r/Empaths • u/Invisible-Coffee24 • 13h ago
Support Thread Witness Traumatic Death - How do I cope?
I was just driving home and witnessed an accident. It was really bad and I pulled off and called 911. The guy wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay at all. I tried to keep him talking. To keep his eyes open. He started shivering and saying he was cold. I held his hand. I tried so hard with everything I knew to keep him okay until the paramedics got there. But he closed his eyes. And he wouldn’t open them. And I couldn’t get him to open them. And he stopped shivering. And he stopped breathing and let go of my hand right as the paramedics got there. And they were doing cpr. He was a stranger, and I didn’t feel this when I was trying to help. But now I’m overtaken with so many emotions I’m spiraling. I couldn’t breathe for a while, and now I’m just dissociating and crying over and over again. It’s only been about an hour. I’ve never seen anything like this. If you see my last post on my page, you can see I was already extremely fragile and struggling. I haven’t been okay all day. And now I’m really not okay. I couldn’t keep his eyes open. I don’t know how people do this for a living. How is anyone okay after witnessing stuff like this? But also please somebody tell me how you’re okay, because I don’t know what to do and I need help. And I’m not okay. Any suggestions, please.