Let’s talk about emotional shocks!

The strong feeling of despair and anguish we feel when losing a love one or having a hard breakup can end up causing us an emotional shock.

This state has different phases, with a beginning and an end, and serves the person to recover from this emotional hit.

What is an emotional shock?.

Emotional shock is also known as acute stress disorder, emotional trauma, psychological shock, mental shock, or shock. It is a profound and persistent psychological condition that arises in the aftermath of a terrifying or otherwise traumatic event a person experiences in their life. The damage dealt to the psyche impedes or challenges a person’s functioning and/or coping abilities. | Source

This state is characterized because the person goes through a state of dreariness or mental inactivity which can be accompanied by a feeling of confusion and emptiness.

It is important to note that emotional shock is not regarded a disorder by itself, but a common issue, with an anticipated course of symptoms, and with properly defined phases for which there is a beginning and an end.

Although every individual goes through their emotional shock in a unique and personal way, it is usual for the first time to be a much more traumatic way experience, since the person does not yet possess the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully handle said situation.

Likewise, another tendency very common with this issue is that the degree of intensity of the emotional shock is directly proportional to the intensity of the commitment that the relationship possessed. The longer we have been with a person and the deeper the commitment, the more time it will take to overcome the breakup or the passing of the other person.

Can a person overcome an extremely hard emotional hit?

Usually, most people manage to overcome the consequences of an emotional shock during the first 12 months or even less. However, it is completely normal to find people to whom this recovery takes a little more time, depending of course, on how well is everything being handled.

Emotional shock is a completely ordinary and even healthy process, and it remains like that unless the person tries to repress or compensate through excess behavior leading to unhealthy things. such as drug use or alcohol abuse.

For a successful overcoming of this issue it is the best to face the pain and move forward with it, to embrace the experience of the emotional shock, going through its different phases and understanding each of its peculiarities.

Failure to recognize and letting go of the emotional distress can severely damage a person's psychological health. The effects of an emotional shock poorly resolved, in addition to harming emotional health, have multiple consequences on the body, which is why repressing our own feelings especially if they are intense, is never a wise thing to do.

A feeling of constant sorrow, depression and regret can weaken the person's immune system, increasing the susceptibility to physical illness.

Therefore, although unpleasant and painful, an emotional shock can be considered as sign of health and the best way to overcome a hard emotional hit.

How can we identify an emotional shock?

Although, as already mentioned before, this kind of issue can not be considered a disorder by itself, it does present some common symptoms easy to identify in most people who suffer from it. Among the symptoms that can be found are:

Shock, denial, or disbelief

Anger, irritability, mood swings

Withdrawing from others

Feeling disconnected or numb

Muscle tension

Being startled easily

Edginess and agitation. | Source

Because of the person gradually begins to find out how to handle the emotional shock, he will progressively acquire the skills that will help control his feelings and fears.

Also, the fact of knowing the different stages of the process and that they have both a beginning and an end, causes a reassuring effect on any individual.

What are the different phases of the emotional shock?

The emotional shock experience can be divided into 6 phases, some people experience the different stages in a very fast way while others do it very slowly.

Also, the intensity of the symptoms will be reduced as the individual goes through the different stages. Usually, greater concern is experienced in the first stages because that’s when the person is feeling the shock for the first time.

Finally, and before going on to explain the different stages, it is necessary to point out that, although there are recurrent patterns, when experiencing emotional shock its not necessarily lineal. The person can go forward and backward in the different stages according to the coping mechanisms that he has.

Emotional hit

The first stage is when the person experiences the inevitable sensation of mental paralysis, accompanied by confusion and incredulity.

In very extreme cases the person may not be able to accomplish simply things such as eating or sleeping, and may even forget what happened during this time.

Sorrow

During this stage of grief, the person not only regrets what happened, he will also feel sad remembering all the time they shared and all the experiences lived.

This grief can turn into feelings of anger and irritation. The person may feel moody or angry, due to frustration and the perception that no one is able to understand what they are feeling.

Identifying the guilty person

When its about a breakup, and when the feeling of sorrow is reduced, the person feels the need to realize what has happened to the relationship. Therefore, there is an urgency to analyze everything that has happened throughout the relationship, looking to identify the guilty person.

Also, its quite common to start analyzing all the different situations the couple has experienced to search for any mistake that could have been made, or to look for reasons and blame the partner.

Resignation

This is the moment in which the individual is able to come to terms with the fact the other is no longer in his life. It is time to accept that it is all over, and its time to recover the energy in order to move on.

It is the stage in which people usually spend more time, since on the one hand they feel relieved to be able to overcome this issue, however they also experience feelings of nostalgia for having to realize the time with the other person has come to an end.

Restoration

In this instant the person notices that he spends more happy moments than sad, he manages to recover his concentration and he feels that his life belongs to him again.

Likewise, he feels ready to go out and meet other people and begins to focus more on his own needs than on thoughts about the past.

To complete this stage satisfactorily they will need to rebuild their strength, develop their self-esteem and self-confidence.

Resolution

With the resolution begins the beginning of a new life cycle. The person has managed to resolve the conflict since the beginning of the shock and his life is once again on track with a new direction. When reaching this stage the individual now has the necessary confidence to create his own well being and maintain his self esteem.

Conclusion

Taking the time to understanding what we are going through and letting everything sink in is probably the best way there is to approach intensive situations like the one we are discussing today.

There is nothing that cannot be healed with time, especially if we adopt a relaxed mindset to not overload our senses with thoughts that could disturb us even further.

In the end, the more knowledge we have about how to handle the difficult situations everyone of us have to face in our life from time to time, the better prepared we will be when those difficult moments arrive.