Sheepdog Tip of the Day, After Combat tip 79
I n their book Deadly Force Encounters Dr. Alexis Artwohl and Loren Christensen have done a great job discussing post-combat responses. These are typical reactions that many survivors of a traumatic event experience in the minutes, hours, and days after. Immediately afterwards, you might experience trembling, sweating, chills, nausea, hyperventilation, dizziness, thirstiness, an urge to urinate, diarrhea, upset stomach, and jumpiness. Later that night, you might experience sleep disturbance and nightmares. Some people do not suffer from any of these symptoms, some experience several of them, while others experience all of them. No matter how you react, it is important to understand that your reactions are normal. In the days following the event, you might be preoccupied with what happened as you relive it over and over in your mind, second guessing yourself, and thinking you did something wrong, even when you did everything right. If you are a police officer, you might doubt your ability to function on the job, and you might be unwilling to continue in your career. You might be angry, sad, irritable, hypersensitive, vulnerable, anxious, scared, self-conscious, paranoid, and afraid of being judged by others. You might feel elated that you survived but guilty because others did not. You might feel numb, robot-like, unnaturally calm, and alienated from those who "haven't been there." Your thinking might be confused, you might experience difficulty concentrating, and you might have an impaired memory. Overall, I think we can agree that it is not necessarily a pleasant time, and the individual who is experiencing this needs our help.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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Additional Resources
For PTSD, Shepherd Resource Group.