The concept of “state of shock” is very well known to physicians, visiting ambulance teams who work with people who have received injuries associated with a risk to life. A car accident, collapse, earthquake, fire, electric shock - all this can cause a shock, which is nothing more than a short-term decrease in body functions. Extreme factors can upset vital systems, and in case of failure to provide first aid, even lead to their stop. However, in psychology this term is widely known. What is an emotional shock? Let's try to figure it out.
Prerequisites for a condition
Any experiences from the past are able, one way or another, to remind oneself. Even if enough time has passed, and the person has managed to cope with the problem. Sometimes frightening memories come back with short-term scraps of memory, sometimes inexplicable emotional outbursts, and sometimes an obsessive feeling of fear. In this case, a shock state can be caused by a situation that duplicates a terrible scene from the past, which seems to make a person relive all the horror.
Shock symptoms
The most vulnerable are people who have suffered severe emotional trauma once in the past. Most often, the prerequisites for a possible shock state occur in persons who have been subjected to domestic violence or by peers, as well as those who have undergone an attack by mentally unbalanced people.
In this case, overlapping images from reality and from their past lives can really cause shock symptoms - lowering blood pressure, dilated pupils, numbness, lowering heart rhythms, general weakness, lowering skin temperature, heart failure. Moreover, the symptoms in different people manifest themselves in different ways. Shock from what happened can cause almost respiratory arrest, and, conversely, rapid intermittent heavy breathing.
Traumatic experience
Psychological trauma is almost always associated with a threat to life and personal safety. In this case, the person seems to be left face to face with some kind of threat, not seeing the strength to resist it. Very often people subjectively assess a situation, seeing it as a danger, even if there is no threat of physical impact. That is why the fact that such a shock is well known to people who have experienced severe psychological trauma in the past. To get rid of obsessive phobias and fears, a long rehabilitation period is required, preferably under the supervision of specialists.
What situations can cause emotional shock?
A single recollection from a past life of a natural disaster can constantly haunt a person. However, people who do not have strong negative prints may also experience a state of shock. So, a similar feeling is often caused by:
- Some unexpected, completely sudden events.
- Repeated repetitions of the same situation.
- Intentional cruelty from others.
- Negative childhood memories.
“I was shocked,” says the woman who lost a young relative in a car accident. And indeed, she could not have foreseen something like this, did not expect this, because her relative was full of strength and health.
In the same way, people feel themselves when they learn that a serial maniac is operating in their city . Fear and horror temporarily take hold of their consciousness, then they begin to feel terrible anxiety for their loved ones. Moreover, this fear can be cultivated by the awareness of one's own helplessness and impossibility to influence the situation. In this case, each new crime that has been publicized may cause another wave of shock.
Who is most affected by this?
In addition to people who once experienced a deep psychological trauma that left an indelible mark on their entire future lives, people who are currently in a deep depression are considered the most emotionally vulnerable. Stress in itself is capable of causing shock situations, as if from nowhere. Too vulnerable are those who not so long ago survived a series of events that led to losses and losses. People seem to cease to belong to themselves, any unexpected scream or surprise can already cause the notorious state of shock.
What is shock and how to prevent it in the future?
Indelible psychological trauma, so often capable of causing yet another emotional upheaval, most often stretches after us from childhood. If an adult can sooner or later come to terms with the loss of a loved one or his own fears, then the child will receive an imprint for the rest of his life. That is why it is very important to take care of the mental state of their children, not subject them to cruel punishments for the slightest offenses, not to introduce them into an environment that endangers them, not to move away, not to intimidate, not to neglect and in no way insult.
What is shock is known to parents mocking their own children from their bitter experience. People who could cause physical and emotional harm to others were systematically abused in childhood. Think about how to maintain the mental health of your children.