What is emotional and psychological trauma?

According to helpguide.org, "emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless in a dangerous world." A traumatic event is any experience is leaves you feeling overwhelmed, even if you don't experience physical harm. Your subjective experience is what determines whether an event is traumatic.

Causes

• One-time events (accident, injury, attack, natural disaster)
• Ongoing stress (such as an ongoing life-threatening illness)
• Other causes (surgery, sudden death of a close friend/family member, relationship breakup, humiliation, disappointment
• Enhancing factors: unexpectedness, being unprepared, feeling powerless, happening repeatedly, someone being intentionally cruel, happening in childhood

Risk Factors

• If you are under any form of stress (emotional, mental, physical, etc.) you are more prone to experience trauma.
• If you have been traumatized before (especially in childhood), you are more susceptible to emotional and psychological trauma again.
• Childhood trauma can include anything that disrupts a child's sense of safety, such as separation from a parent, serious illness or medical procedures, bullying, domestic violence, and sexual, physical, or verbal abuse.

Symptoms

• Emotional and psychological symptoms
• Shock and denial
• Anger, irritability
• Guilt, shame, self-blame
• Sadness, hopelessness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Anxiety, fear
• Feeling numb
• Physical symptoms
• Insomnia, nightmares
• Racing heartbeat
• Aches and pains
• Fatigue
• Muscle tension