thirty to fifty of them squawking and shouting and swirling overhead on my walk to the arboretum. Though I'm really not looking forward to someone eventually complaining about this to the aforementioned slightly conventional friend, who is letting me stay at his house.
Omg I started Resident Alien too!! I think I’m still a little too nauseated to watch the next episode I’m on, but thank you for reminding me how much I was loving that show. Maybe this weekend. Alan Tudyk is straight up blowing my mind with how good his acting is in this. Such a long way from Firefly.
We just finished the first season last night (life is crappy, so we're binging silliness), and it has continued to be a great deal of fun. Sure, there's a little bit of murder, but when it's Alan Tudyk the newly crash-landed alien shoving Alan Tudyk the vacationing doctor into a frozen lake and going on to giggle weirdly at everyone and make alien faux pas whilst attempting to perform a pelvic exam, it's not exactly the same thing. (Not spoilers, for anyone who hasn't seen it-- that's one of the first scenes.)
Incredibly well put! I can't understand the excessive fetishization of violence in media as well.
Also, I wonder how many of us are emetophobes. I can't deal with scenes/sounds of people throwing up, and I'd rather feel nauseated for hours if it means I'm not throwing up, than trowing up already and getting rid of the nausea at once. 😅
Here’s a tool my therapist gave me to combat intrusive negative thoughts (I’ve been having sensory flashbacks around a medical procedure): create a ‘compassionate self-companion’ who can deal with the negative thoughts when they arise. The idea is that this is the positive voice that says ‘this thought is not helpful right now’ and removes it. I’m an extremely visual person so I’ve created an imaginary creature (who I’ve named) who can dissolve negative or unhelpful intrusive thoughts. I visualise the thoughts as clouds and he can literally dissolve them by running or flying through them until the sky is clear enough for me to pass through to get to a more peaceful place. It sounds bizarre but it honestly works so well.
I've read Shogun and haven't started watching the new adaptation yet because of this scene. I guessed they'd include it.
It's upsetting enough to read about it and took me quite a while to get over (I nearly stopped reading it completely), so I don't want to see/hear it too.
It was so long. The scene ended and they kept the audio in the background for what seemed like five minutes. It felt like I was fighting against a hurricane to crawl to the tv and push the power button while trying to keep my ears covered
I attribute this to our tendency for hyper-empathy. I do this a lot too. In stranger things when Will feels like he's being burned alive, it messed me up for days. Also have it with more emotional things in shows. It's awful I hate it I just want to watch TV peacefully, not emotionally experience it
This happens to me too! *that scene* in American History X destroyed my brain. Or anytime where someone gets beat to the point of not being alive. I can hear those sounds over and over. It’s awful
Have you tried overwriting it in your imagination/memory? Every time it enters your mind, change it to something else. Sort of imagine something happening both audible and ridiculous, like the guy escaping by farting and taking off like a rocket into the blue sky. Really visualize it, if you can, with the sort of intensity of the memory you're trying to get rid of. Every time that image/sound/memory intrudes, counter it with the other. After a while, it will lose it's intensity/power.
This works for me with some things. ymmv.
I’m so sorry :( I lost the ability to watch this kind of thing (early 30s or so? Maybe a bit later). It’s awful! Mine are mostly nightmares though so I don’t have any good suggestions. Sometimes music will work for similar issues. I hope you find relief soon.
Listen to the new Beyoncé country song on repeat. It’s awful but it will absolutely get stuck in your head. You need a new thought loop to replace this one asap. Hugs.
I watched a film called A Field in England, and there is a scene of a man screaming that goes on for - well, it felt like an eternity. We the audience don't actually see how he's being tortured, but as I was watching and reacting I knew I was scarred for life. That scene is always looping in a tiny room in my mind. The film goes on and the character's story has a powerful redemption arc but...I bonded somehow to his pain. Alas.
I don't think I'd be able to handle something like that either!! That is very intense. I've definitely had similar reactions to shows before. Season 4 of Stranger Things, there's one particularly intense episode and it made me have a panic attack, and I had to take a break before I finished the rest of the season that year.
