Information on Trauma and PTSD

What is Trauma?

Trauma is the Greek word for "wound". Although the Greeks used the term only for physical injuries, trauma is just as likely to refer to emotional and psychological wounds.

The psychological reaction to emotional trauma now has an established name: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. However, not everyone who experiences trauma will go on to develop the diagnosis of PTSD. This definition includes responses to powerful one-time incidents like accidents, natural disasters, crimes, surgeries, deaths, and other violent events. It also includes responses to chronic or repetitive experiences such as child abuse, neglect, combat, urban and domestic violence.

How do Trauma and PTSD differ?

Trauma is the event and wound. PTSD is a set of symptoms and the condition, when the after effects of the trauma don’t go away.

What is PTSD?

PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a condition that develops following a traumatic experience or witnessing of a life-threatening event such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood.

What types of individuals are at risk of developing PTSD

At particular risk are individuals who work in occupations where they are repeatedly exposed to trauma under high levels of stress. Additionally at risk are people who experience trauma in childhood – the younger the child, and more prolonged and severe degree of trauma = higher rates of PTSD in adulthood. Persons with a family history of mental illness and/or addictions, including persons with limited support systems and chaotic family up-bringing. 

• Re-experiencing Symptoms

Re-experiencing symptoms are symptoms that involve reliving the traumatic event. There are a number of ways in which people may relive a trauma. They may have upsetting memories of the traumatic event. At other times the memories may be triggered by a traumatic reminder such as when a combat veteran hears a car backfire, a motor vehicle accident victim drives by a car accident or a rape victim sees a news report of a recent sexual assault. These memories can cause both emotional and physical reactions.

• Avoidance and Numbing Symptoms

Avoidance symptoms are efforts people make to avoid the traumatic event. Individuals with PTSD may try to avoid situations that trigger memories of the traumatic event. They may avoid going near places where the trauma occurred or seeing TV programs or news reports about similar events. They may avoid other sights, sounds, smells, or people that are reminders of the traumatic event.

Numbing symptoms are another way to avoid the traumatic event. Individuals with PTSD may find it difficult to be in touch with their feelings or express emotions toward other people. For example, they may feel emotionally "numb" and may isolate from others. They may be less interested in activities they once enjoyed.

• Arousal Symptoms

People with PTSD may feel constantly alert after the traumatic event. This is known as increased emotional arousal, and it can cause difficulty sleeping, outbursts of anger or irritability, and difficulty concentrating. They may find that they are constantly ‘on guard’ and hyper vigilant, on the lookout for signs of danger at all times. Because of the hyper arousal, they may seek out activities or substances that further activate the arousal or choose substances as a way of mitigating the arousal.

• Changes in mood and cognition

Persistent negative alterations in mood or cognition refer to thoughts such as, “I have always had bad judgement”,“I should have done more”,“People in authority can’t be trusted”,“It’s all my fault I was abused”, and such thoughts. Changes in thoughts are a result in alterations in beliefs about yourself or the world following trauma, and marked changes in mood, such as decreased enjoyment in once interested activities, as well as persistent low mood.