This also serves to ease the acceptance of the helping professional by the group. At this stage, survivors should have the opportunity to share the burden of the feelings they are experiencing in a nonjudgmental, supportive and understanding manner. It is important that survivors express thoughts of responsibility regarding the event and process the accompanying feelings of sadness. All feelings, positive or negative, big or small, are important and need to be listened to and expressed. More importantly, however, this particular stage allows survivors to see that subtle changes are occurring between what happened then and what is happening now.
Acute reactions can last from a few days to a few weeks.
Selected post-traumatic stress reactions include nausea, distressing dreams, difficulty concentrating, depression, feeling isolated, grief, anxiety and fear of losing control. It is also therapeutic to help survivors realize that others are having similar feelings and experiences. The emphasis is on describing how typical and natural it is for people to experience a wide variety of feelings, emotions and physical reactions to any traumatic event. Adolescents, in particular, need to know that their reactions are not unique, but are universally shared reactions. Critical to this stage is being alert to danger signals in order to prevent destructive outcomes and to help survivors return to their pre-crisis equilibrium and interpersonal stability.