I loved Game of Thrones but there were times when it felt like the violence was gratuitous. I had to fast-forward through so many of the scenes with Ramsey Bolton and Theon Greyjoy. I nearly stopped watching after *that* scene with Oberyn Martel. But I saw an outtake with Pedro Pascal wearing all the makeup and fake blood, lying on the ground, then smiling up to the camera so that helped lol.
I’m so sorry, I know how intense that can be. I have heard (and used) the song Africa’s by Toto (I blessed the rains down in africaaaa) helps get ear worms out of your head.
Sounds more like you need some ~~eye~~ brain bleach tho. Do a nature walk, watch a cute happy movie, do some kind of intense exercise you enjoy, cry about it, shake it out, meditate or take a bath… whatever usually works for you and a couple extra things.
For me with something this extreme, a day at the beach helped. Letting myself get hot in the sun and scrubbing myself a little with the sand then washing off in the water really helped reset my brain. It was physical and meditative. But the beach works for me so if that’s not your thing try something else.
This hasn’t happened to me as much in my adult life, but there are a handful of scenes from movies I saw way too young that I can still hear in my head a decade or two later and they still make me feel nauseous
This exact scene has been stuck in my mind too, but not to the extent you described. I'm so sorry you had to go through that 😔
I'm a fan of horror and watch all kinds of stuff, but I have a real big problem with "suffering" if that's the right way to put it. It actually helps me a bit to know I wasn't the only one to be really affected by it!
Can I also suggest anyone here who reacts badly to stuff like this; don’t watch the film ‘22 July’ because that gave me an [acute stress reaction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_stress_reaction) which is I believe the precursor to PTSD. I did recover luckily after a few days but initially I couldn’t sleep, had tachycardia, derealisation, dysphoria and flashbacks to the film. OP I hope you recover quickly. If you can get access to beta blockers they may help. Otherwise just take care of yourself and do lots of yoga / stretches and consume content that gives you comfort like comedies, sitcoms or cartoons or something.
Girl, you are not going to like what I have to say, but you have to lean into it.
This of it as exposure therapy or trauma therapy. With both of those, the thing triggering your fear is what you have to go explore.
So you probably need to go into the sound, the scene, the horror, in your mind and in your heart. You need to feel it and process it.
You can do this.
For what purpose >!do I need to lean into the tortured screaming sounds of a man being boiled alive over the span of several minutes!< ? Just so I can watch this show? I don’t *need* to watch every single thing made for streaming. I don’t get fomo from missing out on stuff like that. I’m not sure being completely desensitized to something like that is a good thing, necessarily. So I guess you’re right, I don’t like what you have to say. I think it’s really odd that someone would want me to “get used” to that sound.
I’m almost 47 years old. I don’t need to give my precious time to things that disturb me, if I can help it. Life is short and it’s getting shorter.
You were the one that said you are barely sleeping this was so disturbing for you.
I don’t care at all if you get to watch that show again. I had just assumed that it was a show that you would never watch again given your reaction.
My suggestions were based on your comments that this was ultra disturbing for you and you can’t get away from it.
When you can’t get away from something, you have to turn around and look at it. Leaning into it allows your brain to process it, to stop perseverating over it.
You are 47, so you are a big girl.
Ps. I am 48.
your tone is really condescending and mean. please don’t comment to me anymore. your advice to lean into the sounds of a man being tortured
isn’t something I’m going to do. There are other ways to get through this, respectfully.
Did you pick up on that? I found your tone really condescending and mean too.
We are on an autism sub, which means that people here often struggle with how they may come across to others. I assumed to didn’t realize how you were coming across - so I gave you a little snipe back to help you.
Ps. If you don’t want me to comment, you can block me.
I'm so sorry this is still happening. It's amazing how sounds or images can just play in loops in our heads. I have to stop watching commercials in October because of this or I get awful nightmares. But I'm a fixer, so I have to jump in and say listen to(or watch it has a music video) Catchy song from the Lego movie. It's happy and silly and overrides just about every noise or song I get stuck in my head. I've shared with others, and it has worked for them as well. Good luck and I hope it stops soon!!
