Editor’s Note: This story is Part 1 of a 2-part series on the impact of crisis incidents on physical, mental and emotional health. Part 2 will focus on first responders.

Whether you’re the first on the scene of a car crash or a bystander when someone is seriously injured, responding to an unexpected crisis situation can be taxing to your physical, mental and emotional health.

Molly Lotz, a licensed clinical social worker and crisis support counselor at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center, outlines what to know about the impact of crisis incidents below.

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Impact to the body

During a crisis, the sympathetic nervous system takes over, readying the body for a fight, flight or freeze response.

“If we’re in the midst of a crisis and are expected to provide a response like call 911 or provide care, our body changes,” Lotz said.

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With a fight or flight response, those changes may include an increased heart rate and breathing, elevated blood pressure and increased focus. In a freeze response, someone might feel stiff, cold and numb, and experience decreased heart rate.

After the event is over, that physical stress may continue, showing up as a range of symptoms such as increased heart rate, fatigue, chills, headaches and chest pain.

Impact to the mind

The brain is powerful and has adapted to heal, but sometimes after a crisis situation, people find their thoughts looping on the event and may get stuck in a hyper-vigilant state. Signs that you’re experiencing stress from a critical incident may include feelings of uncertainty and confusion, constantly scanning for threats, withdrawal from others, poor attention, inability to rest, changes in appetite, emotions such as grief, fear and intense anger, and an increased sensitivity to other stressors.

“That can be a pretty difficult place to live for a while,” Lotz said. “It may also bring up old unresolved traumas, as the brain can lump things together that have something vague in common. If we can differentiate the traumas, old traumas aren’t as easily triggered.”

Addressing the impact

After the incident, it’s important to address the stress response that was activated.

“We want to allow ourselves to go back into a regulated state, but that chunk of time while we were in response mode continues to exist in our body and brain,” Lotz said.

Participating in a critical incident debrief can allow people to process the event in a healthy way. It’s best to do this 24-72 hours after the event, when you’re safe and calmer.

“The human brain is always trying to make sense of things,” Lotz said. “When we can put the pieces into place after the incident such as, ‘Oh, that’s when you came in and called 911,’ the brain can put that info into the storyline instead of searching for it.

“Doing that when the brain is in a calmer state allows for the brain to start to see this as an incident that had a beginning, middle and end, rather than a loop that just keeps going. It diffuses the impact the incident has on our thinking and function.”

Additional actions

Steps such as connecting with a friend or loved one, drinking a cold glass of water, squeezing the back of the neck, spending time outside and practicing deep breathing may also help regulate the nervous system after an acute incident.

“If we’re in fight, flight or freeze, our body doesn’t allow us to take deep breaths,” Lotz said. “If we can cue the brain to breathe deeply, it helps us feel safe.”

Pay attention to what you need, and don’t hesitate to seek additional help if symptoms start impacting your regular life.

“There are therapeutic modalities that can really help — it’s not just talking,” Lotz said.

Different responses

Don’t be surprised if a certain incident seems to affect you more or less than it seems to affect others.

“Something that might be a traumatic incident for you might feel differently for me,” Lotz said. “I’m bringing whatever history I have as a human being to an incident. It might be more traumatic, it might be less.”

Susan Cunningham writes for UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center. She can be reached at cunninghamsbc@gmail.com.