Table of Contents
What happens when someone goes through a traumatic experience?
Traumatic experiences are distressing and threatening, and may be so intense as to temporarily disrupt a person’s ability to come to terms with them. Thinking you might die, seeing others killed or injured, intense fear, abuse or being forced to do things out of your control are all traumatic experiences.
How can you tell if someone has been through trauma?
Signs and symptoms of emotional & psychological trauma
- Intrusive thoughts of the event that may occur out of the blue.
- Nightmares.
- Visual images of the event.
- Loss of memory and concentration abilities.
- Disorientation.
- Confusion.
- Mood swings.
How do you recognize trauma responses?
What Are Common Reactions to Trauma?
- Losing hope for the future.
- Feeling distant (detached) or losing a sense of concern about others.
- Being unable to concentrate or make decisions.
- Feeling jumpy and getting startled easily at sudden noises.
- Feeling on guard and alert all the time.
- Having dreams and memories that upset you.
How do you feel immediately after a traumatic event?
Immediately after. Immediately after a traumatic event, it is common for people to feel shocked, or numb, or unable to accept what has happened. Shock – when in shock you feel: stunned or dazed or numb. cut off from your feelings, or from what is going on around you.
How do I deal with trauma reactions?
It is difficult to predict what type of trauma reactions you will experience following a disastrous event. It is important to allow yourself permission to have your reactions, and take care of them both by yourself and by asking for help from others, as best you can.
What happens to your body when you have trauma?
Anger. In addition to fear and anxiety, anger is a very common reaction to trauma. We might feel anger at the person or situation responsible for our trauma. We may be angry at ourselves if we blame ourselves for what happened.
How long do trauma reactions last?
It is impossible to predict how long you will experience effects of the trauma, but usually trauma reactions gradually decrease over time. If you experience another stressful event while recovering from this trauma, you may find that your trauma reactions reappear for awhile. This re-activation, or delayed trauma response, is perfectly normal.