TRAUMA INFORMATION

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TRAUMA INFORMATION

It is not the event that determines whether something is traumatic to someone, but the individual's experience of the event.

People can have many different reactions to a tragedy or feel all of them in sequence. Often we feel first shock, then denial, anger and depression before we move to grief and acceptance.

DEFINING TRAUMA:
Many bad and unpleasant things can happen to people during their life times. Not all bad things are traumatic and not all stressful things are bad. In order to understand and deal with trauma appropriately, one needs to clearly define it. There are certain reactions that victims of trauma are expected to display and in order to best help it is important to distinguish trauma from other difficult life events.

Trauma occurs when a person experiences or witnesses an event that involves:

	actual or threatened death or serious injury;
	a response of intense fear, helplessness, or horror;

	a belief or knowledge that he/she or others present, may be injured or killed;
	great danger and powerlessness.
	but also such common occurrences as an auto accident, the breakup of a significant relationship or deeply disappointing experiences.

Regardless of its source, an emotional trauma contains three common elements:

	it was unexpected
	the person was unprepared

there was nothing the person could do to prevent it from happening

IMPACT/SYMPTOMS OF TRAUMA:
Once a person has been through a traumatic experience, they will usually react in some way. This will vary from one individual to another. For some the traumatic experience can have a strong and even debilitating impact on their functioning, while for others it does not seem to impact at all. It is important to remember that most people that go through a traumatic experience will recover from it on their own and may not necessarily need help in doing so. It is always helpful to have a good idea about the symptoms that a person could go through in order to prepare or normalise them. The symptoms of trauma can be placed into three different categories, namely:

1) Intrusive Symptoms
After the trauma a person could re-experience the event in a variety of ways, such as:

	Recurrent, distressing bad dreams
	Intrusive recollections of the event including images, thoughts or perceptions
	Frequently thinking about the experience
	Flashbacks or ‘As if’ feelings

2) Avoidance or Numbing Symptoms
When a person has been through a difficult experience there is a tendency to avoid anything that may be associated with the event. Some of the ways in which this is evident in people who have been through a traumatic experience include:

	Problems with Sex
	Not looking after themselves or others
	Avoiding reminders of the trauma (e.g. places, people, smells, thoughts feelings, conversations)
	Memory loss about important aspects about the event
	Feelings of detachment (find it difficult to relate to others)
	No interest in life
	Feeling guilty or bad to be alive (survivor guilt)
	Numbness (unable to show loving feelings)
	No energy or feeling tired all the time
	Sense of a foreshortened future

3) Increased Arousal Symptoms

	Changing quickly from one mood to another
	Poor concentration and memory
	Feeling Nervous and worried
	Feeling afraid
	Increased irritability and aggressiveness
	Sleeping problems
	Exaggerated startled response
	Hypervigilance

Further information for emotional trauma

David Baldwin's Trauma Information Pages

This Trauma Information Website concentrates on emotional trauma, whether following individual traumatic experiences or natural disasters.
The site won an award for its excellent content and for being up to date.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Collection of Links

Arkadia runs a wide network of links to all the different aspects of post traumatic stress disorder. Links refers to associations, personal stories and support groups.

Trauma Pages - Supportive Information

A comprehensive list of links related to various types of trauma, treatments, support, and related issues.