When a person undergoes a traumatic experience, such as a car accident, mugging, or violent assault, they experience a psychological and physiological response called “Acute Stress Reaction.” Immediately, the victim’s brain chemistry alters to allow for spontaneous “fight or flight” responses, and other reactions such as “tunnel vision,” a slowed perception of time, or a blurring of events may occur.
Acute Stress Disorder
As the adrenaline rush begins to fade, the trauma victim often shifts into a “dazed” state, where they become non-responsive to stimuli, disoriented, and begin to exhibit a variety of psychological responses. Depending on the individual and the circumstances, the victim may continue to sink into a stupor, shutting out the world and becoming completely unresponsive. Alternately, they may become agitated or panicked, and attempt to take action in response to the situation. Universally, impaired judgment and a dissociative, dream-like state are the hall-marks of an acute stress reaction. In addition, they are often accompanied with “dissociative amnesia” where large segments (or even the entirety) of the time surrounding the trauma are blocked from the victim’s memory.
Studies have indicated that between 19% and 33% of violent trauma victims (including violent assault, robbery, and mass shooting victims) suffered from a prolonged stress reaction, called Acute Stress Disorder, for up to a month following the traumatic event. [1]
Victim of Trauma
Hopefully, the above description provides some understanding of Michiel’s mindset immediately following his attack by Mark Stover. Michiel had just been threatened, shot, and forced to defend himself by tackling and shooting his attacker. The symptoms associated with an acute stress reaction become quickly apparent in Michiel’s behavior.
Michiel Oakes: “…I don’t know how long I sat there…”
After leaving the house, Michiel continued to show signs of severe trauma and stress reaction, as he made numerous trips back and forth on foot and in vehicles, leaving a trail of receipts, eyewitnesses, and surveillance footage across the county. His actions throughout this period do nothing to indicate premeditation, and in fact do far more to confirm his role as the traumatized victim in this whole scenario.
Conclusion
Michiel’s behavior throughout this period can only be described as irrational, and is consistent with the effects of acute stress. In court, his inability to recall specific details about the struggle and subsequent events only serves to further confirm this assessment. In reality, Michiel was practically incapacitated by an acute stress reaction, because he was not the executor of a cold, premeditated plan, but the unwilling target of a sudden, violent attack.
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Sources
- http://www.mental-health-matters.com/acute-stress-disorder/1218-acute-stress-disorder-a-brief-description
- http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=38856
- http://disease.disease.com/Therapy/Stress-Management/Types-of-Stress/combat-stress.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_stress_reaction
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_stress_reaction
- http://www.agencyinvestigations.com/Library/fight_or_flight.htm
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