Signs of Shock in Adults and Babies/Children

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.. ..SYMPTOMS OF SHOCK ..IN ADULTS AND ..BABIES/CHILDREN
... PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL INDICATORS.. ..

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This information was developed by psychologist William Emerson. Note that many of these symptoms are paradoxical. A lot depends on whether a person:

has sympathetic or parasympathetic shock
is in the early or late stages of adrenal fatigue/burnout
is a direct, avoidant or other style of recapitulator (for more information see Recapitulation.)

Every symptom listed below can also occur because of reasons other than shock. However, these symptoms are common in people who have experienced emotional shock (severe emotional trauma). This checklist is an anecdotal diagnostic tool; the Adrenal Stress Index provides a biological measure of adrenergic hormones and is a very accurate measure of unresolved shock levels.
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IN ADULTS
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Here are some commonly-reported symptoms of unresolved emotional shock in adults:
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Physical symptoms

Lack of focused eye contact; stuporous or fixed gaze (zoning out)

Vacant or distant look (preoccupied)

Molded skeletal or muscular cranial/facial features

Fixated postures and/or movements

Body numbness

Cold, clammy hands and feet

Immobility

Restlessness

Amnesia: inability to remember blocks of time, patchy or absent memories of childhood

Over- or under-tense musculature (hyper- or hypotonic)

Nervousness or tremors

Loss of speech; change in speech pattern

Very fast or very slow speech pattern

Fainting or dizziness when aroused or stressed

Pupils fixed (very large or small)

Dryness in eyes

Dry mouth

Tight jaw

Chronic muscle tension

Shallow breathing

Difficulty breathing

Frequent sighs

Chronically tired

Poor general health

Speedy, racy, hurried

Extreme precision in physical movement; physically cautious

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Emotional symptoms

Hypervigilance
Chronic repetition of stressful situations
Frequent crises
Abrupt changes in affect or behavior
Easily startled
Excellent at getting along, being compliant, being "good"
Appear (or believe themselves to be) trusting, but actually lack trust on a deep levelOverly expressive, hysterical
Fear bad things will happen again, so tend to be quite controlling
Locked in hindsight; regretful; looking back and saying "I shouldn't have done that and if I had done that differently…."
Reactive rather that proactive
Try to predict and anticipate life; difficulty going with the flow
Unaware of their true inner power; re-enact helplessness
No inner trust; doesn't look inward for answers
Need (and try) to possess
Afraid of the unknown
Dominating
Clingy
Use/abuse others to meet their own needs
Difficulty taking in love; subtle feeling of deprivation and entitlement
Live in the head; try to theorize, figure things out intellectually
Heart closed because it's "too scary"
Believe their needs will not be met
Insatiable; nothing is ever quite enough
Seek safety; obsessed with being safe (even unconsciously)
Highly defended - often hypersensitive
Has talents and abilities but they are forced, not free-flowing from a place of creativity and proaction; so contact with talent is transient and lacks deep connection/conviction/passion, so not deeply satisfying
Get involved in "fatal attractions" (bond with somebody from a wounded, infant, shock place)
Feel damaged or flawed
Don't "belong" or "have no place"
Everything is "life and death"
Tenacious; persevere (even in the face of profound hopelessness)

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IN CHILDREN AND BABIES
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In babies, signs of shock include excessive crying (some say more than 45 minutes a day of unexplained crying), inability to sleep for the lengths of time appropriate to their age, colic, asthma, digestive upsets and more. In older children, symptoms can include learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, autism, extreme shyness or extreme gregariousness, stealing, violence....and more!
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Physical symptoms

No crying at all, or excessive crying that is unexplained
Low affect, little emotional expression
Strong preference to face outward when being carried
Not very present; dissociated; out of body
Lack of focused eye contact; stuporous or fixed gaze (zoning out); vacant or distant look (preoccupied)
Chronic postures or movements
Molded cranial and facial bones and musculature
Chronic repetition of stressful situations
Physical sensitivity at trauma/shock sites (places on cranium, face, etc.)
Frequent crises
Development delays
Development precocity (can indicate artificial acceleration of effort)
Abrupt changes in affect or behavior
Easily startled
Body numbness
Cold, clammy hands and feet
Immobility
Restlessness
Hypervigilance
Amnesia
Over- or under-tense muscles (hyper- or hypotonic)
Tremors
Fainting or dizziness when aroused or stressed
Pupils fixed very large or small
Dryness in eyes
Dry mouth
Tight jaw
Chronic muscle tension
Shallow breathing
Difficulty breathing
Frequent sighs
Chronically tired
Poor general health
Allergic
Speedy, racy, hurried
Extreme precision in physical movement; physically cautious
Hypersensitive
Inability to sleep for the lengths of time appropriate to their age
Colic
Asthma
Digestive upsets

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Emotional symptoms

Easily frustrated
Lack of confidence to try new things
Gets unreasonably angry (out of proportion to the cause)
Overly expressive, hysterical
Fear bad things will happen again, so tend to be quite controlling
Not very present; dissociated; out of body
Locked in hindsight; regretful
Reactive rather that proactive
Try to predict and anticipate life; difficulty going with the flow
Unaware of their true inner power; re-enact helplessness
No inner trust; doesn't look inward for answers
Need (and try) to possess
Afraid of the unknown
Dominating and clingy
Use/abuse others to meet their own needs; difficulty taking in love
Feeling of deprivation and entitlement
Live in the head; try to theorize, figure things out intellectually
Heart closed
Eternally on the alert and hypervigilant
Believe their needs will not be met
Insatiable; nothing is ever quite enough
Seek safety; obsessed with being safe (even unconsciously); highly defended
Feel damaged or flawed
Don't "belong" or "have no place"
Everything is "life and death"
Feels threatened by everything; hypersensitive
Tenacious; persevere (even in the face of profound hopelessness)
Excellent at getting along, being compliant, being "good"
Appears trusting, but actually lacks trust on a deep level
Learning disabilities
Attention Deficit Disorder
Autism
Extreme shyness or extreme gregariousness
Stealing, violence and other sociopathological behaviour

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Now that you've read this list I bet you're saying "But these are signs of trauma!" That's the point! For too long we have failed to recognize the signs of shock and mistaken them for trauma.
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No one has all these symptoms; people with shock will exhibit at least a few, often many. Some people manifest these symptoms to a severe degree, others to a lesser degree. Again, these are not prescriptive, they are descriptive.
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Most importantly, we must remember that it is much easier to resolve early emotional wounds in babies than it is in adults. Children who were wounded early on and given an opportunity to release and heal those experiences reap tremendous benefits, including depth of character, tenderness, compassion, and deepened capacity for intimacy. .
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