Interesting. Psychological shock trauma - its consequences and elimination

What is shock trauma

Until misfortune touches us, we tend to live in the illusion that the world is safe and we are in control of our lives. But the real world easily destroys our fantasies, and its impact can traumatize both our body and psyche. In psychology, there is a special type of psychotrauma – shock trauma.

The shock reaction occurs when a person is faced with an event that he experiences as a threat to his life (or the lives of others - observer trauma). Events that can lead to shock injury include: natural disasters, disasters, violence (robbery, rape, etc.), military actions, sudden loss loved ones or relatives, operations, many medical interventions, heavy incurable diseases, sudden loss social status(divorce, job loss, bankruptcy, etc.). All these events occur suddenly and cause a strong feeling of fear and helplessness in a person. In this case, there arises special condition– shock (that’s why the injury is called shock). Shock trauma becomes a turning point in a person’s life, dividing life into “before” and “after” the injury.

Consequences of shock trauma

The effects of trauma can have a very strong and destructive impact on the individual. This may be suicidal tendencies and addiction, psychosomatic illnesses, split personality, and the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). All these disorders do not appear immediately; they can occur only several years after the traumatic event, so it is not always possible to understand their cause. For example, symptoms of PTSD include anxiety, unreasonable fears, feeling “frozen” (lack of feelings), avoidance of communication, problems falling asleep, sudden outbursts of irritability, etc.

Mechanism of action of shock trauma

During shock trauma they turn on physiological mechanisms reaction - flight, fight or freezing (numbness). When there is no way to avoid or overcome danger, the body gets into a “dead end” and the body freezes, “freezes”. The mouse caught by the cat freezes at this moment. We can see the same process in people in a state of shock. This is an unconscious, physiological protective reaction that we cannot control. Its purpose is to protect us from too strong painful sensations and feelings that cannot be experienced, a kind of “pain relief”, anesthesia. Animals, as soon as the threat passes, come out of this frozen state - they shake themselves and tremble violently, thus releasing bound energy, and can continue their normal lives. People have lost the skill of naturally exiting a frozen state, so we cannot do without special assistance fully recover from a traumatic state. Part of the energy remains “bound” in the nervous system, so the person continues to live as if the traumatic situation had not yet ended.

Retraumatization

After a shocking traumatic event, which was not fully responded to by the person at the bodily level and rethought, he finds himself in vicious circle. On the one hand, there is fear and avoidance of both memories of what happened and similar situations reminiscent of the event, and on the other, the body feels the need to release bound energy. Therefore, situations that repeat the events of trauma are often unconsciously attracted; it is as if the person himself attracts dangerous situations. But at the same time, he cannot react differently, the freezing reaction turns on earlier than the flight/fight reactions, repeated trauma occurs, and the “passive” freezing reaction becomes more and more consolidated with each subsequent stressful situation. Traumatic situations accumulate and a trauma funnel is formed.

The Trauma Funnel and the Healing Funnel

The Trauma Funnel is a metaphor for the defensive state of a traumatized person when faced with any threatening situation. The trauma vortex is a whirlpool that absorbs unrealized fight-flight energy. When a person is in the vortex of trauma, he experiences fear, dizziness, depression, compression, loss of strength, cold, heaviness, stiffness, while striving for self-suppression, self-restraint and self-destruction. The state of the trauma vortex begins to arise over time in situations that do not objectively threaten a person’s life, therefore, the behavior of a person in the trauma vortex is often incomprehensible and inexplicable for those around him, as well as for himself. Because instinctive mechanisms operate during traumatic events, conscious control—our normal “I”—is partially or completely absent. We lose control over the situation and over our reactions (many people cannot remember at all what exactly happened at the moment of shock trauma). Such a repeated experience of “losing oneself” gives rise to a feeling of helplessness, self-doubt, a person feels like a victim, experiences enormous fear, guilt, shame and self-hatred.

However, by working with our bodily sensations, we can avoid falling into the vortex of trauma by consciously attracting the vortex of healing, when we intentionally shift our attention, look for opposite sensations in our bodily experience - stretching, a feeling of warmth, a feeling of waves of energy, relaxation, calmness, a feeling of lightness, a sense of present time, etc.

