By Lawrence Robinson, Melinda Smith, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D.
If you’ve experienced an extremely stressful or disturbing event that’s left you feeling helpless and emotionally out of control, you may have been traumatized. Psychological trauma can leave you struggling with upsetting emotions, memories, and anxiety that won’t go away. It can also leave you feeling numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other people. When bad things happen, it can take a while to get over the pain and feel safe again. But with these self-help strategies and support, you can speed up your recovery. Whether the trauma happened years ago or yesterday, you can make healing changes and move on with your life.
What is emotional and psychological trauma? 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. Traumatic experiences often involve a threat to life or safety, but any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and isolated can result in trauma, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective circumstances that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event. The more frightened and helpless you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized.
Share This Post!
Understanding Childhood Trauma: Ways to Support Young People
By Boys & Girls Clubs of America For generations, tough childhood experiences have been swept under the rug by phrases like these. Oftentimes, the reason why is simple: many families simply did [...]
Addressing The Link Between Trauma And Addiction
By National Governors Association Many Americans have experienced traumatic events, toxic stress, and other types of adversity in childhood. However, repeated exposure to trauma and adversity in childhood predicts a variety [...]
The Health Benefits of Volunteerism
By Eric Burger It’s a simple fact that every nonprofit organization knows: volunteering makes you feel better. But did you know that the anecdotal stories about volunteering health benefits have been [...]
Checklist: Creating Safe Spaces for Youth
By Mental Health America Now more than ever, young people need an environment where they feel seen, heard, and valued. [...] Creating connection starts with you, so allow youth to get [...]
What is Childhood Trauma: Trauma Types
By The National Child Traumatic Stress Network When a child feels intensely threatened by an event he or she is involved in or witnesses, we call that event a trauma. There [...]
Racial Trauma
By Mental Health America Racial trauma, or race-based traumatic stress (RBTS), refers to the mental and emotional injury caused by encounters with racial bias and ethnic discrimination, racism, and hate crimes. Any [...]