psychological trauma psychological trauma psychological trauma, mental trauma or psychotrauma is an emotional response to a distressing event or series of events, such as accidents, rape, or natural disasters. reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial are typical. longer-term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, difficulties with interpersonal relationships and sometimes physical symptoms including headaches or nausea. "mental trauma" redirects here. not to be confused with head injury. psychological traumaspecialtypsychiatry, psychology trauma is not the same as mental distress or suffering, both of which are universal human experiences. given that subjective experiences differ between individuals, people will react to similar events differently. in other words, not all people who experience a potentially traumatic event will actually become psychologically traumatized (although they may be distressed and experience suffering). some people will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) after being exposed to a major traumatic event (or series of events). this discrepancy in risk rate can be attributed to protective factors some individuals may have that enable them to cope with difficult events, including temperamental and environmental factors (such as resilience and willingness to seek help). signs and symptoms people who go through extremely traumatizing experiences often have problems and difficulties afterwards. the severity of these symptoms depends on the person, the types of trauma involved, and the emotional support they receive from others. the range of reactions to trauma can be wide and varied, and differ in severity from person to person. after a traumatic experience, a person may re-experience the trauma mentally and physically. for example, the sound of a motorcycle engine may cause intrusive thoughts or a sense of re-experiencing a traumatic experience that involved a similar sound (e.g., gunfire). sometimes a benign stimulus (e.g., noise from a motorcycle) may get connected in the mind with the traumatic experience. this process is called traumatic coupling. in this process, the benign stimulus becomes a trauma reminder, also called a trauma trigger. these can produce uncomfortable and even painful feelings. re-experiencing can damage people's sense of safety, self, self-efficacy, as well as their ability to regulate emotions and navigate relationships. they may turn to psychoactive substances including alcohol to try to escape or dampen the feelings. these triggers cause flashbacks, which are dissociative experiences where the person feels as though the events are recurring. flashbacks can range from distraction to complete dissociation or loss of awareness of the current context. re-experiencing of symptoms is a sign that the body and mind are actively struggling to cope with the traumatic experience. triggers and cues act as reminders of the trauma and can cause anxiety and other associated emotions. often the person can be completely unaware of what these triggers are. in many cases, this may lead a person with a traumatic disorder to engage in disruptive behaviors or self-destructive coping mechanisms, often without being fully aware of the nature or causes of their own actions. panic attacks are an example of a psychosomatic response to such emotional triggers. consequently, intense feelings of anger may frequently surface, sometimes in inappropriate or unexpected situations, as danger may always seem to be present due to re-experiencing past events. upsetting memories such as images, thoughts, or flashbacks may haunt the person, and nightmares may be frequent. insomnia may occur as lurking fears and insecurity keep the person vigilant and on the lookout for danger, both day and night. a messy personal financial scene, as well as debt, are common features in trauma-affected people. trauma does not only cause changes in one's daily functions, but could also lead to morphological changes. such epigenetic changes can be passed on to the next generation, thus making genetics one of the components of psychological trauma. however, some people are born with or later develop protective factors such as genetics that help lower their risk of psychological trauma. the person may not remember what actually happened, while emotions experienced during the trauma may be re-experienced without the person understanding why (see repressed memory). this can lead to the traumatic events being constantly experienced as if they were happening in the present, preventing the subject from gaining perspective on the experience. this can produce a pattern of prolonged periods of acute arousal punctuated by periods of physical and mental exhaustion. this can lead to mental health disorders like acute stress and anxiety disorder, traumatic grief, undifferentiated somatoform disorder, conversion disorders, brief psychotic disorder, borderline personality disorder, adjustment disorder, etc. obsessive- compulsive disorder is another mental health disorder with symptoms similar to that of psychological trauma, such as hyper-vigilance and intrusive thoughts. research has indicated that individuals who have experienced a traumatic event have been known to use symptoms of obsessive- compulsive disorder, such as compulsive checking of safety, as a way to mitigate the symptoms associated with trauma. in time, emotional exhaustion may set in, leading to distraction, and clear thinking may be difficult or impossible. emotional detachment, as well as dissociation or "numbing out" can frequently occur. dissociating from the painful emotion includes numbing all emotion, and the person may seem emotionally flat, preoccupied, distant, or cold. dissociation includes depersonalisation disorder, dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder, etc. exposure to and re-experiencing trauma can cause neurophysiological changes like slowed myelination, abnormalities in synaptic pruning, shrinking of the hippocampus, cognitive and affective impairment. this is significant in brain scan studies done regarding higher-order function assessment with children and youth who were in vulnerable environments. some traumatized people may feel permanently damaged when trauma symptoms do not go away and they do not believe their situation will improve. this can lead to feelings of despair, transient paranoid ideation, loss of self-esteem, profound emptiness, suicidality, and frequently, depression. if important aspects of the person's self and world understanding have been violated, the person may call their own identity into question. often despite their best efforts, traumatized parents may have difficulty assisting their child with emotion regulation, attribution of meaning, and containment of post-traumatic fear in the wake of the child's traumatization, leading to adverse consequences for the child. in such instances, seeking