I often see this referenced as a medical term but it always sounds like someone just witnessed a tragic event. What are the physical causes and effects?
In: Biology
There are two kinds of ‘shock.’
The first is based on blood flow. If your body is struggling to get blood around, it will start shutting things down to try and get enough blood to the right places. This can be caused by blood loss, a drop in blood pressure from something like sepsis, or even heatstroke.
The second is traumatic shock. This is the “witness a terrible event” shock. It’s a defense mechanism that tries to protect the brain. In an attempt to not stress over the situation, it shifts focus on different ways. This could be as simple as the denial of the event(“There’s no way that has happened”) all the way up to catatonia. As science doesn’t have a great idea of how exactly the brain works, there isn’t a great answer as to why exactly this happens.
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