Psychological trauma
An emotional response to severe distressing events, studied in psychotraumatology.
Psychological trauma (also known as mental trauma, psychiatric trauma, emotional damage, or psychotrauma) is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events, such as bodily injury, sexual violence, or other threats to the life of the subject or their loved ones. It is studied within the field of psychotraumatology, and its effects can include short-term reactions like psychological shock and denial, as well as long-term conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), flashbacks, and emotional dysregulation.
- field
- Psychotraumatology
- known_for
- Emotional response to severe distressing events; causes include violence, abuse, death of a loved one, and mass casualty events
- symptoms
- Flashbacks, panic attacks, insomnia, nightmare disorder, emotional dysregulation, PTSD, brief psychotic disorder
- protective_factors
- Temperamental and environmental factors, resilience, willingness to seek help
Quick Facts
- Field
- Neurology, neuropsychiatry, psychiatry, psychology, social work
- Treatment
- Therapy
- Medication
- Antidepressants, / antipsychotics, / antiemetics, / anticonvulsants, / benzodiazepines
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Psychological trauma can result from direct exposure to events such as bodily injury, sexual violence, or threats to life, as well as indirect exposure like watching television news, though such indirect exposure does not always produce trauma. Examples of distressing events include violence, sexual assault, childhood abuse, death of a loved one, and mass casualty events like terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Most people who experience a potentially traumatic event do not become psychologically traumatized, though they may suffer distress; some develop PTSD, with risk discrepancy attributed to protective factors like resilience and willingness to seek help.
Reader's Guide
The significance of psychological trauma lies in its wide-ranging and varied effects on individuals, which can include re-experiencing the trauma through triggers and flashbacks, leading to disruptions in safety, self-efficacy, and relationships. Physical symptoms such as migraines, hyperventilation, and nausea are often associated with trauma. Long-term stress from trauma can cause physiological dysfunctions including immune suppression and increased blood pressure. The study of psychological trauma, psychotraumatology, has highlighted that trauma can lead to morphological and epigenetic changes that may be passed to the next generation, though some individuals have protective factors that lower their risk. Understanding trauma has informed therapeutic approaches, such as revisiting the origin of trauma under psychologically safe circumstances with a therapist, and has recognized climate change as a source of trauma, with collective processing potentially leading to increased resilience and post-traumatic growth.
Did You Know?
- Most people who experience a potentially traumatic event do not become psychologically traumatized.
- A benign stimulus can become a trauma trigger through a process called traumatic coupling.
- Trauma can cause epigenetic changes that may be passed on to the next generation.
- Climate change is recognized as a source of trauma, as individuals contemplate future events and experience related disasters.
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