• April 26, 2024

Traumatic events are those that occur in a sudden and massive way, generating chaos, anguish and confusion and being threatening to the physical and psychological integrity of oneself or of others.

The psychoanalyst Claudia Rodríguez Acosta, explains that not always the symptoms of post-traumatic stress are noticed immediately, sometimes they appear after the initial shock has passed. Symptoms include:
 

• Intense anxiety although there is no real danger.
• Hypervigilance.
• Repetitive games that recreate the traumatic event.
• Depression
• Nightmares
• Difficulty sleeping
• Change in eating patterns (eating less or more)
• Constantly remember images or perceptions about the traumatic event.
• Sensation of a bleak future.

How can we help overcome these symptoms?

It is important that if the parents are very affected, look for someone close to take care of the children and transmit them security:

• Allow them to express their concerns, ideas and feelings about what they have just experienced.
• Do not minimize what they say or what they feel, rather validate them by saying, for example: "You are restless because you were very scared, maybe that's why you can not sleep", "It's normal that you're scared, we all get scared when things like that happen."
• Talk about what happened, providing information according to the age and way of being of each child.
• Do not expose them to violent and dramatic scenes that happen on television. In case you see them, talk briefly and appropriate for their age, about what has happened and what they feel.
• Talk to them about the security measures they are doing as a family to protect them. Make them feel cared for and calm.

Video Medicine: WHAT IS THE KETO FLU? & How to overcome the symptoms (April 2024).