What is Trauma?

Author: Taneer Naqvi

Trauma; something that many people suffer from. It is defined as damage to the mind that occurs as a result of a distressing event. It is often the result of an overwhelming amount of stress that exceeds one's ability to cope or integrate the emotions involved with that experience. Examples of such traumatic events can be an accident, rape or perhaps a natural disaster. In the United States alone, 70% of adults have experienced some form of a traumatic event in their lives. That being said, not everyone who experiences a traumatic event will develop trauma.

There are several types of trauma such as:

• Acute trauma

  • This is the result of a single emotionally/physically threatening event.

• Chronic trauma

  • This is the result of a repeated emotionally/physically threatening event. It is often prolonged, examples of this can be domestic abuse or bullying.

• Complex trauma

  • This is the result of exposure to multiple traumatic events.

A traumatised person is prone to feeling a range of emotions - both in the long and short-term. Feelings can include feeling helpless and overwhelmed. If symptoms of trauma persist in the long-term, this is a sign that they have developed the mental health issue post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Secondary or vicarious trauma is another form of trauma too - this is when someone develops trauma symptoms due to close contact with someone who has experienced a traumatic event.

Varying from mild to severe, there are many symptoms of trauma. There is a range of ways to determine the impacts of a traumatic event on someone, examples of this are via their characteristics or their approach to handling emotions. As mentioned earlier, a person who has faced a traumatic event may feel various emotions - such as fear, denial and anger; these can also lead to other mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and even substance abuse problems. They may likely experience emotional outbursts and flashbacks of the traumatic event. Despite the emotional symptoms, there are many physical symptoms trauma can cause too. These include headaches, fatigue, paranoia/hyper-arousal.

Several treatments exist to help people with trauma to cope with their symptoms. The most common and first-line treatment is therapy; this is where an individual will work with a trauma-focused therapist. The types of therapy that prove beneficial are cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR). CBT helps change people’s thought patterns to influence their emotions’ behaviour. Research shows that CBT is the most effective approach towards PTSD. During EMDR, individuals briefly relive some specific traumatic experiences while the therapist directs their eye movements - this aims to help people process their traumatic experiences. Despite these techniques, some therapists use somatic or body-based methods to help an individual physically and emotionally process trauma. Currently, there is not much evidence regarding the effectiveness of these therapies. Lastly, medicines are used to manage specific symptoms of trauma such as the anxiety, depression or disturbances with sleep.