SAN ANTONIO – Horror in Houston.
San Antonians continue to share their stories of the Astroworld Festival disaster, unable to shake what they lived through.
“I really like -- I could have easily been those people who didn’t get that help out of the crowd,” said Fatima Munoz.
“Like what happened, what we saw, what we heard. You know what? It’s just still stuck in our heads, you know, like, it’s just all of that,” Stephanie Sandoval said.
Both young women went to the festival in Houston on Friday night. They say they’re now left with lasting trauma from what was supposed to be a weekend of music and fun.
“It just -- it keeps playing in my head, and it’s just something that won’t go away,” Sandoval said.
Both Munoz and Sandoval drove from San Antonio with their friends to go to Astroworld. What happened at the Travis Scott show was like nothing they would have ever imagined.
“You know, nobody really helped me. I started screaming. I tried. I bit somebody’s leg like trying to get attention,” Munoz said.
She said the moment she fell to the ground and was on the bottom of what she described as an “adult dog pile.”
Days later, they cannot stop reliving those frightening moments of people’s bodies being pushed and pulled from the crowd.
“I haven’t really slept or really eaten over just everything -- just remembering their faces,” Sandoval said.
She remembered the faces of a mother and her 13-year-old daughter, who were from San Antonio and were there to celebrate the girl’s birthday. Sandoval lost track of them in the chaotic scene.
Dr. Harry Croft is a psychiatrist, an expert when it comes to stress disorders after a traumatic experience.
“Most people have never been in a situation like what occurred at Astroworld,” Croft said.
He said after an event like this, symptoms of a stress disorder are common.
“So your feelings are probably normal. And so don’t get all over yourself for experiencing those feelings,” Croft explained.
They’re feelings that both Munoz and Sandoval described: flashbacks of the event, not eating, not sleeping, even isolation. These are all symptoms of acute stress disorder.
Munoz and Sandoval haven’t had an official diagnosis, but Croft has advice for those who find themselves facing similar mental trauma.
“They may not want to get out of their house,” Croft said. “And actually, the treatment is to be around people that you know and that you trust and that you care about.”
He adds that it’s perfectly normal for these symptoms to last for a few weeks, but if necessary, he encourages people to seek professional help.
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