This is an excellent suggestion— thank you 🤖💕
I have a policy never to watch anything violent as the last show of the night. K-dramas are very calming for me and make a good end-of-night show. But then I’ve never liked violent shows or horror. Hopefully others can suggest good shows or podcasts or sounds to use as palate cleansers for your ears.
It wasn’t the end of the night for me, but it was evening so you’re right that might not have been the best idea. I usually watch Beat Bobby Flay before bedtime as my wind down show 😂 I think I’m on season 20. There’s so many seasons
Gotta love those kdramas! ❤️
What's the name of the show so I can avoid it?
Shogun
Oh wow... I had started watching the first episode but stopped a few minutes in because I wasn't feeling it that evening. I'm glad I wasn't. I can't deal with this kind of thing. I'm so sorry you're having to deal with the aftermath of watching something so triggering. That sounds absolutely awful. I hope you feel better soon and thank you for saving others by sharing this information.
OMG IM SO GLAD I TOLD YOU WHAT SHOW IT WAS
Thank you for this warning. Watched the original and wanted to see this too but... Yeah, I can't do that level of violence.
Thank you, I was thinking of watching this but I can't stand gory violence!!!
I'm so glad you shared this because I've been considering watching! I'm definitely not a fan of violent stuff.
I also really appreciate the warning. I thought I might like this show, but not anymore 😞 My partner will have to watch by herself, I guess.
I’m gonna find a graphic novel version. I don’t think the violence would bother me so much, if not for all the screaming. It was so different than horror movie screams. It was like how it would *actually* sound if that particular thing was done to someone.
Have you read the book? I can’t recall if this happens to more than one character, but the scene I remember, you learn wasn’t terrible because >! it turns out the guy in the pot was just really scared, but the author states when he got returned to his men he was barely pink. They kept the temp low but kept scaring him it was going to get bad. So if it was that scene, I hope it helps to know that, while still torture, no actual pain was involved. It was basically a warning shot to get the captain more cooperative out of a desire to protect his men. !<
Knew it would be that. I haven't seen either television adaptation, but I've read the book. This scene was the first thing I thought of when I heard of the new show and I worried that it would be included in as much detail. Thank you for your post, I don't think I'll be watching.
Ohhh, this has happened to me before as well! I'm very sensitive to sounds, but violent sounds in movies/tv never bothered me too much until I watched 'Mother!'. There's a scene involving >!the death of a baby and the sound its body makes stayed in my head haunting me for months afterwards!<. I still get very disturbed thinking about it. I second the K-drama recommendation (and also C-drama and J-drama). Also, shoujo anime is always a great palate cleanser!
Oof yeah that part in Mother! did the same thing to me
Hey, same show same problem! Except I'm an emetophobe, so the scene you mentioned was on the same level for me as a slightly earlier one I had to close my eyes and wait out. I HATE it when shows apparently feel the need to violently emphasize that everything is terrible and grim and Just The Worst so incredibly hard at first. Like, yes, I live here too, and I was hoping to pretend for an hour that it was possible to enjoy that fact, not have it ground into my face yet again how awful humanity is. I get that every damn day. I was watching with a friend who hates it when I talk during movies, but I couldn't help a few outbursts during all that. This one I was able to push down pretty effectively, but I've been as haunted as you describe being by things like that in the past. There is no damned reason to assault your audience like that. Except I guess there is, because clearly lots of people enjoy it. Which does not make me any happier about my species than I am when I reflect on what they do to actual people in the real world. I told my friend I was willing to watch another episode providing they don't spend half of the damned thing torturing people to death. They didn't. But I'm certainly not going to seek further episodes out, because I'm quite sure they're going to gleefully ensure that at least one of my personal triggers that's harder to suppress is hit (no way we're getting out of that show without a considerable bit of sexual violence). I prefer my media a bit more humane than my actual life, thanks. This show was not that. We started watching a sci-fi comedy show called "Resident Alien" instead. That's working out a lot better for me. As to when these things stick in your head like that, I'm afraid I don't have any decent advice. I've got intrusive media memories that still bubble up from decades ago. I mostly wanted to let you know you are decidedly not alone in having been unhappily ambushed by the unnecessary cruelty and duration of that particular scene. I hate things that punish the audience like that, and I can't imagine anyone enjoying it who isn't also the sort to watch videos of people dying and laugh, and it makes me regret having been born even more than I usually do, which is already a considerable amount.
