So when I was 18 I went to NYC. The first trip outside of Europe I'd ever taken. It really changed my life in many ways, I realised a lot about the world and myself on that trip. I visited all the normal tourist spots, went up the Empire State Building, and the World Trade Centre.
A couple of months later, I was at home, preparing to start University, another life changing event, and then 9/11 happened.
I watched it all live on CNN, from when the second plane when into the South Tower. Like many people out there, I was in disbelief.
As the weeks and months followed this event I started seeing more and more footage that surfaced, and I saw the big plant pots I was sat on, in my little Virgin Airways backpack, eating a sandwich at 9am a matter of weeks before.
I started dreaming about being there again, I started having subconscious flashes of being inside the WTC, and felt in shock. I don't think I've ever got over the incident, and I still have weekly dreams about it.
So my question is, do you think you can have PTSD from an event you weren't part of? Through just being in a place?
As I found I have ASC over 20 years later, and have been considering the sensitivies I have with temperature, sound, and a very strong visual mind, I'm wondering if I lived through it subsconsiusly as it happened from afar? To still be concerned about it 20+ years later I know isn't normal
