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of a second, including people close to your heart,
or your own life. The illusion of control that we are
used to living with simply vanishes.
•
It is normal to seek logical explanations to what
happened: why, what, for what purpose, or just
how anyone can do something like that.
It is
normal to try and use logic and wonder why so-
mething like that happened to this or that person,
who was a kind human being. Sooner or later we
will have to accept that it is impossible to provide
logical answers to illogical questions.
•
It is normal to feel lonely and to think that no-
body can understand us,
or get used to the idea
of what we are going through. But even the most
common clichés and inappropriate advice may
have been said with the sole intention of offering
support, and you will feel better if you remain open
to that possibility.
•
It is normal for you to avoid thinking about
what happened,
sometimes by denying it or even
forgetting aspects of the attack, but don't panic,
it is a normal response to mitigate your suffering
during the early stages.
WH AT P H Y S I C A L
S Y M P TOM S A R E
D E E M E D N O R M A L ?
A
s part of our body's response to try and
overcome the situation, a number of phy-
sical symptoms, which far from being pa-
thological, are normal responses of our body in its
effort to survive, take place. These responses, which
are typical in situations of intense threat, alert our
physical resources to operate to the fullest in a dan-
gerous situation, and it is possible that we remain
activated and our reactions continue, if our body
continues to believe that the threatening situation is
not completely over.
•
It is normal to experience an excess of activa-
tion, high levels of tension, to be easily start-
led, to feel nervous, or to experience exces-
sive sensitivity to signals that did not trigger
any responses before the attack (for example,
noises), to feel agitated or suffer from tachy-
cardia,
as a consequence of the maximum alert
situation following an attack, which can last hours,
days, or even weeks.
•
It is normal to feel intensely fatigued, or to ex-
perience vague and nonspecific body aches, as
well as sleeping difficulties, loss of appetite, or
tiredness,
as a result of our metabolism acting at
levels significantly above our regular requirements.
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