Experiencing a severe trauma or being prolonged or repeatedly exposed to traumatic events can cause somatic symptoms, for which no physical causes can be found. The symptoms can affect very different organs or parts of the body and occur more frequently when having intrusive memories or reminders of what happened.
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Cardiovascular system
- Fast heartbeat, tightness or a feeling of pressure or sharp pain in the chest; increased sweating.
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Gastrointestinal tract
- Â Nausea and/or stomachache.
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Pain
- Â Lasting or recurrent pain, e.g. headaches or back pain.
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Other somatic symptoms
- Shaking; dizziness or shortness of breath.
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Tips
- Try to find out if there are physical reasons for the pain (e.g. medical evaluation). If not, remember that sometimes people feel pain because they have to think about what happened to them. That doesn’t mean that you’re ill. This kind of pain will disappear without medicine.
- Don’t pay too much attention to the physical symptoms and try to distract yourself with pleasant things (e.g. meeting friends, etc.).
- In case of stomachache, you can make yourself a warm compress, or in case of headache you can put a cold flannel on your head.
- Use all the strategies that were helpful before the traumatic events.