To be embarrassed that I did nothing?

[Sad1001]

And that I am terrible in an emergency?
Was travelling into work today, was raining and bus was packed.
As it got nearer to my stop, I stood by the exit just so I could get off at my stop easily.
Just before my stop, there was a loud bang and a woman was on the floor having tripped. She hadn't made a sound and the woman next to me asked if she was OK. Before she could reply, another woman literally pushed me out of the way, and the hurt woman said she was sure she had broken her wrist. So the bus was then stopped, an ambulance called etc.
I just feel like I acted really coldly. With all honesty, even if nobody else had stepped in, I am not sure I could have done out of shyness, awkwardness but also fear. No excuse but I have a phobia of hospitals and bone breaks.
Spent the whole day beating myself up and not really sure why I am posting but felt the need to do so.

Did you continue freezing and backing away for several minutes, when you were the only person around who could get the person help?

And no, she wasn't "in shock", she had an emotional reaction.

Thankfully, people went to help but had they not, I probably would still have backed away.

Apologies, she was having an emotional reaction which made her not act rationally 🙄 People act in different ways!

Completely unfair. The fact that the OP even posted on here shows they are likely a compassionate person.

I think you're probably better than that Oddsocks — I suspect that by the time "a few minutes" had passed, you'd have managed to at least call an ambulance.

Yes, people act in different ways. Other people judge the ways people act. Some people can't help reacting instinctively with a violent response when surprised, and people judge that. Some people apparently can't help reacting like laughing-for-minutes poster when they come across people in need of urgent help, and people judge that too.

I appreciate it might have been a nervous reaction, but are you unable to control yourself? That really is an unpleasant reaction to have.

I've heard about this laughter as a nervous reaction thing, with people laughing at funerals and horrible accidents.

Thank God I've never come across it. I know it's involuntary and not caused by amusement but I really don't like to think of what my own reaction would be.

If you feel bad because you didn't know what to do and want to be better in an emergency, take a first aid course. That's much more constructive than pulling yourself apart.

How awful for that poor man, I actually hope he wasn't conscious at this point to hear some laughing hysterically at him in that awful condition, not just initially with shock, but for a few minutes! Give it whatever psychological name you want, if your are in this situation again you really need to get some control over yourself!

It sounds like she had plenty of help, OP. And just because you didn’t react this time, doesn’t mean you won’t be able to in future in different circumstances.

As for the laughing, isn’t it bizarre? But those who’ve explained it have made me feel better because it happened to me once when my sister fell. It felt so automatic that I wondered whether it was kind of pre-programmed by a lifetime of watching slapstick comedy, but I didn’t feel remotely amused. Luckily for me, it only lasted a second and then I was able to ask if she was okay. Other posters seem to have it much more severely, which must actually be really difficult.

The poster who laughed is being truthful and generous to the OP to show there are worse reactions. And the people trying to make out she's a psycho, grow up. Laughter and hysteria through shock or fear are very similar and while it wouldn't be great to be on the receiving end, it is totally unintentional.

But surely we are all capable of controlling inappropriate emotions?

You can make a phone call while laughing. It's embarrassing, sure.

It is a statistically normal, physiological response to stress.
It is NOT a choice ffs.

It is however a choice for people to jump on and attack this poster.

If that was the case, hysteria and shock wouldn't be real. We can't control all emotions all the time because they can be driven by an intense physical situation reaction. Unfortunately some of these are not socially acceptable. But they are real.

I think the point people are missing re: laughter is that it's a sympathetic response - by the same sympathetic nervous system that results in the fight/flight/fear response and completely involuntary in the described scenarios.

The laughing thing happened to me once. My BIL got a dog and my husband took it for a walk. He didn't know anything about dogs and thought he could take it off lead for a run around. I told him not to but he did anyway. The dog went crazy, running in and out of traffic, we couldn't catch him, he was going to cause an accident. I was in absolute panic but laughing so hard. I remember how awful it was I couldn't even get the words out, I felt totally powerless.
And even though I've done first aid training and am usually calm I was one of 'bystanders' at an event when someone collapsed. We all froze but luckily others took charge.

People freeze, they can't help it. I saw a car accident once. It was bad enough that I don't remember exactly what I saw. I was in the drivers seat in a two door car, and the person behind me was yelling at me to get out so they could get out and help. I was completely frozen for a minute, I could not move.

People cry at weddings. It doesn't mean they are sad. Some people laugh during funerals. Some people cry when their baby is born. Some people laugh when they're scared. Some people cry when they're angry. It is just their reactions to emotionally intense situations. It's still a normal reaction even though it isn't the expected reaction. The emotion being expressed isn't necessarily the emotion being experienced.

Not necessarily no.
Emotions are part of what makes us human.
You can't turn them on and off like a tap.

OP don't give yourself a hard time. You took a second to take stock and someone else took over. Likely that person had a better view of what had happened and/or training.

It's not like you were standing there for fifteen minutes watching the woman writhe in pain.

Listen, jumping in to "help" without thinking can often do more harm than good. I once had quite a bad accident and I was sitting on the verge of a residential road, with blood in my eyes. The amount of weirdos who ran over to me, grabbed me, talked at me. I was literally shouting at them to go away as I tried to ring my husband. So yeah, not always best to be the self-appointed rescuer.

Nervous laughter I totally get, can't be helped - laughing hysterically with tears rolling down your face at a man bleeding out on the floor? Yeah, that's not normal. Borderline sociopathic behaviour, actually.

Don't be ridiculous!

@Nussbaum the only ridiculous thing is everyone acting like that's a perfectly normal acceptable response when it's really really not!!

I don’t think shoving you to one side was necessary.

Yes it was. Someone had fallen over, no idea how serious it was, OP was in the way and frozen. It was not the time for polite requests to move.

@AndTheSurveySays I’m sorry you’ve had all these people having a go, when you shared something about an involuntary reaction to make someone else feel better! Not as if you asked for your own reaction to be analysed either.