Acute Stress

There is a wide variety of reactions that one may experience during and after a critical or traumatic incident. Everyone’s reactions can be different. It is natural to feel distressed after witnessing or experiencing a critical incident that happens to you or the people around you.

Common Responses

• Feeling shocked, unreal, angry, or distressed
• Feeling stressed or anxious
• Feeling edgy or numb
• Worsened concentration
• Disturbed sleep or dreaming about the incident
• Losing interests in activities, routines, and experiences that you used to enjoy
• Having distressing memories or flashbacks about the incident
• Worrying about friends and family who are impacted
• Avoiding thoughts, memories, or activities that remind you of the incident

Most of these responses are helping our bodies and minds to cope with and make sense of the incident, as well as its impacts. Normally, these responses will improve over time after the incident.

Cope with Acute Stress
It may be useful to take note of the followings to promote your psychological recovery:

How Counselling Helps

If you would like to have further emotional support, or if the stress responses persist and become difficult to manage, you can talk to our counsellors at CoPE.

Support Services in the community