Your response in the first few weeks
Dissociation is feeling that the world around you isn’t real or is distorted in some way.
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Feelings and thoughts
Detached
‘The world doesn’t feel real to me anymore, I feel disconnected from everyone.’
‘I don’t know who I am anymore.’
‘I don’t feel anything.’
Guilt
‘I should have done things differently.’
‘Why did I survive?’
‘It’s my fault.’
Vulnerable, scared and panicky
‘It will happen again, I am not safe anymore.’
‘I am losing my mind.’
‘Something has changed in me, I am not the same person anymore.’
‘I can’t cope.’
‘I am not in control.’
Shame
‘What would people think of me if they knew what I thought, or felt or did.’
‘I should have tried to help others, not just my family.’
Depressed
‘I will never be the same again.’
‘I am a failure.’
Isolation
‘I can’t face anyone.’
‘I can’t talk to anyone, they don’t really understand.’
‘I’m better off coping alone.’
Anger
‘This should never have happened.’
‘Why me?’
‘I want revenge.’
‘Someone should have done something to stop this from happening.’
Numbness
‘I feel dead inside.’
‘I have no feelings.’
Confusion, disorientation
‘I don’t understand what is happening to me.’
‘I have never felt like this before.’
Loss
‘I’ve lost my family.’
‘I’ve lost the ability to see the world in the same way.’
Irritability
‘Can’t they just leave me alone, I’ve got enough to deal with.’
‘I feel like screaming.’
‘Everyone else just talks about petty stuff.’
‘I know I have no patience anymore.’
Other responses in the first few weeks may be:
- Problems sleeping.
- Feeling unsafe.
- Tiredness
- A sense of loss.
- Feeling jumpy.
- Poor concentration.
- Intrusive images, sounds, smells of what happened.
- Fleeting thoughts of harming self or others.
- Avoiding places, people, etc.
- Increased alcohol intake.
- Intrusive thoughts of what happened.
- Mistrusting other people.
I was feeling anxious, I was anxious going into town as I kept thinking about different scenarios. I was anxious even going to the pictures.
A survivor.
Reactions
Most people will experience some or all of these reactions following a traumatic incident. For some they may begin to become less upsetting after a few weeks or months, for others they may last longer.
It was scary I was researching things and kept watching the news all the time.
A survivor.
If these feelings persist and are worsening a month after the event then this may be a sign of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, as it is commonly known.
Video
Watch the video on YouTube below which includes personal testimonies describing what living with PTSD is like.
Psychological therapies
While most people recover the impact is longer lasting for others and additional help such as brief interventions using trauma focused cognitive behavioural therapy or eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) can be of real benefit.
Video
What is EMDR? Watch the following YouTube video to find out more.
Video
Watch the YouTube video below about cognitive behavioural therapy techniques.
A word of caution. Formal debriefing from a professional which includes asking about thoughts and feelings in a one off meeting, is not recommended. This is because talking about the events can re-traumatise survivors and may cause more distress by interfering with the individual’s own instinctive ways of coping.