We had a terrible incident here where a boy my son knows was beaten up on the street. Now my son (age 15) can’t stop thinking about it and believes he may be assaulted himself. He keeps talking about being ready to fight back. I don’t think the assault was random violence and I don’t think my son is really in danger. I don’t want him to be paranoid — how can I convince him to be realistic?
He’s in post traumatic stress disorder from the incident, ruminating about the fear as if experiencing it himself. He should get two sessions with a PTSD therapist to work it through!
Also, if violence happens (you said it was not random violence),then he needs ways to defend himself, and you or a male figure should accompany him to school and back until PTSD subsides!
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