Perception, reality, and triggers
Jun. 21st, 2012 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foliumnondefluetEarly this week a small article in the news caught my attention. Apparently when a 49 year old driver noticed he was caught speeding by a manned camera, he turned around and rammed the policecar, mostly destroying it. He then assaulted the injured police officer that tried to arrest him and had to be subdued by a resident from the neighborhood. No traces of alcohol or drugs were found. He was driving more than 80kmh in a 50kmh zone.
When I read stories like this, I wonder what goes on in the mind of the person who seemingly lost all contact with reality. Being caught speeding 30kmh over the limit can create a big hassle, but I don't think that even in that guy's own little universe attacking a police officer was going to make it less of a hassle. Of course, there's the fact that the guy was a Walloon, and in Belgium some animals are more equal than others (and in fact he's been released already), but that only goes so far as an explanation.
Anyway. What I think happens in such cases is that the subject is experiencing negative emotions triggered by the situation that are too intense to cope with. Not having been raised to take responsibility for one's triggers (like most of us weren't), the subject is retaliating against the situation in an attempt to make the negative emotions go away. The pain is too much to bear and he just wants it to stop at any cost. It was just his luck that his actions didn't trigger the police officer into triggering something else, though.
For me, the moral of the story is that it's important to try to learn to cope with my triggers rather than try to run away from them like I usually do...
When I read stories like this, I wonder what goes on in the mind of the person who seemingly lost all contact with reality. Being caught speeding 30kmh over the limit can create a big hassle, but I don't think that even in that guy's own little universe attacking a police officer was going to make it less of a hassle. Of course, there's the fact that the guy was a Walloon, and in Belgium some animals are more equal than others (and in fact he's been released already), but that only goes so far as an explanation.
Anyway. What I think happens in such cases is that the subject is experiencing negative emotions triggered by the situation that are too intense to cope with. Not having been raised to take responsibility for one's triggers (like most of us weren't), the subject is retaliating against the situation in an attempt to make the negative emotions go away. The pain is too much to bear and he just wants it to stop at any cost. It was just his luck that his actions didn't trigger the police officer into triggering something else, though.
For me, the moral of the story is that it's important to try to learn to cope with my triggers rather than try to run away from them like I usually do...
