Council and democracy

You may not feel well

It’s common to have physical and mental sensations such as:

• tiredness, sleeplessness, bad dreams
• fuzziness of the mind including loss of memory and concentration
• dizziness, palpitations, shakes
• difficulty in breathing, choking in the throat and chest,
• nausea, diarrhoea
• muscular tension which may lead to pain (headaches, neck and backaches),
• abdominal pain, tummy ache
• menstrual disorders
• change in sexual interest.

You may feel numb.
Your mind may gradually be letting you feel the impact of what happened so that at first you just feel numb. It may seem unreal, like a dream, something that has not really happened. People may wrongly see this as being strong or uncaring.

It helps to keep busy.
Helping others can give you some relief.

Facing the reality of what happened can help you come to terms with it.
Facing reality by doing things like attending funerals, examining losses or returning to the scene of an accident or tragedy can help people who are suffering from grief, shock, or distress to come to terms with what has happened. As you let more about the incident come into your mind you may need to think about it, or talk about it and, at night, dream about it over and over again. Children have similar feelings and should be encouraged to play or draw the event.

Support from other people helps.
Accepting emotional and physical support from other people can help. So too can sharing your feelings with other people who have had similar experiences.

You may need time on your own.
There will be times when, in order to deal with feelings, you need to be alone or just with your family and friends.

Your family and social life may be affected.
New friendships and relationships may develop as a result of what has happened, or it strains may appear in existing relationships. Good feelings around giving and receiving may be replaced by conflict. You may feel that others don’t understand how you feel and offer you too little support, or that you cannot give them as much as they expect.

Accidents happen more often after severe stress. Extra tension may result in people taking more alcohol or drugs or smoking more than usual.