What is Trauma?
Psychological trauma is an emotional response to a distressing event or events, in which a person may have felt threatened, humiliated, rejected, abandoned, invalidated, unsafe, trapped, ashamed or powerless.
These experiences may impact negatively on emotions, self-worth or relationships and result in unhelpful ways of coping such as avoidance, self-harming or alcohol misuse.
Sometimes a person isn’t aware that these distressing events are the underlying cause or have contributed to their problems.
Types of traumatic experiences
Below is a list of common traumatic experiences. However, a person can experience psychological trauma in response to a number of distressing events and therefore this is not an exhaustive list.
-
Physical assault
-
Sexual assualt
-
Experiencing violence, abuse or neglect in childhood or as an adult
-
Bullying
-
Witnessing violence in the home or community
-
Growing up with a parent with mental health problems, substance misuse or other instability
-
Experiencing an act of violence such as robbery
-
Involvement in a serious accident
-
Living through a life-threatening natural disaster
-
Loss of a loved one
-
Sustaining personal injury or developing a debilitating health condition
-
Traumatic birth
-
War
How trauma can affect you
There are a number of ways traumatic experiences can impact on mental health, wellbeing and relationships. Here is a list of common difficulties noticed in people who have experienced trauma:
-
Depression
-
Anger
-
Severe anxiety
-
Isolation and loneliness
-
Flashbacks
-
Hearing and seeing things that others don't
-
Nightmares
-
Avoidance
-
Irritability
-
Fear & panic attacks
-
Pain & headaches
-
Paranoia
-
Low self-worth
-
Loss of sense of who you are or your purpose
-
Feeling numb
-
Feelings of guilt & shame
-
Dissociation
-
Difficulty trusting others
-
Difficulty making and keeping relationships
-
Hypervigilant
-
Alcohol or drug use
-
Self-harming or suicidal thoughts
