What helps after a traumatic event?

From the book – Chapter 10: Trauma, Grief and Loss

What helps after a traumatic event

If you or someone you know has just been through something frightening:

1. Get safe and meet basic needs: food, water, rest, and shelter.

2. Connect with trusted people. You do not have to talk about details, but do not isolate.

3. Return to routine gradually: regular meals, sleep, and light activity.

4. Be gentle with yourself. Strong reactions are normal.

5. Limit alcohol and drugs.

6. Limit repeated exposure to news or images of the event.

7. Talk when ready. Do not force yourself or others to retell the story. Early formal “debriefing” in which people are pushed to relive events has not been shown to prevent PTSD.

8. Seek help if symptoms are severe, last more than a month, or you feel unsafe.

Read the full chapter – Chapter 10: Trauma, Grief and Loss

Stories from real life

• The Road That Kept Coming Back – Imran, thirty-five, a delivery driver in Lucknow, survived a night-time road accident in which his friend was badly hurt. For the first few days he felt…
• Six Months Since Ashok – Lakshmi, sixty-two, lost her husband Ashok six months ago in Coimbatore. At first neighbours filled the house and she was too busy to feel. Now the…
• The House Where She Always Listened – Nadia, twenty-six, works as a designer in Birmingham. She is talented but exhausted by relationships. As a child she grew up in a home where shouting…
• When the Water Came – Ravi, eight, lives in a village in Assam. Last monsoon, the river flooded the house in the night, and the family had to wade out in…

Shloks

• Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.3 – The afflictions are ignorance, I-making, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.

More on this topic: Trauma, grief and loss – healing at your own pace

More questions

• Grounding skills for flashbacks and overwhelming feelings – explained simply
• Supporting someone who has experienced trauma – explained simply
• Understanding post-traumatic growth
• What is true: PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) symptoms must last more than…?
• Which is a common symptom of PTSD?
• About grief, which statement is TRUE?
• What is true: trauma can result from…?
• What is true: EMDR is a therapy specifically used for…?
• What does Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.3 mean for the mind?
• The Road That Kept Coming Back – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
• Coping with grief and the loss of a loved one