Shock, or Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), is a psychological and emotional stress reaction that occurs when a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. One moment everything is normal, then the event happens, and the person immediately feels fear, stress, pain or panic. The shock is magnified when it is combined with or threatened by a physical injury, death, or destruction. Some examples include: Thinking physical symptoms are a bad case of the flu only to discover that it is terminal cancer with a few months to live. Leaving the house intact and then returning to it destroyed by a storm, fire, or other devastating cause. Walking home and then suddenly grabbed, beaten, and raped. Giving birth to a full-term baby who dies shortly afterward for unknown causes. Driving on a highway when a car in oncoming traffic suddenly hits another car head-on. Being called to go to the hospital as the emergency contact and finding the other person bloody, unconscious, and in critical condition

Source: How to Talk to Someone in Shock | The Exhausted Woman