Common Reactions to Traumatic Events

Everyone who has experienced or witnesses a traumatic event will experience it differently, but will typically have reactions that fall into four basic categories:

Psychological and Emotional
·  Depressed mood
·  Irritability
·  Loss of interest or pleasure
·  Drug or alcohol abuse
·  Feelings of inadequacy and loneliness
·  Loss of trust
·  Perceived indifference from colleagues
·  Anger, guilt, frustration
·  Inability to think or concentrate
·  Recurrent images or thoughts of the event triggered by
   non-specific events
·  Distress when you are exposed to  events that remind you of the trauma
·  Hypervigilance with everything you do
·  Desire to connect with others experiencing similar
   trauma

Cognitive
·  Inability to think or concentrate
·  Feeling distracted

Physical
·  Trouble eating
·  Sleeping
·  Fatigue
·  Headaches

Behavioral
·  Hyperactivity or less activity
·  Drug or alcohol abuse
·  Social isolation
·  Insomnia or sleeping excessively
·  Strong need to talk about the event or read information surrounding the traumatic event



If any of these reactions sound similar to something you may be experiencing, please contact MITSS or look for other documents in the toolkit for support.

For a downloadable copy of the above information, please click here.