When experiencing trauma, has anyone else noticed time slowing down? What causes this?

Question

I was in a house fire several years ago and had to get myself and two small children out. We had been sleeping and I woke up (how I don't know) to the entire living room/kitchen ablaze, the house filled with smoke and the exit blocked. Somehow time seemed to slow down so that each split second seemed to take a long time. And during this time I knew Exactly what I had to do and how to do it. I suddenly knew things that I'd never consciously thought about before (ie: exactly how to throw my 4 yr. old from 20 feet up, so that he would land with minimal injury). This took multi-tasking to a whole new level. I have never thought so clearly and precisely in my life. I've heard of people in car accidents experiencing this feeling of time slowing down - has anyone experienced this? Does anyone know what causes it? Also, if the body delays going into shock in order to survive (or do what needs to be done) is it more likely that post traumatic stress will set in at a later date?

Answer 1

It's the stress reaction--not just adrenaline, but the cortisol, endorphins, and *everything* hitting your central nervous system all at once in *massive* doses in (appropriate) response to an extreme, life-threatening situation.

It is your body's sane response to an insane situation. Now you know what soldiers and fire-rescue personnel really mean by "bullet-time". Essentially, your brain and nervous system perceives everything as slowing down because your brain is about as *jacked up* and sped up as it can naturally get without triggering an epileptic seizure. And yes, it can cause serious problems long term because the chemistry behind that emotional *intensity* can end up marking the memory on the level of *single brain cells*.

Basically, what causes it, is fear for your own life, or the lives of those you care for. The emotional intensity is what tells your endocrine system (all those hormones) that this is a "crisis, life-threatening state".

And yes, if you go into shock, you can expect post-traumatic stress later on....part of it is that you end up not processing the emotions and/or the memory of the situation correctly, meaning you leave yourself vulnerable to flashbacks of an emotionally torturous and horrifying sort later on.

And the other part? If you never fully process the feelings...you never fully *come down* from that short-term rush. You end up being anxious, wired all the time, hyper-vigilant (jumpy and twitching at every little thing), have stomach and digestive issues, body aches and pains from perpetual tension, problems with memory and concentration....all sorts of things happen when you are perpetually stuck in stressed-out "crisis mode".

But the good news is....you were able to act and do something positive in spite of the crisis. This helps, it always helps to know and remember that you were NOT a passive victim. And you are aware of things now, and can get help for your issues now, before you get flashbacks months or years down the road, and can work on things *as you see them coming*, before they become problems (and become one crisis and one stressor after another).

In other words....you have some work cut out for you, but you know it and it is at a level that can be taken care of. :) And I just want to thank you on behalf of your kid and yourself--you did well, you did what needed doing and you're going to be okay. ;)

Answer 2

What an interesting question, and what excellent responses (especially Bradley P - thanks so much for that). I. too, have had some PTSD which had been affecting me for many years after a near-death experience. I suffered chronic anxiety and was hyper-vigilant to the point that each day felt like a battle to remain alive and safe. Finally I had to go and get counselling and I am glad to say that I am well on the road to recovery.

The slowing-down of time is indeed odd - during my near-death experience I felt that maybe a hundred years or more had passed and I was now in another level of existence, looking back at what had happened as though it was a very dim memory, even as it was actually still occurring. I think this is your brain's way of protecting you from the shock of what is happening. Even afterwards, when the danger was over, I felt as though it had happened to someone else in some other era - nothing to do with me. When the flashbacks started, there were memories emerging of details that I had not been aware of at the time - obviously my conscious brain had filtered them out but the subconscious had stored them for dealing with later.

Time is of course relative, and what we experience as time on an everyday basis is just our perception of it - the slowing-down of time during a traumatic experience is just another perception. There is no such thing as absolute time.

Thanks for sharing this experience with us - most thought-provoking!

Answer 3

I have no idea what causes it, sorry.
I always wondered why time did that too. A driver ran a red light and hit me, from the time I seen him out of the corner of my eye to when my car stopped spinning, time took FOREVER. I thought my car would never stop moving. It probably lasted less than a couple seconds but it sure didn't seem that way to me. I was so stunned I couldn't move and when I did there was a cop telling me not to. Then the firemen and abulance people showed up and took me out on a backboard. I was still in a sort of fog until we got to the hospital.
On Dec 23rd it will be 4 years since that accident and so far I've noticed no post traumatic stress from it.

Answer 4

Shock - its the brain's inability to deal with so many major events all at the same time - it is overloaded (like, say a train station barrier trying to deal with thousands of people wanting to go through it at rush hour) - it cant so has to slow everything down to process the events and either save them or get rid of them later - if they are too traumatic, they will get lost forever or buried deep into the subconscious and (the memories) may manifest themselves in different ways, depending on the person's personality and current events. i.e post traumatic stress disorder - look up in any medical journal.

Answer 5

PTSD doesn't always happen, you don't always suffer from it when something traumatic happens. As for time slowing down, I was in a car accident and it was like slow motion as the car came towards us and hit us. Seemed like it took forever.

Answer 6

I have and I think it is due more to the overwhelming input of sensations in such a brief amount of time, the mind alters itself to take it all in

Answer 7

I was going to answer this question, but then I read "Bradley P.'s" answer, and I have to say, that was an excellent answer. It has even helped to give me some strength, hope and understanding with my own PTSD.
Thanks to both of you! :)

Answer 8

its the release of adrenaline in your body
your body starts reacting faster to everything around you so it feels like your thinking and absorbing information faster

Answer 9

adrenaline & Intuition

Answer 10

anxiety