How therapeutic approaches helps people deal with traumas

Sadie lay on the street bleeding heavily, dead

Every one of us has his or her traumas in life. Traumas are those kinds of experiences and events, which changed our life’s course or greatly impacted on our lives in one way or the other. For me, the traumatic event which nearly shattered my life came about in 1986 when Sadie, my dear friend and neighbor was killed by a gunshot on the street just outside my building. She owned a dry cleaner just next door and as a younger reporter residing in Brooklyn, she was my surrogate mother.
I had about six gunshots on Oct. 18 1986 on the morning hours and I tried to check out was going on through the window on fourth floor, my good neighbor just lay on the street faced down and bleeding. I quickly rushed downstairs but upon arriving where she lay, my dear friend was dead already. I was told by someone that the police had been called so I just stood there and hoped that I could see some signs of life. I had no idea of what I was going to and people started swarming out of their buildings to get a glimpse of the developments. The police came and put their yellow caution tape on the area but didn’t pick her body for hours. The deep blood pumping out of her body stunned me and it looked as if it wasn’t stopping.
When they decided to leave her there for hours was something I never understood. My heart was completely broken as I show her son come just to see her mother lying dead there and her boyfriend couldn’t help but scream and yellow. My heart really broke as I show the kind of anguish that was on his face and I just thought this was a movie. It was my first time to see a dead body and everything looked so unreal

Devastated and stressed

For many weeks after the event, I was completely devastated and depressed especially when I was leaving and entering my house. I always saw Sadie just lying there in mind and there were nights that I dreamed a lot about her. I felt unsafe at home as I relieved this trauma on a daily basis and her memory tortured me. I anguished greatly over her dear family as this was a great loss. I would sometimes see them at the store as they tried to sort out things and her death kept playing over my mind just like a video.
The devastation and stress completely took over my life and I wasn’t able to live in my Brooklyn apartment anymore so I just sublet it and relocated to Manhattan. Even though I went for therapy, fear and depression lingered on my life but the good thing is that therapy has helped me get over it.