Only by being in a resource-safe state of the healing funnel can you gradually discharge the frozen energy of the trauma funnel.

How to help someone who has experienced trauma

One of the most common mistakes is to try to forget as quickly as possible, to ignore the event, not to talk about it, to erase it from memory. Thus, we feed the state of shock, do not give the opportunity to end the situation on the physical and emotional level. Therefore, immediately after the event that caused the shock reaction, as soon as possible, the injured person needs to:

• place him in a safe place where his body can relax;
• there must be people next to him whom he can trust, safe people who are ready to listen to everything that comes up, accept and help him survive natural bodily reactions and strong feelings that rise.

There is not enough support for relatives because they too are partly affected by the impact of the trauma. It is important to immediately involve a psychologist. It’s good when there is still a system of people you can turn to - friends, neighbors, acquaintances, distant relatives, colleagues at work. The most important thing is not to lose contact with other people, to prevent isolation and withdrawal. It is important to speak out, to speak out what has accumulated, and not to keep it to yourself. This is the only way to avoid long-term effects of injury.

How to overcome the long-term effects of injury

If help was not provided on time and the person is already suffering from post-traumatic disorder, only professional help is needed. psychological help. Methods of psychotherapy that help get rid of the consequences of trauma - behavioral therapy, bodynamics, EMDR, existential therapy. In such a situation, there is a difficult task - to restore trust in oneself and trust in people, confidence that a person can manage both his body and his life.

If you understand that the cause of your problems is the consequences of trauma, your personal activity in recovery is very important. Here are the basic principles to follow:

• communication with other people;
• contribution to society (feeling needed);
• working on personal relationships;
• refusal of alcohol and other “painkillers”;

The effects of trauma can only be overcome when you experience it physically, emotionally, and understand the impact it had on you. At the moment when your life was in danger, you lost control of the situation. But something greater than your personality took control of the situation, and only thanks to this force did you survive. It doesn’t matter what name you give it - God, the unconscious, the higher mind, or instinctive nature, but recognition and trust in this force eliminates fear, allows you to believe in yourself, gives A New Look on your life and the place of trauma in it, hope for recovery and finding wholeness.

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Last update: 01/18/2014

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a severe mental condition that occurs as a result of severe emotional shock, such as a threat to life. This is what happened to a young man named Tony.

Let's look at an example of how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can result from a single traumatic event.

Tony's childhood was fairly stable. Although his parents divorced when Tony was 8, he, his mother, and brothers and sisters all lived together, and his father, who remained in the same city after the divorce, visited them regularly. While studying at school, Tony had some difficulties in mastering the material, because of this he sometimes became discouraged. As a result, his grades were not the best. But this did not interfere with his success in sports, and he always had many friends.

When Tony turned 18, he entered military service. This decision seemed quite successful, because this way he could see the world, serve his country, and in the future, perhaps, go to college. In many ways, he liked the service - the spirit of camaraderie, a stable income, in addition, he was seriously interested in the profession of a military communications operator.

While serving in Afghanistan, Tony's car was hit by an improvised explosive device. Everyone who was in the car at the time died, and Tony himself received serious injuries, including losing an eye. After this, he was sent to the USA, where he almost completely regained his health.

About two years have passed since then. Tony received disability benefits, worked as a tattoo artist and really missed his job, friends and dreams of a future that were not destined to come true. He believed that the consequences of his injury were seriously affecting his life. He and his girlfriend often quarreled, and once he even threw a glass at her. Tony missed, but this incident instilled fear in him - this meant that he could lose control at any second.

Most of the symptoms Tony was experiencing were classic PTSD - he was haunted by flashbacks, was very irritable, and avoided talking about the explosion and anything related to it as much as possible. But there were other problems that complicated the situation: what is called hypervigilance in psychiatry forced him to react extremely sharply to everything that happened. Attacks of anger often appeared as if on their own, and, as a rule, the young man himself could not understand their causes. In addition, Tony began to feel a craving for loneliness that had not been there before, and even when he was surrounded by people, he felt isolated and disconnected from them. Attention became distracted, memory problems began - Tony began to forget what had happened quite recently.