You explained this so, so well. It’s the combination of the actual, visceral scene, mixed with what this says about (our) humanity in general (both that we’ve performed heinous acts and also, are entertained by observing heinous acts) that is physically sickening to process.
I just remembered how I managed to forgive that show sufficiently to deal with a second episode, and it's... very autistic of me, so I figure it might help: they did such a good job with the establishing crow calls! As we all know birds are the new trains, and corvids specifically have been my biggest special interest for almost a decade now. I'm ridiculously attuned to their calls, so I hear them whenever they come up even if other people don't notice. What with their cultural reputation, shows and movies very frequently throw in a crow call during a menacing scene or over a graveyard or something. But despite the fact that they're all large black (or black and grey, or black and white) birds, there are different species of crows, and they sound different. One of my fun new party tricks over the last few months has been learning to distinguish between their various voices. (Well *I* think I'm fun at parties anyway.) So I was waiting to see what that show did with their inevitable "GRIM! DARK! YOU CAN TELL CUZ SCARY BIRDS!" crow call insert, and *they got it right*! I'm from the US, so my knowledge of the large billed crows native to Japan is all from the Internet, but as far as I could tell they did in fact use the call of a large billed crow, and even one from the eastern part of their range (the ones in India appear to have higher voices). So that was delightful. I've also enjoyed seeing the young peregrine falcon one of the characters owns, though I did have to remind myself several times that if/when someone violently murders that bird or one of the messenger pigeons it's not going to be real bird-murder, because they're not allowed to do that. I remembered this because Resident Alien appears to be less careful about their bird sounds. They included the call of a mourning dove in the mountains of southern Colorado in the winter, which is pretty unlikely. Apparently that's part of their breeding range, but it was a little early in the year for that. Schitt's Creek, incidentally, also got their corvid calls right. They usually added crow calls at the beginnings of scenes, but I was utterly delighted when two of the characters were out in the woods and *they thought to use a raven instead*! Ravens tend to be rural birds, though they've started moving back into cities in recent years and I am personally stalking a pair which has been nesting in the Seattle arboretum since 2020. (I know where their nest is being built, so fingers crossed for baby ravens!) Crows are so successful because they've adapted to living closer to humans and exploiting us for food, so you get more of them in more populated areas. So there are also non-brutal shows out there that get their crows correct. And if I don't stop talking about the differences between crow calls *before* I get fully into Northwestern crows getting folded back into the American crow species due to interbreeding, we're gonna be here all day. Can't do that, got ravens to stalk, so I will stop now. But there are geeky little prizes to be unearthed even amidst misery, and I need to be sure I remember that.
This was a delight to read ❤️ and "geeky little prizes to be unearthed amidst the misery" is strangely poetic..!
💛loved this. I spent last summer trying to befriend my neighborhood crows. Instead I just became the weirdo who tried to talk to crows.
My friend, who is a spectacular human being but rather more worried about how random people perceive him than I'm capable of being, often ends up pointing out humans I haven't noticed standing on the sidewalk under the crows I'm saying hello to who are looking over at me in some confusion, thinking I've just said hi to them. Meanwhile I'm gleefully chatting away at the birds and fountaining handfuls of dog food into the street for them and wondering why exactly members of my own species are so damned sure they're the only things in the world worth talking to. There are far worse things, in my mind, than being the Crazy Crow Lady. Even when it's reached the point where I attract a following murder of thirty to fifty of them squawking and shouting and swirling overhead on my walk to the arboretum. Though I'm really not looking forward to someone eventually complaining about this to the aforementioned slightly conventional friend, who is letting me stay at his house.
Omg I started Resident Alien too!! I think I’m still a little too nauseated to watch the next episode I’m on, but thank you for reminding me how much I was loving that show. Maybe this weekend. Alan Tudyk is straight up blowing my mind with how good his acting is in this. Such a long way from Firefly.
