In most cases, a shocking event (often with the support of the environment) is well processed, but sometimes an experience can be so shocking that you continue to suffer from it and develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You can notice this in both physical complaints (e.g. palpitations) and psychological complaints (e.g. gloominess). Reliving, avoiding and certain behaviors and feelings can be characteristic:

1. Reliving: Sensory reliving of the trauma, nightmares, restless sleep, recurring memories of the trauma, feeling fear when you think back to the trauma.
2. Avoidance: Avoiding everything that reminds you of the traumatic event, ‘forgetting’ certain moments from the event, sometimes not feeling anything at all and doing everything on automatic pilot, denying what happened and fleeing in work or e.g. drinking a lot, not wanting to talk about what happened and closing yourself off from the people around you.
3. Behavior and feelings: Feeling constantly tense and agitated, quickly losing patience or getting angry, sudden crying fits, getting frightened quickly, looking for dangerous situations (e.g. speeding), using drugs (such as drugs and alcohol), feeling sad or uninterested, feeling guilty about what happened and blaming yourself, feeling inferior, poor concentration, being exhausted but having trouble sleeping.