At first, Tony was afraid and ashamed to discuss his psychological problems with loved ones, so he decided to use an online chat for military personnel who had been in hot spots. There he met many people who not only did not consider him crazy, but also experienced similar symptoms. Several guys have already turned to psychotherapists for help and this really helped them a lot. Tony decided to follow suit. The therapist explained to Tony in psychological terms what happened at the time of the explosion, and how it subsequently affected his body and mind. Tony also learned about seizure triggers and techniques to reduce psychological distress.

While working, Tony remembered that he had once been a good drawer, so the psychotherapist advised him to capture the traumatic event on paper - a few minutes before the explosion, the explosion itself and what happened after. Tony retold his story over and over again until he felt that the memories no longer came on their own, and when he himself recalled them, they were no longer so colorful and frightening.

Tony felt relief almost immediately: the symptoms of the disease subsided, and he was much more able to control himself and his mood. He continued treatment for several more months to finally overcome his anger attacks and deal with problems in his interpersonal relationships. Unfortunately, Tony broke up with his girlfriend, but was able to get over the breakup much easier than he thought. He said he didn't want other veterans to feel ashamed alarming symptoms post-traumatic stress disorder, so he decided to become a volunteer and work with military personnel returning from hot spots.

Everyone periodically faces strong unpleasant emotions, some easily cope with their experiences, others shudder for months and have nightmares at night, and for some the load turns out to be too great and they experience psychological shock. This condition, on the one hand, helps to protect the human psyche, preserving and “preserving” it, and on the other hand, it is in itself extremely dangerous for mental health.

Manifestations of psychological shock can be encountered at any age; it is especially dangerous for children and adolescents: an unstable psyche cannot always cope with it on their own, and those around them often underestimate the seriousness of the problem.

Shock is a pathological reaction that develops in response to the action of irritants on the human body, the strength of which exceeds its compensatory capabilities.

Psychological shock is also an acute life-threatening a condition in which the functioning of all systems functioning in the body is disrupted.

This condition occurs due to too strong emotional experiences, usually negative. It is impossible to determine exactly what events can cause such a reaction. The limits of compensatory capabilities, as well as sensitivity, are different for each person. IN childhood shock can occur due to events that do not seem too scary in adulthood, also a lot depends on the type nervous system, human mental health, his emotional state.

Causes of shock:

• Life-threatening situation - disasters, fires, natural disasters and other critical situations.
• Physical or emotional abuse.
• Cruel treatment, beatings.
• Strong physical pain in case of injury, illness, etc.
• Emotional shock caused by significant events for a person.

Whether or not a person develops symptoms of shock depends not only on the type and strength of the impact, but also on the constitutional characteristics of his psyche.

Predisposing factors include:

• Personality characteristics – psychosis often occurs in psychopathic, hysterical individuals, emotionally unstable, prone to depression and anxiety.
• Experienced emotional shock or psychological trauma - a shock already experienced, even if it did not cause any visible consequences, can leave a deep mark on a person’s consciousness and subconscious. For example, memories of a fire experienced in childhood can cause the development of shock in an adult who suddenly sees a large fire.
• Traumatic brain injuries, infectious diseases– damage to the nervous system and brain caused by disease or injury can also trigger the development of shock.
• Intoxication, alcoholism, drug addiction - the use of toxic substances causes death and damage nerve cells and also general weakening of the body.
• Hormonal diseases – hormonal imbalance in the body leads to disruption of brain regulation and can also become a predisposing factor.
• Mental illnesses – depression, psychoses, neuroses, epilepsy, schizophrenia and other diseases are one of the the most important factors risk.
• General weakening of the body - exhaustion, vitamin deficiency, chronic fatigue and lack of sleep also often provoke this condition.

Symptoms of shock

Mental shock can manifest itself in different ways. Sometimes it’s difficult even for a specialist to immediately diagnose correct diagnosis or suspect the development of this life-threatening condition.

There are 3 main forms of the disease:

• Motor excitement
• Stupor
• Emotional paralysis.

