Trauma is caused by situations or events that often involve a threat to someone’s life or their safety which can leave someone overwhelmed, isolated and anxious. Trauma can look like one of three ways-
Emotional and psychological trauma can be caused by:
1. One-off events, An accident, injury, or a violent attack, especially if it was unexpected or happened in childhood.
2. Ongoing, stressful events, Battling a life-threatening illness or experiencing traumatic events that occur repeatedly, such as bullying, domestic violence, or childhood neglect.
3. Overlooked causes, Sickness, sudden death of someone close, the breakup of a significant relationship, or a humiliating or deeply disappointing experience, especially if someone was cruel on purpose.
Trauma looks different to everyone, but what is common is that it can be felt- going through the motions of the emotions, stress and panic. In life we do not have control over outside factors or how people treat us but we can decide to get help with the trauma to work through it for circumstances that happened to us.
Trauma is not dependent on age or race, it can be felt by anyone and can go on to cause lasting effects and harm to the person, hence why everyone will have a different reaction and coping methods to deal with the trauma. Because even though people have experienced traumatic events and survived it, the residue of what caused the trauma still remains and needs to be dealt with.
Past trauma can only be ignored and suppressed for so long and if more trauma is experienced and adds to it, can cause an even bigger problem to deal with going forward. One thing that needs to be remembered when it comes to trauma is that though there is the feeling of the effects of it, the feelings are personal to you and no one can ever know deeply how you feel, they may feel similar but it’s still an area unique to you in that how you feel and act in life will be different and require support.
Trauma can include you feeling like the following-
· Frightened
· Scared
· Under threat
· Humiliated
· Anxious
· Alone
· Rejected
· Abandoned
· Invalidated
· Unsafe
· Unsupported
· Ashamed
· Powerless.
With trauma there are also the memories that take place, something or someone can trigger those memories to take place and they can linger for long periods of time if not dealt with, especially from childhood experiences faced whether it be sexual, physical or emotional.
“Trauma can sometimes directly cause mental health problems, or make you more vulnerable to developing them. It is among the potential causes of all mental health problems, it can be difficult to tell which problems are being caused by trauma.
Some conditions are also known to develop as a direct result of trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD).”
PART TWO TO FOLLOW.....
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