Shock, Trauma, Distress, Fear and Freight Symptoms and Awareness.

Experiencing a distressing, traumatic, or shocking situation may have implications that impact the mental, emotional, physical and the brain function. Imagine the imprints and recurring effects that take place from chronic trauma, distress, and shock on a daily basis.

This is what most of us with special needs children with intense disabilities go through.

We lack sleep, deal with seizures(for me grand mal seizures are traumatic to watch), health issues (such as surgeries, illnesses), behavioral /physical aggression, property destruction, fighting the academic system just to receive the child's rights to fair education, bearing witness to your child's suffering while being helpless to stop it, a Health care system that doesn't listen to the parents and throws cocktails of medications at you that increase health problems even more, and people in the community that make hurtful remarks because they have NO awareness of what your child has or endures.

We are so used to dealing with high stress we don't always recognize the health consequences or that we are in trauma response most of the time. We can become detached(from painful reality) and disengaged emotionally cutting ourselves off from our mind body spirit connection.

This can have an alarming effect on your long term physical and emotional health.

Here are some of the symptoms that take place physically and emotionally/mentally.

When we have the initial experience, the brain instantly releases chemicals which then flow through the body. The mind may become a bit cloudy, recalling broader expanded information from memory can be difficult due to the brain becoming foggy. We may have a difficult time making important informed decisions from a place of clarity and awareness depending on the severity of the experience and the brain slowing down. The physical can become aggressive (fight, flight, freeze), the mouth may become dry. Sight, sound, smell and touch can be heightened. There may be an alertness and decrease in physical pain in the first few hours. The breathing may become shallow and held for longer periods of time affecting oxygen to the brain. We experience a disconnection between the mind and body which we are not grounded but in fact we are floating around in the mind (thoughts). Rational thinking may cease for a bit of time.

When we begin to return from the trauma response which is usually with in a 24 hour period, we may begin to feel nauseous, headaches, flu/cold symptoms, body aches, mental fogginess, sensitive to noises, lights, and other environmental energies. If the situation was intense and penetrated the psyche deeply one may experience: the scene playing out throughout the waking hours, may experience fixation, nightmares of the situation playing over and over even when the eyes are closed, sleeplessness, may isolate frequently, is extremely sensitive to noises as if jumping out of one's skin when a door closes, bouts of uncontrollable crying, feelings of rage and anger, a disconnect from reality, withdrawing from life as much as possible, feelings of guilt, shame, depression, despair, denial and pushing others away. This can feel as though ones fallen into a bottomless crater with no help in sight.

If left untreated the damage can be catastrophic over time, not just for the person going through it but the loved ones as well.

We must learn gentleness, patience, and compassion for ourselves. So many of us are hard on ourselves which may inflict a narcissistic tone adding to more internal trauma.

We have all experienced shock, trauma, distress, fear and freight. This has been part of the human existence and experience. When we experience a tragedy, attack or crisis, in that moment our mind instantly releases chemicals which may begin to induce feelings of fear, confusion, anger, severe stress and anxiety. We may find it difficult to think rationally or even capture rationale thinking in that moment. There is also sometimes a loss of short term memory which may take a week or so to return. When we make important decisions from this place, we may not have access to the awareness we would have on a regular basis. This can cause a lot of frustration, guilt, anxiety and even shame.