The Body Keeps the Score (Handout)

After traumatic events, people can have different ways of functioning: behaviours, emotions and other experiences. The reactions can be devided into four categories: emotional reactions, physical reactions, behavioural reactions, cognitive reactions. Here you can find a list of sympthoms in each of them.

Emotional reactions: fear, shame, anxiety, helplessness, insecurity, sadness, depression, a feeling of losing control, panic attacks, feeling guilty, distrust in other people, oversensitivity, constant changes of mood, and other intense emotional reactions

Physical reactions: dizziness, body tremors, muscle tensions, psychomotoric disturbances, sweating (particularly palms), headaches, high sensitivity to light exposure, feeling cold in lower body (particularly in feet), heart palpitations, high blood pressure, low blood sugar, digestive problems, hyperarousal, difficulty speaking, difficulty breathing, various stages of shock

Behavioural reactions: reticence: refusing communication, isolation, crying, aggression, verbal outbursts, impatience, drug or alcohol abuse, self-harm, suicide attempt

Cognitive reactions: disorientation, confusion, difficulty with concentration, difficulty speaking, forgetfulness, distraction