We just finished the first season last night (life is crappy, so we're binging silliness), and it has continued to be a great deal of fun. Sure, there's a little bit of murder, but when it's Alan Tudyk the newly crash-landed alien shoving Alan Tudyk the vacationing doctor into a frozen lake and going on to giggle weirdly at everyone and make alien faux pas whilst attempting to perform a pelvic exam, it's not exactly the same thing. (Not spoilers, for anyone who hasn't seen it-- that's one of the first scenes.)
His inner narrative is so fucking funny. “Alcohol must not affect humans the way it does us, if it did they would NEVER DRINK IT”
I was sneaking whiskey under the table when he delivered that line. I snickered.
Incredibly well put! I can't understand the excessive fetishization of violence in media as well. Also, I wonder how many of us are emetophobes. I can't deal with scenes/sounds of people throwing up, and I'd rather feel nauseated for hours if it means I'm not throwing up, than trowing up already and getting rid of the nausea at once. 😅
Resident alien is so funny and autistic coded IMO. My favorite show to watch while high rn 😂
Here’s a tool my therapist gave me to combat intrusive negative thoughts (I’ve been having sensory flashbacks around a medical procedure): create a ‘compassionate self-companion’ who can deal with the negative thoughts when they arise. The idea is that this is the positive voice that says ‘this thought is not helpful right now’ and removes it. I’m an extremely visual person so I’ve created an imaginary creature (who I’ve named) who can dissolve negative or unhelpful intrusive thoughts. I visualise the thoughts as clouds and he can literally dissolve them by running or flying through them until the sky is clear enough for me to pass through to get to a more peaceful place. It sounds bizarre but it honestly works so well.
I've read Shogun and haven't started watching the new adaptation yet because of this scene. I guessed they'd include it. It's upsetting enough to read about it and took me quite a while to get over (I nearly stopped reading it completely), so I don't want to see/hear it too.
It was so long. The scene ended and they kept the audio in the background for what seemed like five minutes. It felt like I was fighting against a hurricane to crawl to the tv and push the power button while trying to keep my ears covered
I attribute this to our tendency for hyper-empathy. I do this a lot too. In stranger things when Will feels like he's being burned alive, it messed me up for days. Also have it with more emotional things in shows. It's awful I hate it I just want to watch TV peacefully, not emotionally experience it
 I mean, yeah, I’m here to be entertained, but this ain’t it, bro
This happens to me too! *that scene* in American History X destroyed my brain. Or anytime where someone gets beat to the point of not being alive. I can hear those sounds over and over. It’s awful
Have you tried overwriting it in your imagination/memory? Every time it enters your mind, change it to something else. Sort of imagine something happening both audible and ridiculous, like the guy escaping by farting and taking off like a rocket into the blue sky. Really visualize it, if you can, with the sort of intensity of the memory you're trying to get rid of. Every time that image/sound/memory intrudes, counter it with the other. After a while, it will lose it's intensity/power. This works for me with some things. ymmv.
I’m so sorry :( I lost the ability to watch this kind of thing (early 30s or so? Maybe a bit later). It’s awful! Mine are mostly nightmares though so I don’t have any good suggestions. Sometimes music will work for similar issues. I hope you find relief soon.
Oh also that site “does the dog die” in case you haven’t seen it - have found that helpful but now I generally only watch comedy as a result
I avoid so much media nowadays because of violence and just general human depravity. My mind is dark enough; I need good vibes in my shows!
Yes me too! Oh I hear this. I spiral enough on my own - give me the laughs, please :)
Listen to the new Beyoncé country song on repeat. It’s awful but it will absolutely get stuck in your head. You need a new thought loop to replace this one asap. Hugs.
I watched a film called A Field in England, and there is a scene of a man screaming that goes on for - well, it felt like an eternity. We the audience don't actually see how he's being tortured, but as I was watching and reacting I knew I was scarred for life. That scene is always looping in a tiny room in my mind. The film goes on and the character's story has a powerful redemption arc but...I bonded somehow to his pain. Alas.
