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Story · Ajahn Brahm

Paddington crash — those who skipped counselling did better

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Emotional Intelligence | Ajahn Brahm | 13 May 2022

1 min read

Content note: disaster; death

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

Paddington Station there was a fault in the signals and an incoming uh rush hour train uh slammed into an outgoing train. They were on the same track. These sorts of things should never happen, but of course Murphy's law always happens. If it can happen, it does happen. Rarely. So, there was this huge train crash outside of Paddington Station. Many people died and more people were injured. And many people were traumatized witnessing this. But the interesting part of this anecdote was that you know the British government they did offer free counseling to anybody who was involved in that tragedy. And then some very smart psychologists they did a follow-up. They got as many people as they could who'd been through that counseling. And those people who refused to go through the counseling. It was all offered to them for free. And of course they adjusted their findings to you know how seriously they were injured or how close they were to that tragedy, what they actually saw. And their results were so convincing. The people who depe

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 33:29 (to 34:55)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

After the Paddington rail crash, Ajahn Brahm says, a study found survivors who declined counselling often did better than those who relied on it. He admits that's controversial. His point is about inner resolve: find your own way through, with some help but not total dependence. If you're struggling, professional support can be vital.

In brief (our summary)

Paddington rush-hour crash; free counselling offered; follow-up finds (adjusted for severity) those who declined counselling often fared better — anecdote on not forcing talk.

Teaching point

Help that insists on being taken can reopen the wound.

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Emotional Intelligence | Ajahn Brahm | 13 May 2022 · 2022-05-13 · ▶ watch from 33:29 to 34:55 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

1 other telling of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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