Most of us function with certain assumptions about the world and our surroundings. We assume that our worlds are safe and predictable. Exposure to traumatic stressors like the events of September 11th, or an earthquake or a flood, rudely punctures this psychological bubble of invulnerability. Our normal assumptions are ruptured, and our understanding of the "rules" of daily living are shocked and upset. The term "upsetting" is apt, because not only do we experience strong emotions in these times, we actually lose our balance psychologically. This loss of stability and psychological equilibrium are what we aim to regain as we experience the waves of emotions in the weeks and months that follow our exposure. Exactly what each of us feels will be different, but there are clearly commonalities.
One important point to know and to remember is that the natural, common, and normal reactions that you experience may feel quite painful and may make you wonder if your mind is playing tricks on you. In the vast majority of cases, your reactions are normal, even if they are very strong and upsetting.
The Reactions to Trauma
There are three kinds of experience that most people have after witnessing or being involved in a traumatic event.
Intrusion
Most disturbing to many are the vivid visual images that intrude into conscious awareness without any particular trigger. Termed "intrusive phenomena" these include experiences such as bad dreams or nightmares, anxiety or fear when exposed to reminders of the trauma, painful thoughts about what happened, and, in extreme cases, losing track of the present and feeling like what happened is happening again. These intrusive phenomena are part of the process of incorporating the distressing change in what reality is, into our world view.
