Trauma and ptsd

What is Trauma?

When considering mental health trauma is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Trauma is anything that exceeds your nervous system's ability to cope. What may be traumatic for one person may not be as severe for the next.

Children and teens may experience trauma in the following ways:

• Bullying
• Community Violence
• Complex Trauma
• Disasters
• Early Childhood Trauma
• Intimate Partner Violence
• Medical Trauma
• Physical Trauma
• Refugee Trauma
• Sexual Abuse
• Sex Trafficking
• Terrorism and Violence
• Traumatic Grief

Adults may have experienced trauma in childhood concerning the above mentioned experiences as well as the following experiences in adulthood:

• Sexual or physical abuse or assault
• Serious vehicle accidents
• Combat or war zone exposure
• Serious medical events
• Seeing death or dead bodies, including while at work
• Unexpected death of a loved one
• Natural disasters
• Arson or house fires
• Torture
• Domestic violence
• Witnessing or experiencing violence, such as a homicide or suicide
• Terrorism or mass violence

PTSD is when someone has experienced a traumatic event and is having particular types of problems as a result. The major types of symptoms experienced by people with PTSD include:

• Re-experiencing symptoms, including:
  • Flashbacks or intrusive thoughts about the traumatic event
  • Intense physical or emotional reactions to reminders of the event
  • Nightmares

• Avoidance symptoms, including:
  • Avoiding thinking or talking about the trauma
  • Avoiding people, places, activities or sensations that remind you of the trauma

• Negative changes in your thinking and emotions, including:
  • Feeling more down, depressed, angry or anxious
  • Finding it hard or impossible to feel happy
  • Feeling shameful or guilty
  • Feeling distant from other people
  • Losing interest in things you used to enjoy
  • Being unable to remember important parts of the trauma
  • Having more negative thoughts about yourself, other people and the world

• Hyperarousal or emotional/physical reactivity, including:
  • Being always on guard and/or easily startled
  • Having trouble concentrating
  • Being quick to anger and aggression
  • Doing things that are risky (e.g., impulsive sex, binge drinking)
  • Having trouble sleeping

Hearts of Healing Therapies offers evidenced-based treatment for children and adults with trauma and PTSD.