What happens to people after a natural disaster, school shooting, car accident, plane crash, death of a loved one or learning they have a terminal illness? What we have commonly heard is the people go into “shock.” But what does this really mean and how can we as community (leaders, neighbors and families) help each other when people are suffering from trauma and shock.
Shock is actually the survival part of our brain triggering our fight, flight or freeze response. Our nervous system becomes highly activated, hard starts pounding, breath becomes short and rapid. Adrenaline may surge in to our body, we may run or feel the need to hit or throw something. Remember the parent who can lift a car off their child when they believe their child’s life may be in danger?
The nervous system is in high alert. So, what can we do? We can help people by helping them to track their nervous system – something like becoming a fine tuning fork to the sensations in our bodies. One of the most helpful questions you can ask someone after a disaster or traumatic event where their lives (or the lives of others) were faced with near death is, “When is the moment you knew that you had survived?” We want to help bring people back in to their bodies and recognize that they are still alive.
Grounding is another way to help traumatized people feel like themselves again. You can have them do a body scan either lying on the ground or standing against a wall. Have them start with the back of the head and notice the ground or wall supporting them, move on to the neck, shoulders, back, legs and down to their feet. This helps people feel like they are back in their body. Ask them notice any place in their body that feels more pleasant and then ask if their is any place less pleasant. Have them return to the more pleasant place in their body and notice it again. Tracking sensations helps people to learn to tell the difference between sensations of distress/pain and sensations of balance within the nervous system.
There are some instantaneous tracking and grounding exercises you can have people do following trauma, such as pushing up against a wall, counting backwards from 20, naming six colors in the place where they are at, or drinking a glass of water. These are all things people can do when they are feeling overwhelmed after a traumatic event.
The next helpful skill is resourcing. The best way to learn how to track is to develop resources. There are three types of resources available to people, external, internal, and imagined. External resources can include people, places, spiritual beliefs, skills, hobbies and pets that give support and nurturance throughout life. Internal resources can include values, beliefs, positive characteristics and body strengths that support and provide meaning to life. Imagined resources are those we have not yet experienced. Some people following a traumatic event cannot identify an external or internal resource but can imagine. In this case, it is helpful to have a person imagine a place, superhero, character out of a book or movie, or someone they would like to be like. Ask people 3 or 4 questions about their resource in order to expand the sensations connected to the resource. Ask them what they notice on the inside when they are describing their resource.
These are wellness skills that need to be practiced. With practice, people will be able to stabilize their nervous systems much more easily.