Program & Services

Signs of a Stress Reaction

You or someone you know may have had a horrible or traumatic experience. Even though it may be over, you may have some strong stress or physical symptoms that remain. This could happen right after the experience or even after a longer period of time. It is very common and normal for people to be in a state of shock after the experience.

Sometimes stress signs show up right after the shocking experience. Sometimes they may show up a few hours or a few days later. In some cases, weeks or months may go by before the stress reactions show up. The signs and symptoms of a stress reaction may last days, weeks, months and sometimes longer. This depends on how bad the experience was.

Stress signs can go away faster when you have help and support from family, friends and people at work. Sometime the event is so painful that you may need to get help from a counselor or other professional. This does not mean that you are weak. This event was just too powerful to handle alone.

Common Symptoms
Physical	Mental	Emotional	Behavioral
Fatigue	Blame others	Anxiety	Changes in normal activities
Can't sleep	Confusion	Panic (rare)	Change in speech
Muscle shakes	Poor attention	Grief	Withdrawal from others
Twitches	Can't make decisions	Denial	Emotional all the time
Difficulty breathing	Higher or lowered alertness	Guilt/self-blame for surviving	Change in communication
Higher blood pressure	Poor concentration	Emotional numbness	Not trusting
Fast heartbeat	Forgetfulness	Uncertainty	Can't rest
Chest pain	Trouble knowing objects or people	Loss of emotional control	Substance abuse
Headaches	Increased or decreased awareness of surrounding	Fear of loss/going crazy	Jumpy
Hard time seeing	Poor problem solving	Depression	Don't want to be around people
Feeling sick	Loss of a sense of time, place or person	Can't enjoy things	Pacing
Thirst	Troubled thinking	Uneasy	Random movements
Hunger	Nightmares	Strong anger	Not taking care of personal needs
Dizziness	Can't get away from the images	Bad temper	Lack of sexual wants
A lot of sweating	Keep seeing the event over and over	Feel a lot of tension	Increased or decreased eating
Chills	Thoughts of killing oneself	Helplessness	Quiet for a long time
Weakness	Not trusting	Mistrust	Have lots of accidents
Fainting	Change in ideas of what you believe in	Feelings of worthlessness
	Search for meaning	Apathy/boredom