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Trauma

TRAUMA,
TRAUMA-RELATED

What is trauma?  During moments when we are overwhelmed, our ability to integrate what is happening is diminished.  Trauma is the result of stressors which threaten your sense of security, sense of self, and self-agency and the stress of which exceeds your ability to cope, make sense of, and move forward from that experience.  At the core of trauma are often feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, hyper-vigilance, and a sense of pervasive threat, risk, insecurity, or danger. 

 

​The essence of trauma is psychological injury – and presents as unhelpful emotional, perceptive, cognitive, behavioural, interpersonal, and physiologic functioning which is persistent and causes distress in an individual’s life. 

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Where do we find trauma?

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Trauma is often associated with situations in which:

 

  • The person was unprepared for the event and/or the event was unexpected

  • The person felt powerless to prevent the event and/or helpless to respond to it

  • The event was repeated, e.g. bullying, abuse, emotional neglect

  • The person experienced a traumatogenic environment, e.g. abuse, war, neglect

  • The person felt humiliation, intense pain, and/or extreme cruelty

  • The events occurred during the infant, childhood, or adolescent years

 

 

Examples of potentially traumatizing events or events which may trigger previous trauma include:

 

Natural disasters such as floods, fires, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, tornados, and hurricanes

 

Interpersonal violence, systemic violence, mental and emotional abuse, systematic abuse, ritual abuse, or sexual abuse

 

A threat or occurrence of grievous or serious bodily injury such as a motor vehicle or workplace accident

 

Sudden, unexpected loss such as suicide, murder, or accidental death of someone close

 

Sudden, unexpected loss such as child apprehension, spousal abandonment, job termination

 

Ongoing, severe stress, such as a hostile divorce and custody battle

 

Acts of violence such as a mugging, armed robbery, vandalism, bullying, hate-motivated crimes, stalking, war, or terrorism

 

Surgery, medical distress, medical life-threat

 

Falls and sports-related injuries

 

Relationship break-ups or the death of a loved one

  • Trauma signs and symptoms may include:

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  • Increased physiological arousal, symptoms of panic, difficulty falling asleep, trouble concentration, feeling disorientated, and/or feeling jumpy or easily startled

  • Feeling overwhelmed by stimuli, e.g. too much and many different types of noise, novel noise, increase in volume of noise; too many people or too much visual stimuli such as found at a mall or recreation or social event; various smells; and/or changes in light and other sensory disruption

  • Chronic muscle patterns, tension, and/or unexplained aches and pains

  • Intense and prolonged emotional and/or physiological distress after a trigger, reminder, or cue of the traumatic material

  • Dissociation or feeling disconnected from one’s self or surroundings, feeling floating, foggy, far away, or in a fugue

  • Emotional numbing or numbness

  • High level of emotion and difficulty regulating this emotion, emotional lability

  • Unhelpful interpersonal tendencies which revist or replay traumatic relationships

  • Feeling easily irritated, edgy, angered, or grouchy

  • Distressing, intrusive thoughts, images related to the trauma

  • Flashbacks, nightmares or night terrors, and/or a feeling of reliving the traumatic event

  • Avoidance of places, people, and activities that are in some way related to or reminders of the trauma

  • Behaviour, attitudinal, and habit changes which often present as disruptive to interpersonal relationships

  • Inability to remember important aspects of the traumatic event(s), situation, or time-period

  • Ongoing inability to experience positive emotions

  • Hyper-vigilance – feeling as though one is always on guard or having to watch and be alert to self and/or surroundings

  • Persistent and exaggerated negative or maladaptive belief about oneself, other individuals, or the world around them

  • Reckless or self-destructive behavior

  • Obsessive and compulsive behaviours

  • Mood swings

  • Fatigue and exhaustion

  • Sexual dysfunction

  • Panic attacks

  • Anxiety

  • Low mood, lethargy, depression

  • Changes in eating patterns

  • Social isolation and withdrawal

  • Feeling detached or estrangement from others

  • Often or persistent feelings of ffear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame

  • Feelings of not knowing who oneself

  • A disturbed sense of self

  • Overwhelming and/or incongruent, and difficult to manage feelings

  • Shame, anger, horror, guilt, and/or disbelief

  • Difficulty functioning and performing tasks at home, work, etc. 

  • Significantly diminished interest or participation in activities one had an interest

  • Using alcohol or drugs (illicit or prescription) or behaviours to regulate emotions and body sensations

  • Impending sense of doom, and/or concern about or feeling that one will die early

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