Being afraid is NOT a sign of weakness; when something or someone triggers a disturbing memory of an event, fear is a normal human reaction to it. The horror may be too painful to speak about, and a person may relive the fright of it in his or her mind over and over again.

Stephanie was a fourteen-year-old who was in shock after witnessing the violent mugging and robbery of her best friend, Sarah. Stephanie withdrew from everyone almost immediately. She was not able to speak in complete sentences when the police tried to get a statement from her about the crime. For several days her family and friends left her alone. After a week or so her classmates began to worry because she still wasn’t coming to school. Jasmine, one of her classmates, went to visit Stephanie to see if she could help.

“We missed you in school again, today” Jasmine said. “Sarah is already back in school, you know. She came back today, and her bruises hardly show anymore.”

“I haven’t been able to sleep at all,” Stephanie answered. "I have these terrible nightmares and when I wake up my heart is racing. I can’t stop thinking about that awful night when Sarah was attacked, and I worry every time my parents leave the house.”

“Excuse me for butting in, but I think you could use some help, Steph. Why don’t you talk to somebody…maybe a shrink or something to…you know…to deal with it and then move on?"

Just then Stephanie started breathing heavily and panicked. She looked frightened and like she was someplace far away. “Easy for you to say…you weren’t there. I really can’t talk to anyone about it and I can’t go to school and see Sarah. If I do see her, I’ll get these terrible flashbacks of those guys mugging her and me…standing there not about to help her or anything. Go away Jasmine. Leave me alone. I don’t want to talk about his anymore,” Stephanie snapped.

Everybody gets frightened at times. Whether the fear is real or imagined, it can be just as painful. But a frightened person is NOT ALONE. There is HELP TO BE GOTTEN.