Typical reactions to stress

Here are some typical reactions that an individual may experience following a traumatic or highly stressful event that overwhelms his or her usual coping mechanisms:

• Hypervigilance – the heightened awareness of one’s surroundings
• Being easily startled, often with an exaggerated startle response
• Increased irritability and proneness to anger
• Sleep disturbances – difficulty falling asleep due to ruminative thinking or worrying, frequent waking, or excessive sleep
• Difficulties with concentration and memory
• Being thirsty
• Various levels of dissociation, including:
  • Nightmares or night terrors
  • Flashbacks – varies mild intrusive thoughts to full re-experiencing
  • Emotional numbing
  • Ruminative thoughts of the event or frequent recollections of the event
  • Avoidance
• Lack of energy and low motivation
• Heightened vulnerability to illness
• Emotional memories – where the body is triggered, at times unknowingly, to re-experience the emotion of the event
• Re-enacting the event – choosing behaviors that, knowingly or unknowingly, recreate the event
• Body reactions – shaking, sweating, numbness in limbs, racing heart, difficulty breathing, especially when re-triggered (anxiety symptoms)
• Avoidance of social or interpersonal activity – prevents overload of person’s systems
• Hyperactivity to distract oneself from ruminative thinking
• Drinking or taking drugs to sleep or avoid nightmares and flashbacks
• Emotional constriction – difficulty in feeling both positive and negative emotions
• Loss of libido
• Obsessive-compulsive behaviours – in order to provide a false sense of control over one’s environment
• Feelings of demoralization, helplessness, guilt and hopelessness
• Loss of personal identity or loss of spirit
• Mistrust of others, heightened fear of previously enjoyed activities
• Dysphoria – an emotional state where nothing seems to matter
• A sense of detachment from activities and other people
• Self-destructive behaviours or tension-reduction behaviour including drinking, drugs, and risk-taking
• Impulsive behaviour
• Concentration and/or memory problems