ABSTRACT
Being wounded is an experience that may never make sense to the survivor. Each survivor has their own ways of coping following the event, often using a combination of emotional and physical therapy, financial planning, and familial support. However, co-editor and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott describes this wound-lasting lifecycle as nonlinear: “It is in the nature to desire a comprehensible linear narrative about the lives, with clear cause and effect to explain the events that occur.” However, that clear line is often blurred when survivors face a deluge of difficulty in the aftermath of inflicted gunshot wounds, such as financial distress, multiple surgeries, and PTSD. While some wounds might heal, many survivors write of their ever-evolving and complicated recoveries, including the financial burden of injuries and loss. Medical and mental health practitioners and academics rely on first-person narratives to contextualize school shootings.