counselling in appropriate mental health services is in the best interests of both the child and the parent(s). causes situational trauma trauma can be caused by human-made, technological and natural disasters, including war, abuse, violence, mechanized accidents (such as vehicle accidents), or medical emergencies. an individual's response to psychological trauma can be varied based on the type of trauma, as well as socio-demographic and background factors. there are several behavioral responses commonly used towards stressors including the proactive, reactive, and passive responses. proactive responses include attempts to address and correct a stressor before it has a noticeable effect on lifestyle. reactive responses occur after the stress and possible trauma has occurred and is aimed more at correcting or minimizing the damage of a stressful event. a passive response is often characterized by an emotional numbness or ignorance of a stressor. there is also a distinction between trauma induced by recent situations and long-term trauma which may have been buried in the unconscious from past situations such as childhood abuse. trauma is sometimes overcome through healing; in some cases this can be achieved by recreating or revisiting the origin of the trauma under more psychologically safe circumstances, such as with a therapist. more recently, awareness of the consequences of climate change is seen as a source of trauma as individuals contemplate future events as well as experience climate change related disasters. emotional experiences within these contexts are increasing, and collective processing and engagement with these emotions can lead to increased resilience and post traumatic growth, as well as a greater sense of belongingness. these outcomes are protective against the devastating impacts of psychological trauma. stress disorders main articles: post-traumatic stress disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder all psychological traumas originate from stress, a physiological response to an unpleasant stimulus. long-term stress increases the risk of poor mental health and mental disorders, which can be attributed to secretion of glucocorticoids for a long period of time. such prolonged exposure causes many physiological dysfunctions such as the suppression of the immune system and increase in blood pressure. not only does it affect the body physiologically, but a morphological change in the hippocampus also takes place. studies showed that extreme stress early in life can disrupt normal development of hippocampus and impact its functions in adulthood. studies surely show a correlation between the size of hippocampus and one's susceptibility to stress disorders. in times of war, psychological trauma has been known as shell shock or combat stress reaction. psychological trauma may cause an acute stress reaction which may lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (ptsd). ptsd emerged as the label for this condition after the vietnam war in which many veterans returned to their respective countries demoralized, and sometimes, addicted to psychoactive substances. the symptoms of ptsd must persist for at least one month for diagnosis to be made. the main symptoms of ptsd consist of four main categories: trauma (i.e. intense fear), reliving (i.e. flashbacks), avoidance behavior (i.e. emotional numbing), and hypervigilance (i.e. continuous scanning of the environment for danger). research shows that about 60% of the us population reported as having experienced at least one traumatic symptom in their lives, but only a small proportion actually develops ptsd. there is a correlation between the risk of ptsd and whether or not the act was inflicted deliberately by the offender. psychological trauma is treated with therapy and, if indicated, psychotropic medications. the term continuous posttraumatic stress disorder (ctsd) was introduced into the trauma literature by gill straker (1987). it was originally used by south african clinicians to describe the effects of exposure to frequent, high levels of violence usually associated with civil conflict and political repression. the term is also applicable to the effects of exposure to contexts in which gang violence and crime are endemic as well as to the effects of ongoing exposure to life threats in high-risk occupations such as police, fire, and emergency services. as one of the processes of treatment, confrontation with their sources of trauma plays a crucial role. while debriefing people immediately after a critical incident has not been shown to reduce incidence of ptsd, coming alongside people experiencing trauma in a supportive way has become standard practice. moral injury moral injury is distress such as guilt or shame following a moral transgression. there are many other definitions some based on different models of causality.: 2 moral injury is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder but is distinguished from it.: 2,8 moral injury is associated with guilt and shame while ptsd is correlated with fear and anxiety.: 11 vicarious trauma vicarious trauma affects workers who witness their clients' trauma. it is more likely to occur in situations where trauma related work is the norm rather than the exception. listening with empathy to the clients generates feeling, and seeing oneself in clients' trauma may compound the risk for developing trauma symptoms. trauma may also result if workers witness situations that happen in the course of their work (e.g. violence in the workplace, reviewing violent video tapes.) risk increases with exposure and with the absence of help seeking protective factors and pre-preparation of preventive strategies. individuals who have a personal history of trauma are also at increased risk for developing vicarious trauma. vicarious trauma can lead workers to develop more negative views of themselves, others, and the world as a whole, which can compromise their quality of life and ability to work effectively. theoretical models shattered assumption theory janoff-bulman, theorises that people generally hold three fundamental assumptions about the world that are built and confirmed over years of experience: the world is benevolent, the world is meaningful, and i am worthy. according to the shattered assumption theory, there are some extreme events that "shatter" an individuals worldviews by severely challenging and breaking assumptions about the world and ourself. once one has experienced such trauma, it is necessary for and individual to create new assumptions or modify their old ones to recover from the traumatic experience. therefore, the negative effects of the trauma are simply related to our worldviews, and if we repair these views, we will recover from the trauma. in psychodynamics psychodynamic viewpoints are controversial, but have been shown to have utility therapeutically. french neurologist, jean-martin charcot, argued in