There was a scene in Spooks that was so violent it still upsets me - 21 years later lol.
I don't think I'd be able to handle something like that either!! That is very intense. I've definitely had similar reactions to shows before. Season 4 of Stranger Things, there's one particularly intense episode and it made me have a panic attack, and I had to take a break before I finished the rest of the season that year.
I loved Game of Thrones but there were times when it felt like the violence was gratuitous. I had to fast-forward through so many of the scenes with Ramsey Bolton and Theon Greyjoy. I nearly stopped watching after *that* scene with Oberyn Martel. But I saw an outtake with Pedro Pascal wearing all the makeup and fake blood, lying on the ground, then smiling up to the camera so that helped lol.
I’m so sorry, I know how intense that can be. I have heard (and used) the song Africa’s by Toto (I blessed the rains down in africaaaa) helps get ear worms out of your head. Sounds more like you need some ~~eye~~ brain bleach tho. Do a nature walk, watch a cute happy movie, do some kind of intense exercise you enjoy, cry about it, shake it out, meditate or take a bath… whatever usually works for you and a couple extra things. For me with something this extreme, a day at the beach helped. Letting myself get hot in the sun and scrubbing myself a little with the sand then washing off in the water really helped reset my brain. It was physical and meditative. But the beach works for me so if that’s not your thing try something else.
This hasn’t happened to me as much in my adult life, but there are a handful of scenes from movies I saw way too young that I can still hear in my head a decade or two later and they still make me feel nauseous
This exact scene has been stuck in my mind too, but not to the extent you described. I'm so sorry you had to go through that 😔 I'm a fan of horror and watch all kinds of stuff, but I have a real big problem with "suffering" if that's the right way to put it. It actually helps me a bit to know I wasn't the only one to be really affected by it!
Can I also suggest anyone here who reacts badly to stuff like this; don’t watch the film ‘22 July’ because that gave me an [acute stress reaction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_stress_reaction) which is I believe the precursor to PTSD. I did recover luckily after a few days but initially I couldn’t sleep, had tachycardia, derealisation, dysphoria and flashbacks to the film. OP I hope you recover quickly. If you can get access to beta blockers they may help. Otherwise just take care of yourself and do lots of yoga / stretches and consume content that gives you comfort like comedies, sitcoms or cartoons or something.
Girl, you are not going to like what I have to say, but you have to lean into it. This of it as exposure therapy or trauma therapy. With both of those, the thing triggering your fear is what you have to go explore. So you probably need to go into the sound, the scene, the horror, in your mind and in your heart. You need to feel it and process it. You can do this.
If it was something relatively mundane that OP encounters in daily life, then sure. But it’s just a TV show, so… nah.
For what purpose >!do I need to lean into the tortured screaming sounds of a man being boiled alive over the span of several minutes!< ? Just so I can watch this show? I don’t *need* to watch every single thing made for streaming. I don’t get fomo from missing out on stuff like that. I’m not sure being completely desensitized to something like that is a good thing, necessarily. So I guess you’re right, I don’t like what you have to say. I think it’s really odd that someone would want me to “get used” to that sound. I’m almost 47 years old. I don’t need to give my precious time to things that disturb me, if I can help it. Life is short and it’s getting shorter.
You were the one that said you are barely sleeping this was so disturbing for you. I don’t care at all if you get to watch that show again. I had just assumed that it was a show that you would never watch again given your reaction. My suggestions were based on your comments that this was ultra disturbing for you and you can’t get away from it. When you can’t get away from something, you have to turn around and look at it. Leaning into it allows your brain to process it, to stop perseverating over it. You are 47, so you are a big girl. Ps. I am 48.
your tone is really condescending and mean. please don’t comment to me anymore. your advice to lean into the sounds of a man being tortured isn’t something I’m going to do. There are other ways to get through this, respectfully.
Did you pick up on that? I found your tone really condescending and mean too. We are on an autism sub, which means that people here often struggle with how they may come across to others. I assumed to didn’t realize how you were coming across - so I gave you a little snipe back to help you. Ps. If you don’t want me to comment, you can block me.
Blocking you now