Content warning
This page discusses suicide and self-harm. If you are struggling right now, support is available at any hour.
The instinct after a crisis is to do something significant. The evidence points the other way: ordinary, steady and unhurried is what supports recovery.
What the first weeks normally look like
Intrusive memories, poor sleep, jumpiness, irritability, tearfulness and a sense of unreality are common in the days and weeks after a traumatic event. For most people these reduce over roughly a month without any formal treatment. Their presence is not a sign of a disorder; their persistence past a month is a reason to seek assessment.
What helps
- Restore the ordinary. Meals, sleep times, school, work where possible. Routine is the intervention.
- Practical support over emotional excavation. Meals cooked, forms handled, lifts given.
- Let them talk if they want to, and let them not. Both are normal, and neither should be pushed.
- Manage exposure. Repeated news coverage, group chats and footage extend the event rather than processing it.
- Reconnect with people. Social support is one of the strongest predictors of recovery.
What to avoid
Do not require a detailed account of what happened. Pressing someone to narrate a trauma before they are ready is exposure without support. Avoid alcohol as a sleep aid, which fragments sleep and slows recovery. And do not assume that someone who seems fine is fine; delayed reactions are common, particularly in the person who held everyone else together.
When to seek help
- Symptoms still at full strength after about a month.
- Function not returning: not working, not leaving the house, not sleeping.
- Increasing use of alcohol or other substances.
- Thoughts of suicide, at any point.
If someone is in immediate danger, call 995. National mindline 1771 and Samaritans of Singapore on 1767 are available 24 hours.