⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING! ⚠️ This article contains references to abuse that could be triggering for some.
I bought this handy little guide the other day at Goodwill. It has useful information like: what to do if there’s a downed power line or what happens if you are swimming in the ocean and get stung by a jelly fish or how to get out of quicksand (although Bill Nye said there was no such thing as “quicksand”)…stuff like that. However, I shouldn’t be amazed about something, but still kinda am… the book did not include something vitally important: it doesn’t say what you should do if someone [who proclaims to love you so much] is abusing you.
I would love to create my own version of this book…for DV victims, as there are SO many ways to be abused and to counter that abuse. There would be a chapter on what to do if you’re being strangled. Another chapter on how to talk your abuser into putting down the gun. Self-defense chapters would definitely be an asset. Another chapter on how to thwart verbal and emotional abuse with the Grey Rock Method. A chapter for safety planning in secret. I would include a chapter on the different ways to call for help from law enforcement agencies and/or a DV hotline, without alerting and upsetting the abuser. The possibilities are endless for a book of this magnitude. Still, sadly, the regular version of the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook is really disappointing. It’s good to read and and just “know” when faced with these out-of-the-ordinary situations — BUT, how about information we could really use and/or pass on to others who may need it.
Here’s the real kicker…if you were given this fictional book, then you would probably be in active abuse. Also, if the abuser were to discover this fictional book, you could be badly injured for your disloyalty and independence. I could honestly see the positives and negatives, if this fictional version of this book existed…so, couldn’t the author of the current edition simply have included a chapter for surviving abuse? Just one??? It would’ve been lovely to have that acknowledged as a”worst-case scenario”…it was DEFINITELY mine…
As a psychotherapist, I felt this and would purchase your DV survival guide so I would know how to better help my clients who are in a DV situation.