Psychosis is also divided into phases or types, depending on the duration and course of the disease:

1. Acute psychosis or shock - occurs with severe psycho-emotional trauma, characterized by the maximum manifestation of all symptoms of shock.
2. Subacute psychosis - develops more often in a person in severe life situation in a state of constant nervous excitement (for example, in judicial practice). This can be hysterical psychosis, psychogenic depression, psychogenic paranoid and psychogenic stupor.
3. Prolonged shock is typical for persons with existing or diagnosed mental pathology. With this form of the disease, hysterical depression is observed, crazy ideas, pseudodementia disorders.

Motor excitement during shock is manifested by inappropriate behavior of a person - he commits a large number of various actions. This can include meaningless, chaotic movements, fussiness, and the need to do something all the time. Moreover, movements and actions are meaningless, for example, during a fire or accident, a person stomps around in one place, waves his arms, screams, runs around the source, but can neither run away nor take any action to eliminate the problem. It is very difficult to bring a person “to his senses” in a state of shock; as a rule, he is not accessible to contact, does not answer questions, does not listen and does not take instructions.

With the development of stupor, the patient cannot move from his place, he seems to “freeze”, unable to control own body. Contact is also not available when trying to remove motor agitation or aggression from this state.

Emotional paralysis is characterized by a lack of visible response to a situation or experience. The person seems to neither feel nor feel anything. In this case, all reactions are slow, consciousness may be partially absent. This type of reaction is often observed in children and adolescents who have experienced psychological trauma. They seem to “move away” from their own experiences, withdrawing into themselves and not showing emotions.

In addition to changes in the psyche and behavior, emotional shock is manifested by somatic changes: slowing or increasing heartbeat, profuse sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, involuntary urination and so on.

You can suspect the development of shock in a person based on the following symptoms:

• Inappropriate behavior
• Inability to engage productively with others
• Staying in one state for a long time
• Somatic manifestations.

Treatment

Treatment of shock depends on the severity of the patient’s condition and the nature of the traumatic situation. In severe cases, hospitalization in a hospital and the use of tranquilizers or antipsychotics to recover from shock are required. Maintenance therapy may also be required to stabilize the functioning of the heart, blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract and other organs.

All patients who have experienced mental shock require further treatment: psychotherapy, work with a psychologist, taking antidepressants and restorative medications, as well as prevention of traumatic events.

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Split mental states in some cases are caused by strong emotional shock. Similar case reported the French psychologist A. Binet. A young man of sixteen, working in a vineyard, one day came across a snake. From a strong shock, he fainted, and when he woke up, it turned out that his legs were paralyzed. Moreover, profound changes took place in his psyche: the guy imagined himself as a 9-year-old boy and behaved according to this age. He began to read, write poorly, and live with the impressions of a 9-year-old child. The entire later part of life was forgotten along with the acquired experience. Due to paralysis of his legs, the young man left work in the vineyard and moved to a tailor's workshop. There he learned to sew, again mastered literacy and took up tailoring. However, a few years later the young tailor again experiences severe shock, which resulted in prolonged fainting. When this time he regained consciousness, the paralysis disappeared, and the entire forgotten period of his life and work in the vineyard before the meeting with the snake was restored in memory. However, he forgot everything about life in the tailor's workshop. All knowledge and skills in tailoring were also forgotten.

Binet, through hypnotic suggestion, evoked in this young man the traits of a particular personality. If a young man was told that he was working in a vineyard, then after awakening from hypnosis he behaved as if he only worked there: his legs turned out to be completely healthy, but his tailoring skills completely disappeared. When, at the next hypnotic session, it was suggested to him that he was a 9-year-old boy, then after awakening from hypnosis the young man behaved accordingly - he again could not walk, but he had excellent control of the needle.

In the course of such studies and observations, scientists will, to a certain extent, understand the psychophysiological mechanisms of the phenomenon of split mental states. However, it has not yet been possible to understand where the second (“extra”) personality comes from, and where it gets the information inaccessible to the first one, and, perhaps, will not succeed, since official science considers only the psyche of the person himself, but does not take into account the reality of the existence of invisible intelligent entities.

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