Symptom description

Normally, the stress response is triggered when we are faced with a threatening situation. This response translates into physiological changes that prepare us for action (flight or fight). When we encounter a traumatic situation, this stress response becomes overloaded and maladaptive. Schematically, this translates into 3 main types of reactions. The presence of these symptoms should alert you because they indicate the development of a post-traumatic state:

• Psychic stupefaction: the victim is in a state of shock, stunned, immobile, unable to act or reason.
• Disordered agitation: the person agitates inefficiently, screams, walks around aimlessly.
• Psychic dissociation: the person appears to act in an adapted way, but in fact functions automatically without any reflection. It is as if the person is physically present but psychically absent.