5.7.2.1 Symptoms of Stress-Related Conditions

Symptoms of stress-related conditions are important to address immediately because if left untreated they can have a very serious effect on your life and your health.

It’s important to be aware of these symptoms in yourself and others so that you can create a supportive culture that encourages volunteers to reach out for help and support when they need it.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms because of your work, your ability to be a strong advocate for survivors is compromised. Please take care of yourself first, and you can return to the work when you are able.

It’s important to think about and plan for how you will handle your feelings when you are in the role of advocating for a survivor.

Whether we mean to or not, we carry residual stress from our interactions with survivors with us.

These can trigger traumatic memories, cause nightmares or cause us to think back negatively about the person.

It’s also common for advocates to become preoccupied with issues related to sexual assault and intimate partner violence.

There is a difference between educating yourself about the topic and becoming overly preoccupied with it.

Maybe you feel disoriented and notice that it’s hard for you to focus in your life, or you become overly focused on or concerned about a survivor, wondering if you did a good enough job as an advocate.

Maybe you start to feel survivor’s guilt, that none of the things that happened to the people you advocate for have happened to you, or you feel angry and hopeless at how dark and dangerous you feel the world is.

Maybe you become hyper-vigilant because of a fear of being sexually assaulted, lose your appetite or start to numb yourself with overeating. Perhaps your sleep patterns change, or you start to experience strange pains in your body.

These can all be symptoms of stress-related conditions that are important to identify so that you can do something about them before they become serious.

If you are working in a network of volunteers or with an organization, it’s essential not to take on too much work.

The more cases you take on, the more likely it is that you will carry those stories with you and become angry or exhausted.

It’s important that volunteering be a positive experience for advocates, and only by addressing the challenges transparently and vulnerably can that happen.

Here are some physical, behavioral and psychological symptoms of stress-related conditions:

Physical:

  1. Exhaustion, feeling physically drained;

  2. Insomnia;

  3. Nightmares;

  4. Headaches, gastrointestinal problems;

  5. Increased susceptibility to illness;

  6. Somatization, translating emotional stress into physical symptoms;

  7. Hypochondria, anxiety about real or imagined physical ailments;

Behavioral:

  1. The increased use of alcohol or drugs;

  2. Missing work or other activities;

  3. The inability to make decisions;

  4. Problems in personal relationships;

  5. Compromised care for survivors;

  6. Overeating or under-eating;

  7. Difficulty maintaining professional boundaries with the survivor;

Psychological:

  1. Isolation, distancing oneself from family and friends, numbness;

  2. A negative self-image;

  3. Depression, anger, or irritability;

  4. A reduced ability to feel sympathy and empathy;

  5. Cynicism (a sign of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma);

  6. Resentment;

  7. A dread of working with certain survivors; and

  8. A feeling of professional helplessness.