Trauma is an emotional response that's incited by passing a single incident or a series of distressing/traumatic emotional/cerebral events, or both. But, just because a person experiences a distressing event doesn't mean they will witness trauma.
We know it’s confusing as we never talk about trauma or it’s root causes openly. Well, hope this article can change something as we'll cover the
· Types of trauma a person may witness,
· Symptoms,
· Five stages of trauma, and
· When to seek help from a professional.
Let’s have a detailed overview of what trauma actually means.
When a person experiences a distressing event or series of events, similar to
· Abuse,
· A bad accident,
· Rape or other sexual violence,
· Combat,
· Or a natural disaster,
they may have an emotional response called trauma.
Immediate responses after a traumatic event include shock and denial.
Moreover, long-term responses may include mood swings, relationship challenges, flashbacks, and physical symptoms.
These responses may be concerning to the person going through them or those around them but they're normal responses to traumatic events.
While the trauma itself was unavoidable and the responses are normal, they can still be problematic and dangerous for a few people. Professional support from an internal health professional similar to a psychologist or psychiatrist can help with managing and recovery.
Types of Trauma
Trauma can either be physical or emotional. Physical trauma is a serious physical injury. Emotional trauma is the emotional response to a disturbing event or situation.
More specifically, emotional trauma can be either acute, chronic, or complex trauma.
· Acute emotional trauma is the emotional response that happens during and shortly after a single distressing event.
· Chronic emotional trauma is a long-term emotional response a person gets from repeated distressing events that happens multiple times.
· Complex emotional trauma is the emotional response associated with multiple different distressing events that may or may not be intertwined.
Types of Traumatic Events
Traumatic events include (but aren't limited to)
· Child abuse
· Child neglect
· Bullying
· Physical abuse
· Domestic violence
· Violence in the community
· Natural disasters
· Medical trauma
· Sexual abuse
· Coitus trafficking
· Substance use
· Intimate mate violence
· Verbal abuse
· Accidents
· War
· Refugee trauma
· Terrorism
· Traumatic grief
· Intergenerational trauma
What are the Symptoms you should look out for!!
Symptoms of trauma can be both emotional and physical. The emotional response may lead to violent emotions that impact a person in terms of station, performing, and view of the world. A person may also witness a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or an adaptation disorder following a traumatic event.
This is a complaint characterized by a belief that life and safety are at threat with emotions of fear, terror, or helplessness.
Cerebral Symptoms of Emotional Trauma
Emotional responses to trauma can be any or a combination of the following
· Fear
· Helplessness
· Dissociation
· Changes in interest, attention, and memory reclamation
· Changes in the station
· Changes in worldview
· Difficulty performing
· Denial, or refusing to believe that the trauma actually passed
· Wrathfulness
· Logrolling, which is analogous to concession (e.g. “I’ll do this, or be this if I could only fix the problem.")
· Avoidance, similar to disregarding one's own troubles or avoiding emotionally uncomfortable situations with others.
· Depression
· Anxiety
· Mood swings
· Guilt or shame
· Condemn ( including tone- blame)
· Social pullout
· Loss of interest in conditioning
· Emotional impassiveness
Physical Symptoms of Emotional Trauma
Emotional trauma can also manifest in the form of physical symptoms. These include
· Increased heart rate
· Body pains
· Tense muscles
· Feeling on edge
· Restiveness or astounding fluently
· Agonies
· Difficulty sleeping
· Fatigue
· Sexual dysfunction
· Appetite changes
· Inordinate alertness
Grief and Trauma
Grief is a feeling of anguish related to a loss, most frequently the death of a loved one. Still, the loss isn't always death. It's possible to witness both trauma and grief following a distressing event, especially when the event involves the death or loss of a close friend or family member.
A person passing trauma may go through the five stages of grief which are:-
· Denial
· Wrathfulness
· Logrolling
· Depression
· Acceptance
While the stages are frequently explained in this order, it's important to understand that a person may move from one stage to another in any order, and they may repeat or skip stages.
When to Seek Professional Help?
While trauma can be a normal response to a distressing situation, it's occasionally important to seek professional help. There are treatments that can be done to calm down the symptoms and give support for managing and moving forward in life. Also, without professional help, symptoms can escalate and can become life-threatening.
Anyone showing symptoms of trauma that affect daily life should seek help from a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other internal health professional. Trauma increases the threat of PTSD, depression, self-murder and self-murder attempts, anxiety, and abuse of substances, so it's a serious internal health concern.